Gaston County: Civic Leaders See Tolls on the Road to the Future 

Charlotte: Deadline Looms for a Pact on New Arena for the Hornets
High Point: City Hopes its Showroom Space Will Attract More Conventions
Hickory: Support for Explosive Rural Growth Flors from Some Unusual Sources
Wilmington: Entire Region Gets in the Swim to Land a Major Boat Builder
Greensboro: Downtown Stars in a new Television Commercial
Charlotte: First Union Bridges the Digital Divide

Civic Leaders See Tolls on the Road to the Future
Gaston County — known for its fish camps and textile mills — could become known for the state's only toll road. While the often-cursed traffic bottlenecks and exact change headaches of our northern neighbors' toll roads weren't Gaston County's first choice, community leaders say a southern bypass and an additional bridge crossing the Catawba River into Mecklenburg County are needed quicker than state transportation officials expect to have money to construct.

So the Gaston Chamber of Commerce, which believes such a bypass would open land to development and relieve congestion on I-85, began exploring other means of financing the road. In July the General Assembly passed legislation sponsored by Gaston and Mecklenburg officials that will allow one private toll-road project somewhere in the state. The legislation doesn't specify that Gaston gets to be the state's toll-road guinea pig, so Gaston officials are now exploring how to put together the financing to get the state's approval. The choice is between allowing a private company to finance the project and collect all revenues from tolls or a public-private venture, similar to one under way in Greenville, S.C.

“We want a road quickly, but at the same time get the lowest possible cost,” says Bob Spencer, chairman of the chamber's transportation committee. Gaston is a good test site for the state's first toll road, Spencer says, because drivers will have the option of paying to use the toll road or ride free on I-85 or U.S. 74, which currently offer the only two major bridges across the river in the county. Toll road supporters think the free highways will be crowded enough to entice a good portion of the 20,000 Gaston residents that now commute into Mecklenburg County to pay for a faster ride.

Supporters also point to the growth of Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, which soon will be opening new intermodal freight yards that will increase truck traffic around the airport. Also, Stowe Botanical Gardens, located in the lower Belmont peninsula, is undergoing extensive growth and is expected to attract thousands of visitors a year. Preliminary plans call for a 26-mile, $400 million bypass that would stretch from west Gastonia to the southeast and over the Catawba River near the Duke Energy Allen Steam Plant south of Belmont.

Bob Cook, senior transportation planner for the Gaston Metropolitan Planning Organization, says current travel demand models have I-85 and U.S. 74 at or over capacity within 20 years. “There's been a greater need in other places in the country for toll roads because of the rapid growth they experienced. Our growth is more recent,” Cook says. — Laura Williams-Tracy


Deadline Looms for a Pact on New Arena for the Hornets
After three years of flirting with the idea of a new uptown arena for the NBA's Charlotte Hornets, team and city officials are expected to hammer out a deal by mid-December. But a pact between the city and the Hornets is just the first step in building an estimated $250 million arena. The Hornets also hope to get financial backing from the county, the state and the Charlotte business community.

Both sides are working toward a Dec. 31 deadline. Without a decision by that time, the Hornets can break their lease on the city-owned Charlotte Coliseum, where the Hornets currently play, without a financial penalty. Hornets officials have said without a new arena they will consider moving the team to another city.

“We certainly think it's important to keep the Hornets in Charlotte,” says Curt Walton, Charlotte budget director and a member of the city's negotiating team. “It follows our economic strategy to retain the businesses we've got, and the Hornets certainly are one of our most prominent businesses.”

The negotiations come at a difficult time for the Hornets. Fan apathy is high after a series of players and owner George Shinn became entangled in run-ins with law enforcement. Game attendance is at an all-time low. The 12-year-old coliseum has no club seats and only 12 luxury suites. The Hornets say they need these higher-priced seats and luxury boxes to make the franchise profitable. The Hornets want to leave the 23,799-seat arena and move to a proposed 19,500-seat arena.

