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BIZ WATCH I More retailers and restaurants ... but how?
Laura Oleniacz
2010-06-21 20:12:21
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Some New Bern-area residents have a hunger to see more national
retailers and restaurants inside the city limits.
On the wish-list of those residents, you might see names like Olive
Garden Italian Restaurant, Chili's Grill & Bar Restaurant, Ross or Old
Navy, The Home Depot, Marshalls, Kohl's, or just a desire for more
high-end restaurants or pizza joints.
But what are the factors affecting the city's ability to attract and support those retailers?
Kevin Roberts, president of the New Bern Area Chamber of Commerce, said demographics and the
availability of commercial real estate in high-traffic areas of the city are two factors limiting its retail and
restaurant growth.
Roberts said he believes the city is currently "underserved" in the retail sector, and any new retail
additions would draw shoppers from Craven, Pamlico and part of Jones counties as well. But he said
there are some stores that just "are not going to come right now."
"Demographics in Greenville, Morehead and Jacksonville do support things that we are not ready to
support," he said.
Roberts named the lack of availability of commercial real estate as being a factor affecting future business
growth in New Bern, explaining that national retailers often want to locate on parcels of a certain size, and
only in areas with high traffic volumes and ease of access along those routes.
Marvin Raines, owner and broker-in-charge of Century 21 Zaytoun-Raines Real Estate, said those retail
stores are often looking for parcels on 20 acres or more that front along a city's major thoroughfares.
"They want to be on 17 or they want to be on 70," Raines said.
New Bern resident Walt Crayton, who owns Crayton Commercial LLC that develops shopping centers
across the region, also said his development peers and national retailers look to develop along the main
retail corridors of cities like New Bern.
That would mean they would be looking along Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard between Glenburnie
Road and the U.S. 70 overpass, Crayton said, and there's "no real available land in that retail corridor."
"These people are real, they've got a very narrow criterion that you look at," he said. "If you show them a
piece of land outside of that area that you've got your sights set on, they won't consider it."
Michael Avery, New Bern's director of planning, said there are 3,900 acres of land zoned for commercial
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development in the city that make up almost 21.5 percent of its total area. Some of that land is
undeveloped, but he believes most of it is.
"I would think that probably most of it is occupied," he said.
So, what next?
As for Crayton, he sees potential for growth along U.S. 70 East between the city and Havelock. He
developed the shopping center Sound of Freedom Shops at 537 U.S. 70 that includes the Dollar Tree,
Hibbett Sporting Goods, rue 21, Game Stop, and Great Clips. The center was completed in the spring of
2009 along U.S. 70 across from the Walmart in Havelock, and Crayton thinks there's room for more
between the two cities.
"That may turn into a secondary major retail area of Craven County," he said of the area.
But Roberts said he believes retailers may be skittish to develop along U.S. 70 closer to New Bern in
James City due to plans at the state level to change the traffic patterns there to ease the flow of beach
traffic from the state's capital to the coast.
The "Super 70" project calls for changes to the highway in Craven as well as in Johnston, Wayne, Lenoir,
Jones and Carteret counties. In James City, the project would call for two "ramp-over bridges" taking the
highway over Williams and Airport Roads, according to the Web site, super70corridor.com.
"The whole air of uncertainty out there makes it kind of hard to develop there," Roberts said.
Raines said he believes that segment of U.S. 70 "is pretty much built out."
"There's some small parcels here and there, but there's really not any large tracts," he said.
Roberts said he sees future business growth along U.S. 17 near the southern leg of the N.C. 43 connector
when that leg is completed, joining the two routes and ending near the current location of Ben D. Quinn
Elementary School. He called that stretch of land between that connector and Glenburnie Road would be
the area's "biggest potential."
Raines also said the connector would furnish business growth, adding that Simmons Street and
Glenburnie Road used to serve as outer loops of the city that have since filled out with development and
businesses. `
"There's very little vacant land between Simmons Street and Glenburnie Road," he said. "If we could get
the 43 connector through, the southern leg of it, that would be the next outer loop that would fill in as well.
That would open up many acres of commercial land between Glenburnie Road and where the 43
connector is going to be."
