Charlotte Second Ward is home to city and county offices and is known as the Government District.  Second Ward Charlotte also houses the city's convention center, the Mecklenburg Aquatic Center, Marshall Park, several current and planned hotels, the NASCAR Hall of Fame, and the hugely popular EpiCentre, a mixed-use retail and entertainment project currently in progress.  When completed, this phenomenal project will house high-rise condo units, several restaurants and bars, retail, movie theater and bowling lanes, among other entertainment amenities.  Many of the establishments are currently open, and this venue is surely to be a major Uptown attraction. 

All of these projects are expected to be augmented considerably by the addition of the CATS Lynx light rail service which provides service from Uptown to South Charlotte.  Even though the current land uses in Second Ward don't include housing, the district was once a vibrant residential community. It was known for decades as Brooklyn - a bustling, urban community and home to approximately 7,000 African-American citizens who worshiped, attended school, worked, and patronized many shops there. All that ended in the 1960s when the city and federal government's urban renewal program designated Brooklyn a blighted neighborhood. As a result, the community of Brooklyn was literally, bulldozed.