Eastern North Carolina Development News

[Pan-Afro-Man]

http://m.fayobserver.com/articles?pa.../03/23/1165937

A real downtown greening
08:05 PM - 03/22/2012
Announcements of new businesses downtown are pretty routine these days. But a grocery store is new and different.

Brian Smith saw a growing downtown residential population and decided the time is right. His Marquis Market is opening in the former Cumberland Furniture building on Person Street.

The store is part market, part cafe, Smith's version of a Fresh Market or Trader Joe's. It will open in phases over the coming months. It's a nice development for an increasingly livable downtown.

[Pan-Afro-Man]

http://m.fayobserver.com/articles?pa.../04/12/1170754

Systel has purchased a vacanrt commercial building in the county's industrial park to use as a distribution center

Andrew Barksdale
Staff writer
11:35 PM - 04/12/20121

Systel Business Equipment Co. Inc. plans to open a new distribution center in Cumberland County to serve its Southeastern operations.

Systel, a Fayetteville-based dealer of office automation equipment, has bought an empty commercial building in the Cumberland Industrial Center. County officials have sought to sell the empty building for a decade.

Keith Allison, Systel's president and CEO, said he plans to consolidate his local distribution centers into one operation in the 125,000-square-foot "shell" building on Tom Starling Road. On Thursday, directors with the Fayetteville-Cumberland County Chamber of Commerce approved the sale for $1,514,000.

The structure was built in 2002 with a $1.8 million loan. It was designed to attract developers but sat empty, costing Cumberland County taxpayers more than $800,000 in interest on the loan. The county had agreed to back the loan if the building sat unsold after two years of construction.

The county commissioners agreed this month to sell the building for $1.5 million and pay the difference - about $377,000 - between the sale price and the outstanding principal. Chamber officials in charge of marketing the building said they had several prospective buyers throughout the years, and the building attracted some out-of-town employers who opted to move into other Fayetteville-area locations.

"We are thrilled with the sale," said chamber President Doug Peters.

Details of Systel's plans weren't available Thursday. It's unclear how many employees will work at the distribution center.

Allison is a well-known contributor to several private, civic and business causes. His company owns the leased-out Systel building on Green Street downtown, and his corporate offices are on Fort Bragg Road.

The buyer of the shell building is officially Allison Holdings LLC, which is Systel's property division. Keith Allison is the member manager of the holding company.

Systel started with only a few employees housed in one office and has grown to more than 200 in nine locations across North Carolina and Georgia.

[urbanaturalist]

http://www.reflector.com/news/amtrak...28735#comments
Amtrak shuttle to host test run

By Wesley Brown

The Daily Reflector

Monday, September 24, 2012

Local dignitaries and state traffic engineers will get the first ride on a new line of Amtrak shuttle buses connecting Greenville with high-speed passenger rail service nationwide, the federal train operator announced.

Amtrak will host an inaugural run of eastern North Carolina’s new Thruway service on Oct. 2 to give community leaders and N.C. Department of Transportation officials an inside look of the motor-coach line in the final hours before it opens to the public.

The tour will begin in Morehead City at 10 a.m. and conclude with a ceremony in Wilson at 2:05 p.m.. Stops are scheduled in Havelock at 10:44 a.m., New Bern at 11:25 a.m. and Greenville at 12:35 p.m., Amtrak spokeswoman Christina Leeds said.

^ One day there will hopefully be a fixed rail running that "short" 30 mile distance into Wilson train station ........ ....... *cough*...... one day.....

[Pan-Afro-Man]

http://fayobserver.com/articles/2012...iness#comments

Cross Creek Mall's owners plan to add 46,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space next year with tenants including Chico's, Loft, White House Black Market and Men's Wearhouse.

Construction is scheduled to begin in January on an addition in what is now the parking lot between the Belk and Macy's wings.

The expansion will be an outdoors concept in which storefronts are added to the side of the mall, with reconfigured parking and new landscaping. The project, expected to be finished by late 2013, will allow the mall to recruit new tenants - something that has been difficult because it rarely has vacancies.

"We feel that the economy is coming back, as a company," said Sam Billingsley, the mall manager who transferred to Cross Creek Mall from a sister property in Charleston, S.C., four months ago. "We're no longer in the worry mode, I guess. We're back in an industry mode of expanding and promoting our properties."

