Charlotte area "ring cities"

[KJHburg]

I have been to all 100 NC counties and many repeatedly and northern Currituck county mainland is booming as is the little town of Moyock.   I love the Currituck county beaches and have been to Dismal Swamp State Park on my tour of that part of the state.  Lot of wind turbines up  there reminded me of west Texas.  

[nicholas]

1 hour ago, carolinaboy said:

I never thought I'd see someone mention Moyock on UP. 

Your comment is spot on and 100% correct KJ. You do have a vast knowledge of the happenings not only in Charlotte and it's surrounding area but all over this great state. I look forward to the information you bring to us on this site (and everyone else too of course).

Fun fact about Moyock is that it used to be home to a racetrack that hosted NASCAR races in the 1960s.  It was called Dog Track Speedway.  Ned Jarrett won four races there, and Richard Petty raced there six times but never won.  A subdivision has been built over where it used to lie, and its streets reflect its past with names such as Homestead Ln, Victory Ct, and the like.

[nicholas]

Speaking of Albemarle, I took 27 on my last trip to Charlotte and cruised through Albemarle.  Great to see some activity in these outer ring cities, pretty new Pfeiffer University health sciences building as well as a renovation going on at Main and 1st St.

[KJHburg]

In news closer to home NC Research Campus parts of it are for sale by David Murdock the 90 plus year old former CEO of Dole Foods.

Portions of Kannapolis' NC Research Campus Listed for Sale | Shannon Cuthrell | NewsBreak

NC Research Campus Landing Page | Real Capital Markets (cbredealflow.com)

[rancenc]

New downtown residential development slated for an early 2023 opening in Gastonia.

https://www.gastongazette.com/story/news/2021/03/17/center-city-crossings-could-break-ground-fall-2021/4735881001/

[KJHburg]

Kannapolis holding public hearing about new apartment building next to Cannon Ballers stadium.  Will be 7 stories with 35 units with balconies overlooking the field or West Ave. 

Stadium Lofts - Lansing Melbourne Group (lmgroup.us)    (just right building for right now) 

future phases right next door would be more apartments and possibly a hotel.

Biz Journal story about it

Right Field Development plots mixed-use project near Kannapolis' Atrium Health Ballpark - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

""The first phase would include a seven-story building for a variety of uses. The first two floors would include the Cannon Ballers team offices, retail store and ticketing space, documents show. Office and restaurant space would be included on the first two floors as well. The remaining five floors would include seven apartment units each. Each unit would contain "its own dedicated patio space facing West Avenue or into Atrium Health Ballpark," documents state.""

Edited July 26, 2021 by KJHburg

[rancenc]

A total of 230 new homes slated for Huntersville!

https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/trio-residential-developments-planned-huntersville/26A4WCZQUJBFVKCIBNPPQNLNGI/

[KJHburg]

Celebrating small businesses in downtown Concord today.  and some of the historical homes on N Union St.    New Cabarrus courthouse under construction and new apartment building next to the Italian restaurant downtown.  Plus great historical homes 2 blocks from heart of the small downtown.   Several renovations on the older homes on N Union and quite a residential neighborhood on S Union as well. 

enjoy the tour of downtown Concord and  N Union St neighborhood. 

[rancenc]

Nice addition to the Stanly County town of Locust.

https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/construction-starts-locusts-first-brewery/DWN63TIIJFHUDA7QADWCQJS7NQ/?fbclid=IwAR1BnymViQIXznFZPcsiJmJHqdFGs1lFEuesP5nW9Pck7UsyuFth6NhTryk

[KJHburg]

More apartments just started in downtown Kannapolis from the Biz Journal today.

""On Thursday, LMG's Peter Flotz and city leaders broke ground on 200 Main, an apartment project at the corner of Main Street and Cannon Baller Way. The project will include 78 apartments and around 3,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space, Flotz said. 200 Main calls for an estimated investment of $21 million and is expected to be completed in spring 2023.  The project neighbors Vida Kannapolis, LMG's first apartment project downtown. Flotz and Kannapolis Mayor Darrell Hinnant touted Vida as a big success so far. The 289-unit complex is 78% leased after opening earlier this year. Flotz said Vida included a total investment of around $56 million.""

Lansing Melbourne Group, Kannapolis leaders break ground on apartments - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

""In April, Tri Pointe Homes broke ground on Pennant Square townhomes between South Main Street, West F Street and Dale Earnhardt Boulevard. The 120-unit project is bringing for-sale residential product to the downtown effort to complement LMG's apartment developments. The townhomes are expected to begin delivering next year.""

and this 

""Renovations are underway at the Swanee Theatre, which is being led by Kent Gregory, who works with LMG. The theatre will be used as a live-music venue, and Hinnant said Thursday the city was aiming for an opening there in October or November. The historic Gem Theatre is undergoing several phases of renovations, as well.""

next Saturday 21 at 4 pm the UP Meetup in the ring city of Kannapolis and you can see a lot is happening there! 

