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Officials outline plans for Conover Station
Alan Rogers | Hickory Daily Record
Architect Don Tise explains redevelopment plans for the former Broyhill property in Conover during a public workshop Thursday.
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Published: March 27, 2009
CONOVER - Carol McRee and Charles Preston have different visions for the proposed Conover Station, but both hope the redeveloped Broyhill Furniture property near downtown will bring added prosperity to the city where they have lived for decades.
"I'd like to see an artist's guild establish a place to show and sell fine crafts," said McRee, a retired Newton-Conover City Schools teacher who also taught adult basic education classes at the former Broyhill plant.
"That and a nice, sit-down restaurant," McRee said.
"Oh, and a grocery store. There were three grocery stores on Main Street when I moved here 62 years ago."
Small business owner Preston, who is also a former N.C. state representative, is less specific in his wishes for the 22-acre property.
"I just hope it will be something that will create some jobs for the county," he said.
McRee and Preston were among more than 100 people who attended a public workshop on Thursday to learn about plans for the Conover Station project and to offer input on the redevelopment.
The daylong workshop culminated with a 90-minute presentation by project officials and an opportunity for the public to ask questions and voice concerns.
The Conover Station project began with the 2004 closing of a Broyhill plant near downtown Conover.
Fearing the effects of having an abandoned plant so near downtown, the city bought the property for $500,000 in 2005.
In 2007, the city entered a contract giving the Raleigh-based Brownfield Real Estate Co. an option to purchase the property.
In 2008, Conover obtained official designation as the Catawba County stop on the proposed western North Carolina passenger rail service, thus the "Conover Station" name.
D.H. Griffin Co. is nearly finished with demolition on the Southeast Conover property, which is bordered by U.S. 70, N.C. 16 Business and Third Street, SE.
Thus far, Conover has applied for about $4.1 million in grants for the project. Of that amount, it has received a $735,000 Department of Housing and Urban Development economic development initiatives grant for roads, water and sewer.
Other monies on which the city awaits approval include a $2.2 million Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality grant, an $842,236 Parks and Recreation Trust Fund grant and a $365,719 Clean Water Management Trust Fund grant.
Lance Hight, Conover's planning director, said stipulations on those grants would require the city to spend less than 10 cents on the dollar — about $410,000 — in matching funds.
WHAT'S PLANNED
As currently envisioned, Conover Station would include a 5-acre public park that would feature picnic shelters, walking trails, pedestrian foot bridges and a children's playground, among other amenities.
Suggestions made by the public on Thursday included inclusion of an amphitheater and a dog park.
The public park section of Conover Station will also include a creative storm water treatment technique that helps educate the public on the benefits of maintaining water quality, Hight said.
The city will rehabilitate the 25,000-square-foot, two-story Warlong Glove building on the property into a facility for passenger rail service. The building is also expected to house offices for the Western Piedmont Regional Transit Authority, which operates the Greenway buses, formerly known as Piedmont Wagon.
About 15 acres of the property will be offered for sale. If Brownfield Real Estate Co. acts on its option, it will reimburse the city for the initial price of the property, demolition costs and related fees.
Conover City Manager Donald Duncan said the city has spent about $1.1 million on the property thus far.
Brownfield representative Jerry Deakle said the private portion of Conover Station would be suitable for a variety of mixed-use purposes including offices, residences and retail businesses.
"It's a very unique project, especially considering that it's in a small-town environment," Deakle said.
Conover officials said demolition of the site should be complete within the next few weeks. The city is engineering the infrastructure, which will be added beginning this fall, Hight said.
If the city gets the grants it needs, Hight said work on the park would begin in 2010.
If it doesn't get the grants?
"Then we'll apply for other grants," Duncan said.
"The project would be delayed, but it would still happen."
Don Tise of Chapel Hill-based Tise and Kiester Architects said having the infrastructure grant in pocket gives the project momentum.
"That's the first piece of the puzzle, and having it will help the other pieces fall into place," Tise said.
CONCERNS
Several concerns were raised repeatedly during Thursday's workshop.
While residents want the Conover Station to provide jobs, they don't want manufacturing allowed on the property.
Several questioned if a HUD grant indicated public housing will be built there. It does not, officials said.
A few also questioned if the project might create traffic problems around Concordia Lutheran Church and Concordia Christian Day School.
Hight and Duncan told them the city is taking several measures to avoid traffic problems near the church and school.
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