Tim Anderton

The Mooresville Downtown Commission, a non-profit group that works to maintain and sustain the development and character of downtown Mooresville, is asking the Town Commissioners to increase the funding it receives from the town to $60,000, but the town is uncertain of the return on investment.

Previously, the Town's contribution to the group has been approximately $45,000 per year. However, with the impending retirement of the long-standing director, the MDC feels that it's necessary to hire “an executive director with experience promoting and revitalizing downtowns”, and add that this individual will be held to the meeting of certain goals in “increasing investment, business growth, residential development and entertainment”.

Some of the Town Commissioners feel that the money the Town has provided in the past has not provided any measurable results, despite the Town's additional efforts in upgrades to sidewalks and parking in the Downtown area. MDC board members seem to share this concern and frustration, however, and also feel that the board must demand results from a new executive director.

The Town Commissioners have until June 30 to make a decision on the budget request of the MDC, but some sources feel a decision sooner is likely.

1,500 workers at the Rowan County Freightliner plant will be laid off in June, a number equal to roughly half of the plant's work force and slightly more than what was expected by some.

Freightliner originally planned to make these cuts last April (2007), but held off after striking a deal with the local UAW. The cuts take effect on June 6, when the plant will go to one operating shift instead of two. Freightliner dropped production shifts from three a little over a year ago. According to the NC Employment Security Commission, this set of lay-offs is the largest in the area since Philip Morris' announcement to close their Concord cigarette plant which employs 2500 people. The Philip Morris closure is expected to be complete by 2010.

Freightliner and UAW representatives blame a shrinking economy for the sharp reduction in sales they've seen over the past year. They say that the heavy-duty truck manufacturing industry is tied very closely with industrial spending- less construction means fewer goods to haul, and therefore a lower demand for new trucks and replacement parts. Recent heavy layoffs of drivers in the trucking industry goes hand-in-hand with the downturn in demand seen by Freightliner.

However, Freightliner does expect an increase in sales again in 2009, when potential buyers will be looking to buy new trucks ahead of a 2010 increase in emission standards that will drive truck prices up again. A similar situation was seen in 2006, when some companies were buying trucks and warehousing them ahead of a 2007 emissions standards increase. Such cyclical patterns in demand, sales, and employment needs are typical of the manufacturing industry, and local groups and industries have worked with laid-off employees in the past with job training opportunities for those not willing to “wait and see” what happens in Freightliner's future.

Last Tuesday (April 1), Dela Casa Landscaping & Design became the first entity to acquire a re-zoning of property under the new legislative-based process available to Iredell County Commissioners.

The 2.75 acre tract off Bethesda Rd where the company wished to place their offices was zoned residential agricultural. In February 2007, Anthony D’Alessandro and Peter Casatelli attempted to get the property re-zoned through the largely judicial process of conditional-use redistricting. They were unsuccessful due largely to overlay of flood zones and the lengthy review process itself inherent in conditional-use redistricting.

The decision of the Iredell County commissioners was unanimous in choosing to re-zone the property highway business conditional. The commissioners were able to and did place the same restrictions on use as the 2007 attempt would have done, including restricting the business type and hours and requiring the addition of a commercially sized driveway. In essence, the result is exactly the same as if the original re-zoning attempt has been successful, as the Commissioners clearly felt it should have been.

It seems that the new legislative re-zoning approach allows the commissioners to deal with the specifics of a situation without being caught in bureaucratic restrictions not intended for situations for which they might seem to apply.

While issues of “walkability” and density remain as discussion points for analysts and pundits, the new Brookline development at Reames and Lakeview, less than a mile from Northlake Mall, stands to be the catalyst that extends the idea of just where is the “edge” of Charlotte.

It's been 2 ½ years since Northlake Mall first opened, and development around the area has been rapid, but mostly commercial. The Brookline development will have 180 homes on 40 acres (a phase 2 is planned for an additional 15 acres across Reames Rd from the main/initial phase) in the $500,000 range. The construction will be brick-and-stone, and patterned after Heydon Hall in south Charlotte, including a heavy reliance on “streetscape” to create a more attractive overall look.

Analysts are debating whether or not the concept of an “edge city” is still a viable one as energy costs rise and people may be less willing to drive to their destinations, and the idea of walkable mixed-use developments play into this debate. Brookline is not such a development, but it is within a mile of Northlake Mall and the surrounding business and retail locations. As such, it is being compared to South Park and its rise in the 1970s (it's no coincidence that it's modeled after a South area neighborhood). All of this debate is largely academic, though, because the Brookline development serves to do one thing that can have a major effect on the Mooresville/South Iredell area- mentally extend the idea of the “Charlotte Metro Region”.

As more and more people settle on the north end of Mecklenburg county with Charlotte addresses, the idea of where the Charlotte area really is expands. It's been said in this blog before (on more than one occasion) that the Mooresville/South Iredell area can be a viable business location for those seeking to do business in the Charlotte area, but there seems to be a mental disconnect that can't bridge the Mecklenburg/Iredell county line. Brookline is one of the developments that can help minimize that disconnect, and that's a good thing for Mooresville commercial real estate.

The overarching sentiment expressed by the firm behind the Mooresville Mill Project at Thursday night's meeting of residents of the Mill Village was “We're not giving up”.

David Rogers, of Rogers & Associates Inc, the development firm working with property owners Cherokee Investment Partners, LLC on the Mooresville Mill Project, was at the regular meeting of the Mooresville Mill Village residents to give an update on the progress of the project, set to redevelop the historic Mill into a retail, residential and commercial mixed-use development. Cherokee Investment Partners bought the mill property after the departure of Burlington Industries.

Rogers talked about the firm's attempts to have the property listed on the National Historic Registry, which is an extension of the National Park Service. The importance of the listing has to do with potential tax credits that the partners could use to raise capital for the project as well as borrowing against the future property tax increase that would come from the new space. Attempts to gain entry to the Registry have not worked out thus far on a state level and a Federal review of the application is underway. Results from that review will likely be known in early July.

It has also been discovered that the sewer capacity currently available to the mill property will not be sufficient to meet projected demand. Rogers said that work is underway to develop solutions to the issue and if possible would be undertaken in such a way as to benefit the surrounding Mill Village neighborhood, where some of the sewer lines are still the original pipe laid by the mill.

Despite these setbacks, Rogers is still confident in the project. He relayed that in 40 years of historical development, he's worked on several projects that took 4 to 6 years to “really get going” and that such timelines are just part of the nature of dealing with historical properties. Rogers, Mayor Thurnberg, and Commissioners Abraham and Atkins all spoke of other potential “catalysts” in the work that could serve as the trigger that “gets this project going”, but none were willing to speak about specifics at this stage.