Foreclosure latest setback for venerable Excelsior Club

Charlotte’s historic Excelsior Club, a touchstone for generations of African-Americans, faces an uncertain future after foreclosure proceedings began last week.

The Beatties Ford Road landmark, which has hosted the likes of Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong as well as a future president, has been closed since June.

“My fear is that it will ultimately fall into hands that will tear it down and put up a marker that says ‘the Excelsior Club once stood here,” Ken Koontz, a former owner, said Sunday.

State Rep. Carla Cunningham, who inherited the club from her husband, foreclosed last week on James Ferguson, a prominent civil rights attorney who bought the club from Pete Cunningham in 2006.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article133738574.html