The project was announced by CBL & Associates Properties Inc., which owns the 1.1 million-square-foot mall. The expansion will create room for at least 10 new tenants. Two current tenants, Lane Bryant and Reed's Jewelers, will relocate to the new spaces.

Mall officials said they expect to announce additional stores and restaurants soon.

"We want to build the momentum and excitement," Billingsley said. "We are in negotiations with a couple of restaurants."

The plans are being reviewed by the city, he said, but he does not anticipate any snags to what would become the mall's most significant addition since it opened in 1975.

"Right now, the mall is a top 10 mall with the company," Billingsley said, "and we are pretty much 100 percent leased the bulk of the time. In order to grow, we have to add more space."

None of the existing retailers will lose store space in the expansion. The Streets at Southpoint in Durham has a similar outdoors concept for part of its mall, with exposed public areas winding through rows of storefronts.

CBL owns more than 90 malls across the country. Cross Creek Mall currently has more than 150 retailers and businesses.

Company officials held a news conference in the mall with city leaders to announce the plans.

"We want business to come to Fayetteville," said Mayor Pro Tem Jim Arp. "When business comes to Fayetteville, they bring people, they bring jobs."

John Meroski, the CEO of the Fayetteville Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the mall is invaluable to the community, noting that it is "the No. 1 sales tax generator in Cumberland County."

Shoppers mostly welcomed the news.

Terra Newsome, 39, said she was "girl shopping" with her Cameron neighbor, 36-year-old Lora Collins. She likes that Chico's, Loft and White House Black Market are coming to Fayetteville.

"Typically, I would have to go to Raleigh to shop at those stores, or online," Newsome said. "I'm more of an in-person kind of shopper. For me, I'm excited about the addition of new stores, period, particularly brands or styles that J.C. Penney or Sears don't carry."

Norman Carter, 48, said he's a fan of Men's Wearhouse.

"Last time I went to Men's Wearhouse, I went to Greensboro and Raleigh," Carter said while eating lunch in the food court. "They need some more men's stores here."

Loft, which is a division of Ann Taylor, has 10 stores in North Carolina. Chico's and White House Black Market are brands of the same company that sell casual to dressy clothing for women. Chico's has 23 locations in the state, including Southern Pines. White House Black Market has 10 stores in North Carolina.

Men's Wearhouse is a dress apparel retailer whose closest stores to Fayetteville are in the Triangle. The company offers tailoring services at each location.

The expansion comes as CBL & Associates recently completed a $7 million to $8 million renovation. The facelift includes new lighted columns throughout the mall, color-themed wings, an enhanced center court with a skylight and LED columns, a family lounge in the Sears wing, and new lighting and seating in the food court.

A new children's play area next to J.C. Penney - complete with cushioned seating for parents - incorporates details from the Fayetteville and Fort Bragg communities.
Staff writer Michael Futch can be reached at futchm@fayobserver.com or 486-3529.

[Pan-Afro-Man]

http://fayobserver.com/articles/2012...ac=fo.business

By Steve DeVane
Staff writer

A new office building is planned for the property that once was home to Dark Branch Racquet and Swim Club off Village Drive.

The 55,188-square-foot, three-story building will cost about $4.7 million, according to a city building permit report.

The building, called the Offices at Village Green II, will be similar to the Offices at Village Green I across Fordham Drive, said Jared Fryer, president of Village Green Real Estate and Development.

Dark Branch, which had a swimming pool and tennis courts, closed in 2009. A nine-hole golf course and learning center closed two years earlier.

The new office building will be built on the site of the Dark Branch clubhouse. It will be part of a 100-acre mixed-use development that includes a residential neighborhood, an assisted living community, an independent senior living facility and a rehabilitation and health care center. Retail space is planned for 19 acres of the development, Fryer said.

The existing office building is fully leased except for about 4,000 square feet on the third floor, Fryer said.

"The first building was so successful, we see the need for more office space," he said.

In late 2009, property owner Dr. Franklin Clark said he intended to build the second commercial office building but would wait until the economy improved.

Construction is scheduled to begin in late January. Office space is expected be available by late next year.

- Steve DeVane