Levine Museum Unveils Future Permanent Home in South End

After years of hosting exhibits and programming in temporary spaces across the city, the Levine Museum of the New South has found its next permanent location, announcing Wednesday its plans to acquire and redevelop the Grace Covenant Church facilities at the intersection of South and East boulevards. 

Four years after moving out of its longtime home in Uptown’s First Ward, the team at Levine will now begin the process of purchasing and reimagining the 0.57-acre lot at 1800 South Boulevard, which currently comprises two buildings totaling about 10,000 square feet.

“This new campus represents a bold step forward for the Museum and for Charlotte,” said Dr. Richard Cooper, president and CEO of the Levine Museum of the New South, which this year marks 35 years since its founding in 1991.

“It will be more than a museum — it will be a gathering space where history sparks conversation and where diverse perspectives come together to explore what the New South has been and what it is becoming,” Cooper continued. 

A release on Wednesday stated that the Levine Museum hopes to fill a cultural void in South End, where despite its transformation from industrial hub to bustling, modern community in recent years, no major cultural institution exists within the neighborhood. 

The museum has selected the Connecticut-based firm Pickard Chilton as the design architect to guide the site’s transformation through its phases of development, according to the release. 

“The Levine Museum of the New South project represents a rare opportunity to create an extraordinary place of lasting civic and cultural significance,” said Kristin Hawkins, Associate Principal at Pickard Chilton. “We are honored to partner with the Levine Museum to design a place that reflects the Museum’s enduring commitment to history, storytelling, and inclusive public engagement.”

Before joining Pickard Chilton in March 2025, Hawkins’ recent work included the multi-award-winning Chengdu Museum of Natural History in Chengdu, China. 

Though only conceptual in nature, the firm’s renderings show an event and performance space in the church building, which is connected to a five-story facility with an outdoor terrace on the top floor looking out on South Boulevard, where South End borders Dilworth.

Founded in 1990, Levine Museum of the New South occupied its first physical location on East 7th Street in Uptown from 2001 to 2022. Since its inception, the museum has engaged more than 1.7 million people through award-winning exhibitions, digital storytelling and civic programming. 

Before moving from its First Ward location, notable exhibitions at Levine Museum included 2019’s Brooklyn: Once a City within a City, which implemented augmented reality technology to let museum goers hear the stories of former Brooklyn residents and view the way displacement has changed the face of Charlotte.

They expanded on that project in 2021 by partnering with Charlotte-based organization Potions & Pixels to launch the KnowCLT app, which allowed patrons to take augmented reality out into the streets and view landmarks of the Brooklyn neighborhood in context of where they once stood. 

The museum has continued to operate since leaving its original location, mostly from a space in the Three Wells Fargo building next to The Green in Uptown, where they hosted the exhibit Charlotte: Moving Forward, Looking Back, walking visitors through the story of Charlotte from Native and early European settlement to the Queen City of today. 

They moved out of that space in March 2025 but have continued offering virtual programming and hosting pop-up events. In November 2023, the museum launched “50 Places in Charlotte,” a digital experience that took patrons through 50 iconic places in Charlotte’s history on its website.

“Levine Museum of the New South uses history as a way to connect people and spark understanding,” said Glen Wright, chair of Levine Museum’s Board of Directors. “This next chapter deepens that commitment by helping communities see themselves in the story of the South and inspiring participation toward a more inclusive future.”

The museum promised to release more details about the South End project, including a timeline and future programming, as planning advances.