Morganton Road Project Falls Though

As of Wednesday, January 26, 2011

One of two major commercial projects originally planned in the Morganton Road Overlay District in Southern Pines is dead.

A land acquisition deal fell through Jan. 14 for The Shoppes at Southern Pines, a commercial development proposed for 44.59 acres east of U.S. 15-501, north of Short Street and south of Southern Road.

The plan featured 360,000 square feet of retail space, including three larger anchor stores and 10 smaller retail shops.

Henrich Properties in Charleston, S.C., was working with a major tenant to purchase the property and develop it, but the deal did not close, according to Susan Clift-Brown, a local broker representing the current property owner, BSD Holdings LLC, of Chattanooga, Tenn.

She said the project fell through when the tenant balked, citing poor market conditions. She would not identify the tenant.

"A lot of it had to do with earnings and what happened over this holiday season," Clift-Brown said. "We thought we had a pretty sure deal because the property was a motivating price for a buyer to come in. We were pretty confident that things would be positive. I was as surprised as anybody else, obviously disappointed."

Southern Pines Town Manager Reagan Parsons said the town learned the application for the project had been withdrawn last Thursday.

In December, the Town Council approved a master plan for the project along with plans for the adjacent Southern Pines Village, which will include a Kohls department store on the site of the old Kmart building.

Both projects signified major steps in commercial development for the town.

Clift-Brown said the project's failure is one of many examples highlighting the current economic climate for developers and retailers.

"Consumer spending is down, and it will continue to stay down as long as there is fear of unemployment," she said. "That affects retailers and anyone who's basically selling goods and services to people."

She said the failure of the Shoppes at Southern Pines is a major loss for Southern Pines and the community because consumers must continue to travel outside Moore County to spend money in larger markets.

"They're losing the opportunity for a retailer to begin the process for having larger goods and services [here], besides Kohls," she said. "The community is driving to Fayetteville and Raleigh and spending their money because we have a Walmart here."

Though the current deal is dead, Clift-Brown said there is a chance that Henrich Properties could come back to the market.

"Never say never," she said. "They were terrific. If the tenant comes back to the table in 30 days and something changes, there's no question that they'll be back. They love this market."

The deal is not the first that Clift-Brown has seen fall through for the property in the Morganton Road Overlay District.

In 2004, Home Depot walked away from a deal to build on 13 acres of the property. A large portion of the tract was under contract with Developers Diversified Realty for 17 months before a deal to build a mixed-use development crashed in December 2007.

"I've been through many years of trying to bring the right buyer, bring the right tenants and improve the goods and services for the community," Clift-Brown said.

She added that since the area is a unique secondary market - drawing consumers from six counties in addition to thousands of tourists - she is confident that she will have a new project to bring back to the town later this year.

"Moore County is definitely on everybody's radar screen nationally," she said. "We will be seeing some very capable players coming into this market because secondary markets are very appealing and certainly Moore County is on the top of that list."

Contact Hannah Sharpe at hannah@thepilot.com.

More like this story

Bflat 1 year, 4 months ago

The downturn of the economy is going to get worse. All the commercial investors are being very cautious and they have their studies and projections in place. If the numbers don't add up to future profits....they will not invest.

JeneccaD 1 year, 4 months ago

what about the Camilla(Spelling?) Park Shoppes in Pinehusrt? Any word on that?

TooHot 1 year, 4 months ago

One look at that debacle of a development should be all that anyone would ever need to see to get an insight into this market.

Poundman 1 year, 4 months ago

It's not just the downturn of the economy, it's the size of the market in this town.

