Article in Winston-Salem Journal Details Downtown Development

Source: JournalNow.com

JOURNAL EDITORIAL STAFF

The demolition of two buildings in Civic Plaza last week could be a boost that leads to the completion of two key pieces of this downtown project — the renovation of the Pepper Building and the completion of a park. They’re needed for the plaza to become a hub for those working and living downtown, spurring further revitalization and economic development.

The demolition “definitely opens up that area and shows the potential,” Jason Thiel, the president of the Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership, told the Journal last week.

A former drug store at 116 W. Fourth St. and an office building that’s long been vacant at 115 W. Third St. were demolished.

Revitalization has been an incremental process in downtown Winston-Salem, one characterized by sweat and serendipity, by setbacks and success, by drama and dreams. That’s been the story with efforts in the arts district, in the Goler development area, in the Piedmont Triad Research Park and in the area around the new ballpark.

And it’s the story in Civic Plaza. Developer Kerry Avant got the plaza started with a stately condo complex, One Park Vista. It’s been finished for about a year and half and is at about 55-percent occupancy, Avant said last week. Most of the units sell for between $299,000 and $670,000, and there’s one $1.1-million penthouse left. Four or five of the 32 units in One Park Vista are being leased, Avant said, for $1,800 to $2,200 a month, and a couple of those arrangements are lease-to-own. The housing rental market is going better downtown now than the sales market.

Plans for the rest of the plaza, which occupies land between Third and Fourth streets in the heart of downtown, haven’t proceeded as quickly. Avant’s plans for redeveloping the historic Pepper Building at the corner of Fourth and Liberty streets were derailed, mainly by the recession. “We just couldn’t pull all the pieces together before the economy just tanked,” he said. “The market just fell out, financing markets went away; there were a lot of things.”

Plans by other developers over the last 10 years to renovate the Pepper Building, which went up in 1929, have fallen though as well.

The partnership, which owns the Pepper Building, is negotiating to find a developer for it. That’s a welcome step, because a few months ago, the partnership had been willing to consider plans that might include demolishing the building, which has a lot more class and historic value than the two buildings torn down last week. The building is named for Thomas Pepper, who owned tobacco warehouses around the city. It was one of the first art-deco buildings to be built in North Carolina, and has housed a department store, offices and a coffee shop. Residents objected to potential plans to demolish it.

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