Mayor Sandy Roberson said that there is a lot of interest in the 336 acres of land the city purchased for economic development purposes in Nash County just off North Old Carriage Road and across from Nash Community College.
That interest includes retail businesses, supermarkets and hotels, Roberson said in a recent phone interview.
“The list goes on,” Roberson said.
While Roberson said he is elated and encouraged, he said that he believes there has to be a decision about what the city is looking for and what the city’s priority is regarding the use of the land.
“And I believe it’s mixed use,” Roberson said. “And I believe it looks like a live, work, play space that could help us really create a different environment in Rocky Mount than what we’ve been accustomed to.”
Roberson, as he did in his June 3 State of the City address, emphasized over the phone that he believes it is vitally important to come up with a master plan and to find a master developer who can work with the city.
“We’ve had some preliminary conversations with very large types of firms like this,” Roberson said. “There has been some indicated interest.”
Roberson said that he believes the city will most likely go through some sort of process to identify the best partner.
“But the early returns are very, very positive,” he said.
Roberson said that he believes it would be reasonable to say that within half a year there is going to be an announcement of what some of that development could look like.
“We’re just not there, but we’re close,” he said. “We’re really very close.”
The City Council in December voted to authorize purchasing the land for $15.2 million.
The action called for executing the options to purchase the property on or before the end of 2023, with the city to secure financing not to exceed 59 months to close on buying the property.
The land, which is southwest of the Interstate 95 interchange for U.S. 64 and northwest of the future I-95 interchange for Sunset Avenue, had been considered as a potential site of a possible casino and entertainment complex.
Barnhill Contracting, in addition to constructing the future I-95 interchange for Sunset, is working to complete a project to upgrade Sunset from Halifax Road at Little Easonburg across I-95 to the intersection with Old Carriage and Eastern Avenue.
A Barnhill project to upgrade Eastern Avenue from Old Carriage and Sunset into Nashville is complete.
Barnhill has done a substantial amount of the work on a project to upgrade North Old Carriage from Eastern and Sunset past Nash Community College and over U.S. 64 to Green Hills and Reges Store roads.
Roberson over the phone said that he believes the work on Sunset from Halifax to Old Carriage and Eastern is what is driving interest in the land.
Roberson also said that another part of this is the need to have site control over a large tract of land.
Otherwise, it’s “very difficult to talk to large-scale developers,” he said. “And, so, that was the importance of the city acquiring the property.”
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