I think investors are speculating on the expansion of Bragg to increase the # of consumers in this area, maybe they need to see more population growth before they come? I for one am not sure how much more I want the area to grow. I moved here over a decade ago and this area is losing some of it's charm IMO.

pinehurstnative 1 year, 4 months ago

No, Pinehurst lost it's charm and essence starting with Diamond Head and hasn't slowed down yet. Certain changes on the horizon (Village Green Destruction) will only be nailing in the final nails on the coffin...

listenup 1 year, 4 months ago

It seems we also get the same kind of companies looking to build here...developments that always include some generic sit-down fast food (like Olive Garden, Cracker Barrel, ect.) or a discount big box store (like dollar general, TJ Maxx, Steinmart), and some smaller retail space that will almost surely be filled by either a knick-knack shop or ladies clothing store. Can we not entice some more varied retail in this area? If we get one more of the above mentioned, I am going to go insane. Do we really need more of the same??
It seems that the folks who market our area to outside investors still think that the only people in this area are old folks, and golf tourists with their bored wives along for the trip, looking to kill time in cutesy knick knack shops and upscale ladies boutiques. Even with all of our recent growth, we still seem to be crammed with tons of this kind of carbon copy retail...why? It is always good to see local and corporate businesses doing well here, and I am not meaning to criticize those folks, but how bout a little variety for a change!

mooresense 1 year, 4 months ago

What types of businesses would you like to see?

teufelhunden 1 year, 4 months ago

though?

coffee398 1 year, 4 months ago

As I travel across North Carolina, it saddens me to see the same cookie cutter shopping centers being built. While I am glad the old Kmart space eyesore is being brought back to life with new tenants I see no need to continue clearing the beautiful Long Leaf Pines which make our area so unique just to replace them with the same ole, same ole brick and pavement some call progress. Who really benefits from the "opportunity for a retailer to begin the process for having larger goods and services [here]"? Is it really a need? People come to this area to get away from everyday hustle and bustle and the same ole retailers they see everywhere else. Sadly, before long we will not be any different from the typical small town in North Carolina.

theonewithsense 1 year, 4 months ago

Did they remove any trees to build your house? Were any trees removed to build the road to your house? Why do you think it is okay to for you to remove trees and not your neighbor? My guess is that you were not raised in Moore county. People move here then want the gates closed behind them.

You can always buy the land, pay taxes on it, and then keep the trees forever.

Ross 1 year, 4 months ago

your nickname sure doesn't describe you well.

"My guess is that you were not raised in Moore county. People move here then want the gates closed behind them."

a silly generalization that is hardly true - well perhaps in your eyes only!

theonewithsense 1 year, 4 months ago

Well I guess you know coffee398. Some were born here and want the gates closed too.

TooHot 1 year, 4 months ago

As I predicted....

Matt_Woodruff 1 year, 4 months ago

What??? No comments yet blaming the Town Council?? Hmmm...

CSmithson 1 year, 4 months ago

Good one Matt. Unfortunately for the "Council runs off all the business" crowd, there's no traction here. This project ran through the master plan approval process like a hot knife through butter.

I am so glad the Pilot ran a follow-up on the Cracker Barrel. For better or worse, that project was approved a couple of months ago with almost no discussion or objection from the Council. Still, because of all the publicity, people thought they'd start building immediately. You wouldn't believe how many people got the impression from the original Pilot article that the Council was holding things up. The extent of the Council's "holding up" approval of the Cracker Barrel was the 2-3 minutes it took to announce the item on the meeting agenda and vote unanimously for approval.

I get plenty of flack from the business-at-all-costs crowd for doing what I can to ensure we get the best quality commercial development we can. If we don't push back, the majority of these chains coming in will simply put up their generic, fake-stucco, "anywhere USA" corporate prototype. The thing is, we're not "Anywhere, USA (yet)" and none of these chains are going to run away screaming just because we push them to do better.

In the end, however, we'll still have people here who lack vision and fail to foresee the ultimate consequences of the incremental destruction of our quality of living and the character of our community. I once had a conversation with a very well known resident and local business booster. We were discussing our highway corridors when I said to him, "If we're not careful and do the right thing, US-1 going north out of town will end up looking like US-1 on the south side of town and into Aberdeen." His reply? "Well, what's wrong with that?" Now how can I argue the nuances of trying to ensure compatible, quality development with someone who would be fine with a US-1 South style "Hamburger Alley" extending all the way up to Vass?

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