Waxhaw Downtown? (Weddington: apartment, homes, wedding)

[Gregory P]

We've been away for a couple of years and loved downtown Waxhaw. But it seemed to be somewhat "ignored" when we were there. And from what I understand some of the shops that were there when we were are now out of business.

Does anyone know of any plans for the future of Waxhaw's downtown?

thanks

[Gregory P]

only a 1/2 day without a response but I suspect that means not much has changed in downtown Waxhaw? :-)

Bummer.

[marvinnative]

If you do Facebook, there is a Facebook group called "Town of Waxhaw." That might give you some ideas about what is new or different or upcoming in the Waxhaw area. There are regular postings to town meetings or activities.

[GoodLifeNC]

There have been some plans in the works for Waxhaw for some time now, but until the economy picks up it looks like they are on hold. The Union County Weekly has run articles about proposed plans for Waxhaw, submitted by developers to the town. Here is one of the articles I found online:
Waxhaw And Weddington Plan For Downtown Areas

Saturday, March 28, 2009
by John Walker
Town officials in Waxhaw and Weddington are focusing their attention on future downtown development. In April, BL Patch & Associates will present to the Waxhaw Planning Board its plans for an 298,000 square foot apartment, office and retail complex between Broome and Broad streets. The developer, which foresees a college campus, library and new town hall at this site, has submitted a rezoning request. If the board recommends approval of the rezoning request, it would be voted on by commissioners in May or June. Developers hope to break ground by the fourth quarter of 2009.
In the meantime, Weddington has launched a committee to study downtown development there. The downtown committee, which is charged with recommending land to rezone for commercial use, met for the second time in March.

[Gregory P]

the scary thing I see in that brief column is "break ground."

And secondly..."developers."

Hopefully there's a historical preservation commission working with economic development folks to "preserve" the existing beauty and build on what's already there.

Combine that with the energy research "idea" (Ms. Mayor?) and that'd be something.

I checked out a couple of facebook pages and saw a lot of people who grew up in Waxhaw and are upset their town has gone "plastic." Which I completely understand.

[waxhawlover]

Gregory P,

There are a couple of things happening regarding downtown Waxhaw. The town has established a local Historic Preservation Commission to bring the oversight of Waxhaw's historical assets under local control. This is a fairly recent development and, to date, the commission will only govern the three registered historic landmarks in town: the Antique Mart, the Belk building (owned by the Waxhaw Woman's Club) and the overhead bridge (over the railroad tracks). As the Commission gets started with its work, they will be exploring several questions including putting in place a local historic district and working with the town and local non-profit organizations to encourage and support private historic preservation.

Speaking of non-profit organizations, in the last year, I have had the privilege of working with a small but dedicated group of citizens to establish the Historic Waxhaw Preservation Society whose aim is to bring private resources to the table to facilitate the preservation and restoration of our historic structures.

The town is also pursuing a place in the NC Small Town Main Street Program that would give us access to program resources out of the State Historic Preservation Office to assist in planning for and implementing downtown revitalization projects. Waxhaw is one of five finalists in this years program and hope to be awarded one of the three available slots.

Further, I am hoping to bring to the town board a proposal to pursue establishing a downtown development corporation which, as a private non-profit entity, would take on the role of nurturing downtown. This approach has been very successful for a number of municipalities with historic downtowns and could be key to enabling downtown Waxhaw to successfully compete with the new shopping centers littering the surrounding landscape.

Sorry about the length of this post... I get a little carried away sometimes. I hope this helps!