[KJHburg]

from the south side of Davidson County just over the river from Rowan County is Egger Wood Products.  This a great set of videos on how they turn sawdust into a product that you likely have in your house or in your furniture.

This is an Austrian company and this is only plant in North America just south of Lexington.

This could be the History Channel's How Stuff is Made show.

Lexington, North Carolina | EGGER

https://media.egger.com/Elearning/US/Plant_Tour/index.html    very interesting 

[KJHburg]

downtown Kannapolis after our UP Meetup.  Old Armour Brewery beer garden next to the new Vida apartments last photo.  Baseball game tonight too and still lots of people on the West A promenade.  Very active and popular pedestrian area.  

 

[krazeeboi]

On 7/19/2021 at 1:13 PM, KJHburg said:

The Albemarle Sound region and the city of Albemarle are not as mixed up as the two Greenvilles one in North and one in South Carolina.  when I was at ECU in Greenville NC a basketball team landed in Greenville SC to play ECU!  this was widely reported.  

Being from SC where most counties share the name of their county seats, I always thought it was weird that in NC, neither Asheville or Asheboro are in Ashe County, the town of Henderson is nowhere near Henderson County, Pittsboro is not in Pitt County, the city of Lenoir is not in Lenoir County, Graham is the Alamance County seat and not the Graham County seat, Mooresville is not in Moore County, etc. I'm sure there have been some mixups here that just haven't been very widely reported.

[tozmervo]

35 minutes ago, krazeeboi said:

Being from SC where most counties share the name of their county seats, I always thought it was weird that in NC, neither Asheville or Asheboro are in Ashe County, the town of Henderson is nowhere near Henderson County, Pittsboro is not in Pitt County, the city of Lenoir is not in Lenoir County, Graham is the Alamance County seat and not the Graham County seat, Mooresville is not in Moore County, etc. I'm sure there have been some mixups here that just haven't been very widely reported.

Rockingham, NC is the county seat of Richmond County, not Rockingham County.

[CarolinaDaydreamin]

You'd REALLY hate Georgia, which many people forget borders about 180 miles of NC.

Well, Jefferson is not in Jefferson County. Jackson is not in Jackson County. 

Washington is not in Washington County. Waynesboro is not in Wayne County. 

Oglethorpe is not in Oglethorpe County. Quitman is not in Quitman County. 

Macon is not in Macon County. Bibb City is not in Bibb County.

Forsyth, Ga., is in Monroe County. Monroe, Ga., is in Walton County.

Douglas, the city, is in Coffee County. Douglas, the county, is west of Atlanta. 

West of Macon is Crawford County. The city of Crawford is in Oglethorpe County. 

The city of Oglethorpe is in Macon County. Macon, the city, is in Bibb County. 

Bibb City is in Muscogee County, as is Columbus, which is not in Columbia County, whose county seat is Appling, which is about 150 miles away from Appling County. 

Jesup is in Wayne County; Waynesboro is in Burke County. There's a Baconton somewhere near Albany, but Bacon County is north of Waycross. 

Brantley is in Marion County, near Columbus. Brantley County is near Savannah. 

Sumter County has a city named Cobb, far from the suburban sprawl of Metro Atlanta's Cobb County. 

The county of Quitman is on the Alabama line. 

The city of Quitman is in Brooks County near Florida, nowhere near the city of Brooks, which is in Fayette County near Atlanta. 

Mitchell, the city, is in Glascock County. Mitchell, the county, is in deep south Georgia. 

The city of Dawson is in Terrell County. Dawson County is north of Atlanta. 

Union City, Union Point and Unionville are nowhere near Union County in the north Georgia mountains. 

Danielsville is the county seat of Madison County, but Madison is in Morgan County. The city of Morgan is in Calhoun County, but the city of Calhoun is in Gordon County, which happens to be across the state from the city of Gordon, which is in Wilkinson County.

Edited August 23, 2021 by CarolinaDaydreamin

[DownEast]

The only similarities with SC here are Durham, Wilson, Halifax and Camden Counties. Nashville>Nash County. Warrenton>Warren County. Wilkesboro>Wilkes County. Gastonia. Lincolnton, Yanceyville....

[rancenc]

Cramerton and recreational activities in the vicinity from a recent episode of "NC Weekend"!

 

[JRNYP2C]

8 minutes ago, rancenc said:

Cramerton and recreational activities in the vicinity from a recent episode of "NC Weekend"!

 

Thank you for posting this!  I watched this episode about two weeks ago and didn't even realize they were filming in my little town!

We just had our annual Goat Island Games on Saturday, complete with the largest 5k in the County this year.  Due to current Covid issues, the event was moved from May to this past weekend.  The heat was quite oppressive, and we are looking to have it in May again next year.  We really like our little corner of the county and invite everyone to check it out!

 

[rancenc]

I am glad you enjoyed the video @JRNYP2C.  PBS's "NC Weekend" is a great series that really showcases a lot of places that even native born "Tarheelers" like myself are not even aware of!  Check out the video in the Rowan/Cabarrus section as well!