Ray Wooldridge, an Atlanta businessman who purchased part ownership of the team last year and who now heads up the Hornet's negotiating team, estimates the Hornets will lose $20 million over the next year due to increased player salaries with no rise in revenue. Wooldridge has said in the past that the Hornets are losing $1 million a month playing in the current arena. Officials have set their sights for a new arena on a 10-acre tract of land in downtown Charlotte near Ericsson Stadium, where the Carolina Panthers play.

Three financing plans proposed by Wooldridge were snubbed because each presumed that most of the arena's cost would be paid by taxpayers. Most city council members believe the Hornets should pay at least half. Charlotte will likely have to raise at least $80 million toward an uptown building. — Laura Williams-Tracy


City Hopes its Showroom Space Will Attract More Conventions
Downtown High Point puzzles first-time business visitors. What seem to be retail storefronts often have signs hanging on the door: “Not open to the public.” What visitors have to be reminded of is that the buildings they are viewing collectively make up the largest furniture showroom in the world. For two weeks in the spring and again in the fall, downtown High Point is filled with thousands of furniture buyers attending the International Home Furnishings Market who crisscross the streets to walk into those “not open to the public” showrooms to view the latest lines.

Starting in January, downtown High Point hopes to expand its image from that of a giant furniture trade show space to just plain trade show space. Showplace!, a 450,000 square-foot building that opened last month, has put aside about 285,000 square feet as temporary space. Two blocks away, Suites at Market Square has set aside 115,000 square feet as temporary space. Counting 60,000 square feet of meeting space at the Radisson Hotel, downtown High Point now has 460,000 square feet of showroom and meeting space to pitch to trade show managers.

Officials at the High Point Convention and Visitors Bureau have been holding off on going after too many large shows until Showplace! was finished. “You can't pitch a building that is under construction. Meeting planners want to see it,” says Ron Stephens, vice president of sales and marketing for the Bureau.

Another key to developing the trade show business, say Stephens and CVB President Charlotte Young, is attracting another downtown hotel to increase the number of rooms within walking distance of the showroom space. An older Ramada was torn down last year and more permanent showroom space is going up in its place. The only rooms downtown today are the 252 rooms of the Radisson. Counting those near the Piedmont Triad International Airport, High Point has 900 hotel rooms. “I would like to end up with about 1,500 to 2,000 rooms,” says Young. “That would make the selling of the area a little easier. Right now we are about 500 away from that.”

Hotel developers have heard about the new showroom space and several are now evaluating High Point. The prime space on Main Street is also prime space for furniture showrooms, so developers are studying if they can attract guest attention one or two blocks off Main. Stephens and Young are confident that a major hotel will be opening in downtown High Point within two years. If it succeeds, more hotels may follow and the city could become a year-round trade show destination. — Clint Johnson


Support for Explosive Rural Growth Flows from Some Unusual Sources
A cooperative effort by Catawba County and the cities of Conover and Hickory to provide water to southeastern Catawba County is being lauded by the state as exemplary. Catawba County recently reached an agreement with Hickory through which the city sells water to county residents about 32 miles away in the southeastern part of Catawba County.

Because there aren't any city water lines that reach that area of the county, the county had to determine how to get the water to the area that is bordered by Lincoln and Iredell counties and Lake Norman. That is where Conover came in. The smaller city, which borders Hickory's southeastern city limits and has purchased water from Hickory for years, agreed to let the water flow through its lines, thus saving the county from having to build more lines. The county will have to build a connector to join it to its existing lines and will add more lines as new homes are built, according to County Manager Tom Lundy.

Southeastern Catawba County, which includes the popular Lake Norman area and the communities of Sherills Ford and Terrell, has a population of about 18,000 and has received requests from developers to build about 1,000 new homes in three subdivisions. Existing homes are on well water. County commissioners began addressing the need to get public water to the area about four years ago when it set a goal of having water piped to all county schools. The county also wanted to have public water piped to CommScope Corp., which has a large plant in that part of the county.

State Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources Bill Holman commends the cooperative efforts. “What is unusual is that the county and two towns have decided to do this on their own. Most of the time you don't see regional cooperation begin until the state tells them they have to do it,” he says. “It takes good local leadership for governments to realize that it is in their best interests to work together to provide services.”

The county has contracted with Hickory to provide up to 300,000 gallons a day to the area, according to Hickory Public Service Director Chuck Hansen. The city will provide the water, maintain the lines and do the billing. The county will build any new water lines that are needed. Hickory and the county will split the revenue, and Conover will receive a fee for the use of its lines.

When Hickory built its state-of-the-art water treatment center about 10 years ago, it planned for the facility to be a regional water supplier, according to City Manager Gary McGee. It has a 32 million gallon-a-day capacity, and the average usage is 13 million, according to Hansen. Hickory also sells water to parts of Alexander, Burke and Caldwell counties. — Charlene H. Nelson


Entire Region Gets in the Swim to Land a Major Boat Builder
In economics, they say a rising tide lifts all boats. That is certainly the case, literally and metaphorically, around Wilmington lately. KCS International, the Wisconsin-based parent of Cruisers Yachts, Rampage Sport Fishing Yachts and Shamrock Sport Fishing Boats, has announced it will invest $20 million in a new 258,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Navassa, a tiny Brunswick County town on the banks of the Cape Fear River.

The 60-acre spot will initially turn out 30-foot and 38-foot Rampage models. Eventually, its 44-foot and 50-foot lines will be folded into the site, which will employ up to 700 as it ramps up operations in the coming five years. “These are all jobs that pay 10 percent or more above the county's average wage,” says Steve Johnson, director of the Brunswick County Economic Development Commission.

Boat building is nothing new in North Carolina. Coastal North Carolina has seen its number of boat manufacturers and boat building jobs surge since the mid-1990s. But the KCS International deal represents a large, nationally recognized name in the industry. “These are high-end boats,” says Mike Bradley, director of the Marine Trades Program at UNC Wilmington, which helped place the firm at the site. “We're really lucky.”

At full capacity, the site is expected to generate $13 million in annual payroll. But Bradley anticipates a wider economic impact as KCS's suppliers consider setting up outposts nearby. “Without question, any time you have a company that size, there'll be contractors moving in to fill needs,” he says.

Aside from being a big win for Brunswick County, the KCS decision was a textbook case of regional cooperation and collaboration. Company officials made an initial site-selection trip to neighboring Wilmington five years ago to look at the site of the defunct Carver Boats. When that site was sold to another firm, officials of Wilmington Industrial Development (WID), which directs economic development in New Hanover and Pender counties, kept up the pressure on KCS to consider other locations in the region. The company was sold on the Navassa property because its size will accommodate expansion as needs grow and because its deep-water access will support deliveries by water in addition to year-round testing. “Whatever helps Brunswick County also helps New Hanover and Pender counties,” explains Rick Biberstein, WID's chairman. “Every indication is that it's going to be a big boost for the entire regional economy.”

WID joined with Brunswick County officials and a host of other players to place the plant in the region. The N.C. Department of Commerce, Brunswick Community College, North Carolina's Southeast and CP&L each stepped forward to ensure KCS got what it needed in terms of infrastructure, customized workforce training and utilities.

In announcing the decision, KCS International President Jim Viestenz acknowledged the closeness of Brunswick County's Johnson and Scott Satterfield, WID's executive director. “The spirit of teamwork and cooperation that existed between these two to help us locate the right piece of property was unmatched.” — Lawrence Bivins


Downtown Greensboro Stars in a New Television Commercial
Downtown Greensboro is the place to be for diners and shoppers, at least according to a 30-second TV commercial that's airing on the city's CBS affiliate. “It is designed to show the energy that is happening downtown right now and promote the diversity of the unique shopping, eating and entertainment venues we have,” says Ray Gibbs, president of Downtown Greensboro Inc.

