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I've heard some good things about Wilson in terms of downtown revitalization. Can anyone corroborate this? What about other cities or towns? Rocky Mount, Greenville, Fayetteville, Kinston, etc. Will we have our own version of South Carolina's Greenville somewhere in Eastern NC in the coming decade or two? We hear all about the growth and national attention in the western and central parts of the state (Asheville, Charlotte, etc.), but I'd love it if Eastern NC received some recognition.
In time, with the right intelligent leadership, continuous perseverance and hard work to chip away at making improvements among the public, private, & nonprofit sectors and some sheer luck, all of the examples that you mentioned can improve from their current state and some are already on that trajectory.
Greenville is furthest along because of the huge presence of ECU, and the ability to capitalize on that. Otherwise, I feel like it would be one of the most depressed areas in the state because it's kind of out there in terms of location and the economics of the surrounding areas are fragile.
Rocky Mount and Fayetteville have often been hated on because of their crime. Both have been working hard to get away from their tough reputations. Rocky Mount seems to have some exciting and cool revitalization projects going on and on an upswing after having a lost couple of decades, both in reality and perception (especially from about the mid 2000s to mid 2010s). Despite Fayetteville having a seedy reputation for crime and the stereotypical undesirable side effects of it being a military town (i.e. lots of seedy pawn shops, strip clubs, cheap hotels, etc.), it seems to have put some effort into providing some better amenities and it does have the advantage of being a major shopping hub for the inland SE NC region.
Wilson seems similar to Rocky Mount, just maybe in a slightly more advanced stage of revitalization projects.
Kinston's harder for me to put my finger on. It seems to have many of the issues similar to Rocky Mount, plus a slightly more out of the way location. But personally, I've experienced some notably hospitable people there.
SE NC lacks the cultural orbit of a university to really help a city grow.
Fayeteville stands a decent chance but is already a nice sized city in its own right.
Noting the hog farm wars there is actually interesting nature and historical opportunities that are being suppressed by the heavy ag stuff
The thing about SE NC is there is tremendous WATER resource with things like the river and the bay tree lakes
Imagine if the cape fear river had a reputation as clean and developments happened with access to the shore.
Places like White Lake and Bay Tree dont have much visibility to the NC transplants due to lack of interstate but still offer opportunities but its lack of, you know, things TO DO out that way
Wilson’s downtown has definitely improved from what it was. Even better is that the city is finally beginning to focus on the US-301 corridor which, until now, had been sorely neglected and left to rot.
Goldsboro has also been on an upswing in recent years. The majority of the downtown area along Center Street has been revitalized with the final phase beginning later in the fall. I went there twice last year and Center Street no longer looks like the post-apocalyptic dead zone it was when I left NC in 2009. A new convention center has also opened this year on Wayne Memorial Drive near US-70 Bypass (Future I-42). Crime is still an issue however, with much of the violent crime being gangs beefing with each other. Like other cities, stay out of the bad areas, use common sense, and chances of being a victim will drop. If I’m not mistaken, there hasn’t been a homicide within city limits so far this year, so I’d say that’s a big improvement over previous years.
Greenville is furthest along because of the huge presence of ECU, and the ability to capitalize on that. Otherwise, I feel like it would be one of the most depressed areas in the state because it's kind of out there in terms of location and the economics of the surrounding areas are fragile.
Agreed. ECU saved Greenville and it’s now the fastest growing city in eastern NC, though I would give credit for it’s recent growth to former mayor Allen Thomas. He was the best mayor Greenville had in the last 20+ years. He resigned last year when he was named the executive director of the Global TransPark in Kinston.
I've heard some good things about Wilson in terms of downtown revitalization. Can anyone corroborate this? What about other cities or towns? Rocky Mount, Greenville, Fayetteville, Kinston, etc. Will we have our own version of South Carolina's Greenville somewhere in Eastern NC in the coming decade or two? We hear all about the growth and national attention in the western and central parts of the state (Asheville, Charlotte, etc.), but I'd love it if Eastern NC received some recognition.
Greenville is probably the only notable city in that part of the state with a shot at becoming a major city, largely due to ECU and the number of new young people it brings in each year.
Elizabeth City might be another place to watch due to the construction of I-87 and presence of a state university. A lot of ENC towns have had little-to-no immediate interstate access with the rest of the state, and I think that once 42 and 87 are complete, we will see more growth in that part of the state. Wilmington floundered for years until I-40 linked it to Raleigh, and has almost tripled its 1980 population numbers in the decades since (around 44k then to nearly 120k now).
Why is Wilmington not part of this conversation? Its doubled in population since 1990. It has a respectable university. Has Interstate, port and railroad access. Most importantly, its a nice area people would choose to relocate to. On the other hand, Fayetville is the kind of place you get relocated to, like it or not.
Why is Wilmington not part of this conversation? Its doubled in population since 1990. It has a respectable university. Has Interstate, port and railroad access. Most importantly, its a nice area people would choose to relocate to. On the other hand, Fayetville is the kind of place you get relocated to, like it or not.
For me I don’t consider Wilmington “eastern nc.” It’s a coastal city to me. And doesn’t have the same vibe/culture as your typical eastern nc town like Goldsboro/Kinston/Fayetteville etc etc.
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