The Charlotte Housing Authority has withdrawn from a controversial plan to build low-income units in Ballantyne, one of the city’s most affluent communities.

The decision was made Monday by housing authority CEO Charles Woodyard.

An agency spokeswoman, Jennifer Gallman, said the decision to withdraw was based on economics.

CHA initially proposed partnering with Republic Development Group to build 110 low-income units at Johnston Road and Providence Road West. But faced with mounting opposition from Ballantyne residents, the proposed project was scaled back to 86 units.

Given the high cost of land in Ballantyne, Gallman said, Woodyard determined, after talking with CHA’s real estate experts, that the scaled-back proposal would not be economically feasible.

In a city where the bulk of low-income housing is clustered in a crescent-shaped area running west, north and east of uptown, Ballantyne, in south Charlotte, has no subsidized units.

Some Ballantyne residents had opposed the project on grounds that it would add to congestion in schools and on roads, as well as possibly lead to more crime.

Gallman said public opposition played no role in CHA’s decision.

“I can tell you this agency is very committed to providing affordable housing in undeserved areas of the market,” she said. “We just have to make sure we are good stewards of the public’s dollars.”

According to the Charlotte Observer, CHA had determined that the scaled-back project would cost between $115,000 and $150,000 per unit, including land and start-up costs. Gallman could not immediately say what the agency would consider an appropriate per-unit cost.

The Observer also reported that Stuart Proffitt, director of the Republic Group, said the company would seek other affordable housing developers to build the project. He said it was too early to discuss who those potential partners might be.

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