[rancenc]

Jobs and investment coming to Gaston County.

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2021/08/27/gaston-apple-creek-corporate-center-industrial.html?cx_testId=40&cx_testVariant=cx_23&cx_artPos=6#cxrecs_s

[KJHburg]

Huntersville getting new HQ from Chicago with Safeguard Medical.

Safeguard Medical to put its HQ in Huntersville industrial building - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

""Safeguard Medical will occupy a 159,120-square-foot industrial building in The Park-Huntersville for its headquarters. The industrial building was announced earlier this month and is being developed by Raleigh-based Edgewater Ventures as the firm's first project in the Charlotte region. Safeguard Medical said Monday that its operation would include 175 employees and could eventually grow to 250.  The industrial building sits on a 13-acre site in the Huntersville business park and is being targeted for an April 2022 delivery. Alidade Capital, which owns four other buildings at The Park, is partnering with Edgewater on the project.  Safeguard Medical is a medical products company that operates in the emergency medicine, defense and public safety sectors. It was founded last year in Chicago, but the Huntersville location will be its first official headquarters,""

[rancenc]

Profile on outer ring communities that make up Catawba County!

https://businessnc.com/community-close-up-catawba-county-a-new-look/

 

[KJHburg]

Great new apartment building  going up in downtown Gastonia.  there is a real boom in  downtown apartment complexes in the ring cities of Charlotte.  New complexes have gone up in downtown Waxhaw, Concord, Kannapolis,  Rock Hill, Mooresville (has one under construction) and now this one.  Urban walkable neighborhoods is not limited to Meck county.

Center City Crossings construction begins in Fall 2021, may finish 2023 (gastongazette.com)

[videtur quam contuor]

KJ has a post just above this one about new apartment building in downtown Gastonia. I drove to and through there today. Great day for a drive. So many motorcycles and convertibles out today.  

Main Avenue in Gastonia was the street hard by and just south of the rail line. For the first half of the XX th century it was the center of commerce in the city. With the completion of the 4-5 lane Franklin Boulevard, aka US 29/74 one block south, postwar activity moved to the street with the much greater traffic. Main slept. It is now part of a Gastonia initiative , FUSE, Franklin Urban Sports and Entertainment district. About six blocks or so has been reactivated and new businesses in traditional buildings.

One end of Main is the new baseball field Caromont Park. Game today at 5 pm.

Main begins across the street

Facing the ball park is the Trenton Mill apartment project. These are new windows in the old style. That costs money. Larger project than I could capture in a single shot.

https://livetrentonmill.com/

Street sample. Most of the buildings along here survive with some gaps noticeable.

Gastonia co-work space

Gas

US Post office and federal services building. I assume still under same ownership. I appreciate the sunburst motif atop the brick columns. Note historic street lamps. Also trees, both original and newly planted.

The Esquire. Originally a bank and lawyers building. Thus the "Esquire" name. It has appeared here on UP. An anchor of this district.

There is quite a bit happening here architecturally. Citizens National Bank. From 1920. This was a time when it was common to mistrust, even to fear banks. The architecture had to communicate that the business was solid and solvent. "Your money is safe here" is the message. Eagle with wings spread above front door.  Corinthian capitals. Both items express higher status and standing for the building. Check those doors on the left. Imagine during the bank "holiday" of 1933 when FD Roosevelt required all banks to close until their solvency and liquidity could be assessed. Citizens (irony alert) would have gathered to demand their savings. The doors kept the money inside and the depositors outside. Many a bank manager kept a revolver in his desk in case suicide was necessary.

This will become a fine dining restaurant, it is hoped. There will be a rail trail, of sorts along the rear of these properties. Read here:

https://www.gastongazette.com/news/20180910/downtown-bank-owners-envision-bigger-back-patio-walking-path

I know not the origin of the bank clock. The clock is correct. Also a night depository under the left window, a precursor to the ATM. Ask your grandparents.

Kress store. There were several entrepreneurs in the late 19th to early 20th century who perfected the "everything store" before Amazon. Personal goods of all kinds, toys, tobacco, clothing, a store for everything and everyone at low prices. Woolworth, Penney, Kresge (different from Kress). Five and dime stores they were called though there was much that was more than that price. Kress Stores were always known by their architecture, usually a feature building in any business section. Without the name attached this is identifiable as Kress. The chevrons below the upper windows and the colorful terra cotta tiles above, the astounding brickwork, and the bricks themselves all say Kress.  The sign above the doors is a reproduction and not original. 

Eight to ten blocks east of the FUSE section is the other end of Main Avenue. Main expires at the rear of Tony's Ice Cream factory and shop. If you have never had Tony's Ice Cream, hie thyself thither posthaste.  Family owned and operated.  Since 1915. Factory is across the side street and rear abuts last of expiring Main Avenue. Black Cherry milkshake today. Oh my!

 

[KJHburg]

Downtown Gastonia has all the ingredients to boom and boom again.  New housing, new hotel, new indepedent shops, new baseball stadium etc.  I have pronounced this the decade of Gaston County.