Morganton Development

[jednc]

Does anyone know any development news for Morganton? I heard today that a Chili's, Ruby Tuesday, and a CiCi's Pizza are all coming to town. Any other scoops on new things coming? What's the deal with Wal-Mart's expansion?

[rooster8]

The last I heard was that the site that Walmart was looking at is no longer under consideration. Hadn't heard about the rest, but I don't read the News Herald that often.

Ham's opened a few months ago in the old Uptown site in downtown.

[jednc]

Yeah, Ham's seems to be doing well uptown. I had heard that Wal-Mart was now considering something on 181 (out near K-Mart), but I'm not sure if that's correct. I don't see the problem with Wal-Mart to be honest. This expansion has been planned for years. Either they want to do it, or they don't. If they have people employed to find new sites for them, this shouldn't be that hard. Someone should be losing their job if they can't nail something down after 7 years or so. Clearly it's not much of a priority for them!

[rooster8]

While browsing local job opportunities, I noticed that Target is hiring a "Store Team Leader in Training" for Morganton. I'm not sure if this means that a store is coming there, but I thought I'd pass it along anyway.

[jednc]

Interesting. Thanks for the input!

[rooster8]

Not sure if you read the News Herald, but they have a recap of recent rumors:

I Heard It Through The Grapevine

[jednc]

Thanks for the info and link rooster. I hadn't heard about some of those. Was sortof hoping the Chili's was true though.

[JDC]

Can someone clue me in on what the "Unifour" is?

[rooster8]

The Unifour are the four counties (Burke, Catawba, Caldwell, and Alexander) that generally are centered by Hickory.

[jednc]

I heard today that Wal-Mart had hired surveyors to look at some land on 181 and Independence (Dr?, St?). I guess if they are spending money, they are at least somewhat interested in this parcel...but who knows?

[JDC]

The Unifour are the four counties (Burke, Catawba, Caldwell, and Alexander) that generally are centered by Hickory.

Oh OK. That's a pretty up and coming area from what I understand. I thought I recently saw Hickory on one of those "best places for business" lists.

[jednc]

Yes...the Hickory-Morganton area has made a couple of those lists over the years. Some debate the importance of those list though!

[jednc]

I heard today that Wal-Mart has in fact asked for a water tap from the city of Morganton across from Freedom High School and K-Mart. I also heard Home Depot is planning to take over the old Winn Dixie site just across the street. If this is true, the northern part of town is getting ready to boom I'd think.

[Bradley89]

In todays newpaper it said that Target is wanting to build a store in Morganton.

[jednc]

That's interesting about Target. I keep hearing about this. Hopefully it will come to pass. I also decided to investigate the Home Depot rumor a little. I emailed HD and asked....this was the response I got...

"Thank you for contacting The Home Depot Customer Complaints Center.

It's exciting that we're receiving interest from Morganton NC!

Unfortunately, even though this may be a great opportunity for us,

expansion plans for your area have not been determined.

To get a list of all of our scheduled future grand openings, please

visit, http://careers.homedepot.com/grandopenings.

The Home Depot is always looking for great, new locations to build our

stores, and we value your input! Thank you very much for shopping at The

Home Depot, and please visit us again at homedepot.com!

We look forward to your continued patronage and assisting you with all

of your home improvement needs.

Regards,

Satish

Customer Complaints Center."

Maybe the deal just isn't inked yet. I'm sure they wouldn't confirm anything until leases have been signed anyway.

[Bradley89]

When the new super Wal-Mart is built the old Wal-Mart building is going to be turned in to a Target store.

[jednc]

When the new super Wal-Mart is built the old Wal-Mart building is going to be turned in to a Target store.

Just your opinion or have you heard something? I have thought for a long time that would be a good Home Depot location. They (HD and Lowes) seem to like to be across the street from each other anyway!

[Bradley89]

Just your opinion or have you heard something? I have thought for a long time that would be a good Home Depot location. They (HD and Lowes) seem to like to be across the street from each other anyway!

I read it in the Morganton News Hearld.

[uptownliving]

I don't have any development tips, but I passed through Morganton yesterday and was impressed that it had a downtown movie theatre...what looked to be a relatively new one. It was also nice to see an old car show on a street they had closed down by the courthouse.

[shane828]

I don't have any development tips, but I passed through Morganton yesterday and was impressed that it had a downtown movie theatre...what looked to be a relatively new one. It was also nice to see an old car show on a street they had closed down by the courthouse.

Yeah, Mimosa Square or whatever it's called, it's nice. I love it.

I can't remember exactly when they finished it but I think it was sometime in 2002 or 2003.

[jednc]

Morganton goes to great lengths to keep it's downtown as vibrant as possible. I can remember as a kid the mayor and city council was against a mall coming to town. They didn't want the focus taken off of downtown. At the time I hated that idea. Now I can look at the old Lenoir mall and Lenoir's downtown and see why Morganton officials didn't want a mall. I'm certainly not putting Lenoir down though. I think their downtown is coming back these days.

[rooster8]

I like the downtown theater, but the last few times I've been there it's been dirty and undermanned (the former probably influenced by the latter). It's still a great addition to downtown.

I do have problems with the CVS that is downtown. They could have made that a great example of an urban store, but it's just a suburban store plopped on a street corner just like anywhere else. There's not even a connection from the sidewalk to the store. You have to walk through landscaping to get to the door. I guess they figured nobody would want to walk to get there.

[jednc]

I know exactly which store you are refering to although I've only been in there once or twice. It is a suburban store, and I agree they missed an opportunity. It seems that all the chains do not try to do anything "special" in smaller towns and markets. Only if the town itself requires it, do buildings change from the same cookie cutter design all companies seem to settle for. I guess from a small town's POV, they don't want to rock the boat too much for fear the development will just go elsewhere that is willing to settle for whatever they are given. I at least am happy that CVS located in downtown. It gives people one more reason to head down there.

[rooster8]

While visiting a nearby Wal-Mart Supercenter last night I noticed that Morganton was listed as a future location for a WoodForest National Bank with a projected opening date of 2007-08. This probably doesn't add what we already know, but just thought I'd mention it.

[jednc]

That's interesting news nonetheless. That's further confirmation that they are planning a Super Center in Morganton. My mom used to work for the Wal-Mart in Morganton and they've been talking about building a Super Center for years. As the talked about date got close, they just pushed it back each time. This literally has been going on for 7 or 8 years.

On that note, it seems strange to me that a company that is probably opening several stores a week somewhere has not been able to get their act together on a Morganton store. They push through stores faster even in places where there is complete oposition to them building anything. Very strange...

Thanks for the news rooster.