Gibbs may be thinking about lengthening the commercial and extending the message that downtown is where renters, homeowners, and businesses also want to be. At present Gibbs estimates there are about 125 residential units downtown. Over the next 18 months he expects another 250 to be built. The mix will vary from an expansion of an existing downtown apartment complex to the renovation of several dilapidated Victorian homes to the construction of new townhouses that will be zoned to allow owners to operate a professional business on the first floor and live on the second floor.

Next month the Kress Building, which has been abandoned for 20 years — though it featured such style touches as a terrazzo floor and stained glass windows — will reopen as home to an architectural firm and an advertising agency. The fourth floor will feature a roof top terrace suitable for holding receptions and meetings. Another architectural firm has moved into a renovated building that was once so filled with junked washing machines that the prospective owners could barely squeeze around to inspect its structural integrity. And the SouthTrust Bank building, which opened this year, is about 80 percent occupied.

Downtown figures to get a boost at night by the middle of next year. Triad Stage, a 300-seat theater that will employ professional actors, will open in the remodeled Montgomery Ward Building. Triad Stage will join the Carolina Theater and the Broach Theater in providing entertainment virtually every night of the week.

Where people go, restaurants are sure to follow. There are 25 at present, including 12 that stay open in the evening. Another four will open over the next several months. “Restaurants seem to feed off of each other. Once one is successful, others seem to follow,” says Gibbs. “People tend to think of downtown as offices that empty out after work, but that no longer is the case.”

Still more developers are joining in the drive to bring people and business back downtown. According to Gibbs, 32 downtown buildings have sold during the past year and two more are under contract. “Downtown used to be just about banks and brokerages, but now we are pulling in the high-tech web design companies and architecture firms,” Gibbs says. “This commercial development will help drive the residential market.” — Clint Johnson


First Union Bridges the Digital Divide
First Union Corp. has launched an initiative to help bridge the digital divide and provide training and access to computer technology for thousands of people. The eCommunitiesFirst program addresses the national trend that individuals who lack access to computers also fail to get the skills they need to compete in today's technology-driven marketplace. A recent National Public Radio study confirmed that lower-income Americans are less than half as likely as those with higher incomes to have an Internet connection at home.

People without access and education are at a disadvantage in pursuing educational opportunities, jobs and financial goals. “These individuals that we hope to reach in the community will become employees of some company, will become homeowners and will become more productive employees because of this training,” says Lenny Springs, senior vice president for community development for First Union.

Springs says First Union recognized that other organizations are working to provide more access to technology to disadvantaged groups, but no other organization was also providing the free training, which is key in closing the gap between people with technology resources and those without. Almost 1,000 students are expected to be trained in eCommunitiesFirst by year's end.

The eCommunitiesFirst program is an alliance between First Union and 15 other community organizations in the Charlotte area, including the city, Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools, the Housing Authority and a number of churches and community organizations. It grew out of First Union's Community Development Advisory Council, which identified the lack of access to computer technology by lower-income individuals, minorities, youth and senior citizens as a growing concern.

The program kicked off in August at four learning centers around Charlotte. More than 100 First Union employee volunteers and community volunteers staff the centers during and after business hours. The training curriculum includes an introduction to computers, a class on Internet basics and a basic money management class.

A side benefit to the program is that it will equip these same people to participate in the growing trend of online banking services. First Union has made Internet banking a key portion of its business model for the future. “We want all of our customers to be able to take advantage of online banking services,” says Mary Eshet, a spokesman for First Union. “Online resources are so key to getting an education, finding a job, and managing money — all of the transactions of life. This whole group of people shouldn't be left behind.”

Part of the eCommunitiesFirst program includes an outreach to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to provide greater computer access for students and impact student achievement. First Union is donating almost 100 computers to the school system. First Union plans to roll out eCommunitiesFirst in other cities in future months, including Atlanta, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Miami and Greenville, S.C. — Laura Williams-Tracy

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