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Drawing on two private-sector proposals to develop the
municipal parking lot at Lombard and Main streets, an ad
hoc committee of town officials, residents and business
owners has come up with a revised plan and hopes to
reach an agreement with a developer in eight to 12 weeks.
In response to a public request for submissions, the town
in September received two proposals to put buildings on
the lot, which is at a prime downtown location. One
proposal was submitted by the Clayton-based Walthom
Group, the other by The Lundy Group of Raleigh.
Both proposals called for a mix of commercial and
residential space, which pleased town officials. However,
neither submission offered much in the way of green
space, which officials saw as a major shortcoming.
The committee’s revised plan envisions a building set
back about 30 feet from Main Street. In front of the
building is a grassy area with sidewalks.
“On first pass, we really felt the projects had an
inadequate allowance for open space,” Town Manager
Steve Biggs said at a meeting of the committee on
Thursday.
But with the revised concept, Biggs said, “you have a
substantial dedication of publicly useable space” for small
events such as art shows and acoustic concerts. Larger
outdoor events still would be held at the Town Square,
located at Main and Fayetteville streets.
The new plan conceives a building with 6,500 square feet
of commercial space and 14 to 16 residences on the
second and third floors.
There would be diagonal public parking along Main Street,
and more public parking on the sides of the building.
Parking for residents of the building would be in the back.
The committee’s general design for the building more
closely resembles what was submitted by the Walthom
Group.
Norwood Thompson, a managing partner in the company,
said, “We’ve met [with town officials], and we’ve made the
revisions. It’s in their laps now.”
Thompson said the goal of the project was to get more
people to live and shop downtown.
“The entire focus is that we believe for shops and stores
to succeed, you need people. And you don’t have people
without places to live,” he said.
“Having people shop where they live is the goal,” he said.
Thompson said the residential condominiums in his
project would range from under $200,000 to over
$300,000.
He said the project would cost about $5 million to build.
Biggs said he expects that, after the town reaches an
agreement with a developer, it will take 18 to 24 months
to complete the project. He said the town would have a
say about design issues for the project but would not have
any control over who leased space in the building.
In its proposal to the town, Walthom requested that it be
able to purchase the lot for $250,000. The town paid
$500,000 for the property in 2001.
Walthom also requested tax abatements on site
improvements that would extend for up to 20 years. In
addition, the company asked that the town make
streetscape improvements to the downtown including
burial of utilities lines and sidewalk modifications. The
firm also wants the town to install public parking for the
project.
Finally, Walthom has requested that building owners
directly across from the building site renovate their
properties. The company has offered to pay $25,000
toward those efforts.
An offshoot of the project could be construction of an
alleyway with pedestrian and vehicular access that starts
behind the new building and runs west. Committee
members said the alleyway could spark additional infill
development downtown.
The committee that evaluated the original proposals and
has worked on revisions is composed of Biggs, Mayor Jody
McLeod, Mayor pro tem Bob Ahlert, Councilman Michael
Grannis, Planning Director Skip Browder, Downtown
Development Coordinator Bruce Naegelen, Downtown
Development Association members Lyn Austin and Jeme
Avent and businessman Larry Belvin, who owns a building
across the street from the lot.
Biggs said the municipal lot would be better utilized for
commercial purposes than for recreational purposes.
“You start balancing drawing people there for business
purposes versus passive recreation types of purposes –
there’s just not that much of a draw to that location for
passive recreation purposes. But there’s a very significant
draw for business-related purposes,” he said.
Ahlert added: “We’ve been committed for a number of
years to improving the downtown business aspects. ...
And that’s what we want to continue to do, to try to
support that and make the downtown more viable than it
is today.”
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