The Highland Sims Master Plan serves two purposes. The first is to determine a redevelopment strategy that realistically addresses the densities and mix of housing and businesses that would generate enough critical mass to serve as a catalyst for much needed positive change to this historically neglected African American neighborhood only minutes from downtown Gastonia. Once dubbed the Black Wall Street for its numerous black owned business and thriving neighborhoods, the Highland Sims area has fallen on difficult times due to a series of sometimes intentional, and other times unintentional actions that cut the community off from the rest of Gastonia.

Bounded to the north by I-85, to the south by the Norfolk Southern rail corridor, and to the east by Hollywood Cemetery, the neighborhood is land locked from many of the more vital and growing areas of Gastonia. The developed fabric is primarily low density residential with some businesses scattered along MLK Way and N. Broad St.

The second purpose of the Master Plan is to show how revisions to the City’s UDO allowing mixed-use, high-density development, applied to the Highland Neighborhood would manifest in new housing, retail, and commercial construction. Metrocology was scoped to develop a master plan that showed the full potential build out of the neighborhood. It will be incumbent on planning efforts in the future to properly balance the needs of: existing residents, of real estate development, and municipal services & budgets, to ensure the inevitable gentrification that will be part of any future growth, does not make it impossible for current residents to find a home and work in Highland.