Laura Oleniacz can be reached at 252-635-5675 or at [e-mail]
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Print Article: Plans progress for commercial, residential development Page 1 of 2
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Plans progress for commercial, residential development
Laura Oleniacz
2010-06-22 18:03:09
Plans are moving forward for Weyerhaeuser Real Estate
Development Co.'s planned 586-acre development at the juncture of
U.S. 70 and N.C. 43 that could include a cinema, shops, schools,
offices and restaurants, as well as houses, town homes and
apartments.
Taylor Downey, operations manager for Weyerhaeuser Co.'s real
estate arm, said the development company hopes to break ground
on the new project before the end of the year, running sewer and
water lines and clearing acreage for roads at that time.
The Madison, Ga.-based Southeast region office for the real estate subsidiary of the Weyerhaeuser wood
products company also developed the Taberna and Greenbrier communities, and sold land for Carolina
Colours to other investors.
The new development would be located on a former pine tree plantation, Downey said, and is proposed to
be distinctive for its proposed mixed-use concept. Studies are under way to see if the commercial
development could become a regional shopping destination.
"The commercial component is the thing I think that drives this particular site," Downey said. "For years,
we've lost a lot of retail in Craven County, just because there are no adequate sites for these retailers to
locate in."
New Bern planners approved the zoning for the site in October of 2008, and now Downey said the
company has submitted the site's off-site water and sewer plans to the city for review.
The company has also been working to have a boundary survey completed, and to have the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers complete a delineation of wetlands on the site.
They are also working to finalize designs of the access points to N.C. 43 with the N.C. Department of
Transportation, and with city planning staff on issues relating to the city's thoroughfare plan that calls for
Elizabeth Avenue's connection with N.C. 43.
Downey said the developer's proposed plan is to channel traffic to N.C. 43 through the development,
giving an alternative access to N.C. 43 for the Derby Park and Elizabeth Avenue communities. He said
that once water, sewer and driveway permits are in place, the company can start more detailed designs of
the site work.
Mike Avery, the city's director of planning and inspections, said a site plan has not yet been submitted to
the city for departmental review, but the developers have been working with the city through the concept
development process.
"They contacted the city early on, and have been working with us and asking questions and getting
feedback and have been using that as they've worked on their concept plan and approach," Avery said.
Downey said the project is being driven by a "void that needs to be filled" for commercial development.
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"We've been doing demographic work, having demographers look at this whole region, from Greenville to
Morehead City to Jacksonville and Goldsboro, and trying to start planning where this commercial area can
actually be a regional attraction for retail shopping in the area, and hopefully bring more tax dollars to
Craven County that we've been losing to people going out and shopping in other places," he said.
The project would include about 30 percent commercial development, and 70 percent residential
development to include around 340 homes on quarter-acre lots, about 300 patio homes, 70 town homes,
and 350 apartments.
Connectivity would be "essential" to the design, he said, so the homes, town homes and apartments would
be placed within walking or short driving distances to shops or restaurants.
"The whole thing will be interconnected, not only by a traffic or road system, but also through a pedestrian
and bike trail that will link all these residential pods back to the commercial area, to make it pedestrian
friendly," Downey said.
Most of Weyerhaeuser's other developments aimed to capture the migration of people from Mid-Atlantic
and Northeastern states to the state, and have been built around golf courses, club houses, swimming
pools, or walking trails, he said. The new development would fill a niche with its mixed-use design.
"That type of concept is something that addresses a lot of the issues that a lot of municipalities have today
with traffic, especially traffic, gas prices, the way they are, everybody wants to limit the time they have to
travel," Downey said.
Several companies involved with the design, Downey said, include The John McAdams Co. Inc. that has
worked on projects such as the Streets at Southpoint Mall in Durham and the Meadowmont mixed-use
community in Chapel Hill. The company did some refinement work on their plan, Downey said, and is
doing their civil engineer work.
"We will work with McAdams, as well as other firms to come up with the architectural design features that
will be implemented through the protective covenants for the community," Downey wrote in an e-mail.
Laura Oleniacz can be reached at 252-635-5675 or at [e-mail]
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