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Business Today NC
July 2017 Published monthly
YEARS
Business Intelligence for the Golden Crescent: Lake Norman • Cabarrus • University City
CHARLOTTE, NC 6.1% DALLAS, TX 8.4% Denver, CO 8.2% Portland, OR 9.3% Seattle, WA 12.9% TAMPA, FL 5% WASHINGTON, DC 3.6% Source: Case-Shiller/S&P
KANNAPOLIS Work on a renewed downtown begins in earnest in October Page 6
EAST-WEST CONNECTION
Critical piece of Lake Norman-Cabarrus connection will be widened
BY SAM BOYKIN The town of Davidson currently has about 20 development projects that are either approved, pending approval or under review. These projects represent approximately 2,000 new residential units, from single-family homes to apartments to condos, along with mixed-use developments, a hotel, and municipal buildings. For a town that has garnered national recognition for carefully controlling growth through moratoriums and tightly enforced regulations, this is remarkable. Some critics claim that town officials are sacrificing Davidson’s small-town charm for property development tax dollars. But Davidson leaders say they are doing their best to balance the rights of property owners with the area’s noted quality of life, all while facing tremendous market pressure. A backdrop to all this is Davidson and Mooresville’s MI-Connection deal— which many believe is a primary driving force behind all the new development.
BY DAVE VIESER With recent town board approval, Vermillion Village in Huntersville appears to have a clear path for development, at a time when several other large mixeduse projects, including Lake Davidson in Mooresville and the Beaty Project in Davidson, are in various stages of consideration and controversy throughout the Golden Crescent. The Vermillion project will cover about
HOT PROPERTIES
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BUILDING SALE
Page 8
Based on budget figures, for the year ending June 30th, 2018, the total subsidies paid by the towns from 2010 – 2018 will be over $40.7 million. Mooresville will have paid $28.2 million and Davidson will have paid $12.5 million. Now, 10 years after the deal was first made, many Davidson citizens are adamant that they want the town out of the MI-Connection deal. Will new development pay for it? Like other cities in north Mecklenburg and southern Iredell County, Davidson has experienced explosive growth over the past few decades. But even as Davidson’s population has grown from about 4,000 in 1990 to 13,000 today, it’s still relatively small compared to neighbors like Cornelius (about 29,000 residents) and Huntersville (55,000 residents). Moreover, Davidson’s charming downtown, bucolic countryside, and familyfriendly lifestyle have remained largely intact. But there’s no question the town is See Painful page 19
Vermillion Village in Huntersville on the move
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Trinity Capital developed a building in 2014 with the help of an ‘assignable grant’ from Concord
The two towns spent $60 million in 2007 to form the cable business, which replaced the now bankrupt Adelphia Communications. While cable service in the area has improved, the company is losing money, and Davidson and Mooresville have had to come up with hundreds of millions of dollars to cover a budget shortfall at the system. During the 2010-2011 budget process, the towns were told the subsidy needed for the upcoming fiscal year was $6,460,000. Davidson’s 31% share amounted to $2,019,000 (more than 10% of the town’s budget). As a result, Davidson had to lay-off staff and cut on services. And debt payments continue to stress the budget. Currently, the 2018 budget projects the towns’ subsidy to be $2.9 million. Davidson’s 30% portion is $879,311 and Mooresville’s 70% is $2,051,727. Since Davidson’s subsidy portion is less than $1 million, the remaining $120,689 will go towards paying down the $2 million balance Davidson accumulated and owes to Mooresville.
16520 Belle Isle Drive Sold for $1.42 million
30 acres of vacant land and is designed to establish a town-center theme between North Church Street and HuntersvilleConcord Road. Downtown Huntersville will be transformed when a long-vacant property— the old Anchor Mill site, unused for decades—is replaced with apartments, condos and retail large and small. Previous town leaders were never able to work a deal to redevelop the property,
despite its importance in the downtown landscape. Mayor John Aneralla said Vermillion will be a catalyst for redevelopment nearby. “The development of Vermillion village combined with the development of the town’s properties surrounding town center will put pressure on current downtown landowners to update their facilities in order to remain competitive,” Aneralla said. See Vermillion page 20
RECORDS Transactions Cabarrus 15 Mecklenburg 15 Mooresville 16 Foreclosures Cabarrus 17
Mooresville 17 Corporations Cabarrus 17 Mecklenburg 17 Mooresville 18
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