Charlotte’s Johnson C. Smith University has started tearing down Liston Hall, a dorm that stood for 64 years and housed generations of students. The demolition closes one chapter of the West End campus while leaving the next one conspicuously unwritten: JCSU has not announced what will replace it.
The Sacramento Bee reported Wednesday that demolition was underway and that the university plans to preserve photographs and video of the building’s final days. JCSU described the work as the end of an era and another step toward what it calls a new era of excellence.
Liston Hall was part of a major midcentury expansion at JCSU. The university’s student handbook identifies the Hardy Liston Residence Hall for women as one of several buildings added between 1955 and 1968, a period when the historically Black university was rapidly upgrading its campus.
Liston Hall Was Once A Symbol Of Campus Expansion
When it opened in 1962, Liston Hall represented a more modern student experience for JCSU and was named for former university president Hardy Liston. The Charlotte Post reported last year that the roughly 35,000-square-foot residence hall could house as many as 148 students.
The demolition was not a surprise, but the timing makes the university’s long-planned campus reset visible. In 2025, The Charlotte Post reported that JCSU’s board had approved plans to remove Liston Hall because its aging infrastructure and inefficient utilities made renovation prohibitively expensive.
For now, the university has offered no blueprint for the site. The Sacramento Bee reported that JCSU has not announced what will rise there, leaving alumni and current students with a familiar campus landmark disappearing before a replacement takes shape.
JCSU Is Also Clearing Space Along West Trade Street
Liston Hall is part of a broader redevelopment push around JCSU’s West End campus. In April, WBTV reported that the university demolished a long-abandoned A&P grocery store on West Trade Street after neighbors had spent years calling the property blight.
That earlier demolition also showed the pressure surrounding JCSU-owned land: residents want new development to serve the neighborhood’s history and needs, not simply replace old buildings with something generic. JCSU’s official communications have framed the current moment as a new era of excellence, but Liston Hall’s empty footprint means the most visible part of that future is still waiting for an address.
