Beazer Homes USA of Atlanta applied for a permit to demolish the building in June 2008. But the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmark Commission voted to recognize the vacant restaurant as a historic landmark, requiring Beazer to wait one year before tearing it down. Opened in 1946, the Coffee Cup was the first in Charlotte where whites and blacks dined together before desegregation.
Commission chair Richard Alsop III said the county told him this week that Beazer had applied for a new demolition permit.
The company bought about 18.5 acres, including the restaurant, in 2005 and planned a major development. Since then, Beazer has exited the Charlotte market. The land has since been for sale.
Alsop said Beazer offered to sell the building to the restaurant "for millions" but that it was too expensive for the group, which seeks to preserve endangered historic structures by buying and selling them
"That would have soaked us," he said. "We could have bought that building and nothing else. We decided to let the market decide what to do with the building."
An e-mail to Beazer was not immediately returned. An Observer investigation found that Beazer arranged loans some buyers couldn't afford and violated federal lending laws. This year, the company agreed to pay $2.5 million to about 1,200 N.C. borrowers who state regulators said were charged illegal fees.
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