By Mark Wineka Salisbury Post Developer Lane Yates says he had to re-educate himself. Now when he tries to sell Salisbury to out-of-town prospects, he doesn't necessarily take them to Salisbury. He'll often drive first to booming areas such as Concord, Huntersville, Mooresville and Lake Norman. It becomes obvious that these growth "rings," as Yates calls them, are pushing toward Salisbury, and he asks his visitors to take the larger view and calculate Salisbury's potential into that nearby wave. In effect, he tries to sell off the success of towns around Salisbury, not Salisbury itself. "That's where my focus is, not into whether a town is up or down -- that's secondary thinking," says Yates, who recently relocated from Salisbury to Huntersville. "I used to think that way." Yates spends a lot of time trying to promote Salisbury these days. He has high hopes for his Salisbury Village Center, a multi-use development on 26-plus acres along Jake Alexander Boulevard. In recent weeks, work crews have cleared much of what was forested property between the Westland Center and the Castlewood subdivision. Now it's up to Yates to find companies interested in being part of Salisbury Village. He's concentrating first on the outparcels along Jake Alexander Boulevard and Mooresville Road. He makes individual contacts and also tries to tell Salisbury's story on his own at international shopping center conventions in cities such as Las Vegas, Atlanta and Charlotte. Besides a market's growth potential, Yates says, prospects look for signs of energy. They want to know what else is in the town or what might be coming. Yates says a sign as simple as the one on East Innes Street that announces the future location of a Starbucks coffee can mean a lot to other national chains. "It does play a role (in reflecting) the overall prosperity of the town, just that name alone," Yates says. Businesses want to see evidence of flourishing restaurants, healthy commercial activity and even strong competition. "For a lot of things, it's monkey-see, monkey-do," Yates says. Salisbury's economic story over the past decade has been a mixed bag. The city flourished with the rest of the country during the late 1990s, but commercial and residential construction in recent years has been closer to the levels of 10 years ago. (See the accompanying table.) The city had more than $37.8 million in commercial construction in fiscal year 1998. Compare that to less than $12 million in both the 2003 and 2004 fiscal years. Similar declines have been evident in residential construction. Meanwhile, Salisbury's retail sales growth hasn't kept pace with the neighboring cities that Yates uses to sell Salisbury. Salisbury ranked 21st in retail sales among N.C. cities in 1992-93. Ten years later, Salisbury had slipped to 25th, falling behind cities such as Concord, Kinston, Chapel Hill and Hendersonville. Concord saw its retail ranking jump from 24th to 14th over that same decade. A good economic barometer often lies with a city's increase, or decrease, in water taps. Salisbury-Rowan Utilities had 420 total water taps in 2001 and 502 in 2002, but the number dropped sharply in 2003 to 278. The total for 2004 will end up slightly ahead -- there were 275 total taps through November. Business licenses issued by the city, another economic measure, have stayed fairly constant in the past five years. If 2003 represented a trough in Salisbury's economy -- and most observers think it did -- then 2004 has been showing the signs of recovery. Salisbury's retail sales rebounded in fiscal year 2004 to more than $706 million, up from $676 million in fiscal year 2003. Retail sales in each of the first five months of 2004 outpaced the same months in 2003 and overall reflected a 7.5 percent increase. Salisburians also see evidence of a mild recovery with Rowan Regional Medical Center's $55 million construction project, Yates' Salisbury Village and increased activity in the central business district and Salisbury Mall. Salisbury's downtown had a net gain of 14 businesses and 20 jobs in the fiscal year that ended June 30. It saw more than $3 million in investment, including four new building facades and nine general building renovations. Salisbury Mall has gone from being 40 percent vacant, when Sam Spiegel purchased the property in February 2003, to 98 percent occupied now. His company, Samco, paid about $14 million for the mall and immediately spent about $4 million in improvements. One of the more important additions to the mall proved to be The Original Steakhouse and Sports Theatre, which features some 32 television screens for its sports-minded patrons. "We're very pleased with the way our business is going," says restaurant Manager Erika Schilling. In comparison with other markets where the company has restaurants or plans to put restaurants, Salisbury is the smallest but is somehow beating the odds. "I really think Salisbury has the potential to grow, personally," Schilling says. Russell Poole, manager of a new Tire Kingdom on Faith Road, said the Salisbury location has been fantastic. "I wish they would let me hire more people," he says, adding he could use a bigger shop, too. Tire Kingdom has been open for about five months, employing 12 full-time people. John Sofley, finance officer for the city of Salisbury, routinely gives a "State of Salisbury" address at Salisbury City Council retreats every February. In recent years, his revenue forecasts have been discouraging, but he now sees signs of hope in the increasing retail sales, water taps and developers ready to get going again. Through the first part of the current fiscal year, the city's tax revenues have been the strongest he has seen in four or five years, Sofley says. Is it keeping pace with inflation? "I'm not sure at this point," Sofley says. He'll have a better idea of Salisbury's economic health after he sees sales figures for the Christmas season. Makson Construction has cleared land and installed utilities for its College Park Apartments off Old Wilkesboro Road. Partners David Eller and Aaron Akers hope to have three apartment buildings -- 36 three-bedroom units in all -- ready for the start of college classes in August 2005. With interest rates settling in, it's a better time for construction, Eller says, and he believes Salisbury has potential. "I don't think Salisbury's overbuilt," he adds. "Now Mooresville is way overbuilt." The apartments are Makson Construction's first commercial project in Salisbury, a place where Eller, an East Rowan High graduate, particularly wanted to build and showcase the company's work for future projects. "That was the reason for pushing it so hard," Eller said. "I wanted to do something for Salisbury." Salisbury developer Rodney Queen, also a co-chairman of the Salisbury Planning Board, may have more residential construction projects on tap than anyone else. He's starting the third phase of Olde Salisbury off Old Concord Road. He plans to build up to 195 condominiums along West Innes Street near North Hills Christian School and 56 condominiums on eight acres off Hawkinstown Road. He recently purchased The Reserve, where he has five new homes, of which two are sold. "I'm banking on the growth and the economy," Queen says of his optimistic outlook for Salisbury. Queen believes Salisbury's residential potential lies in providing affordable housing, for young people and seniors, and an untapped Hispanic market. The more affordable houses will be attractive to people who are filling the increasing number of service-sector jobs, Queen says. "We're coming out of" the recent economic doldrums, Queen adds. "Next year and the next one will be stronger. How much stronger? No one knows that." Yates says he has seen strong interest so far in the outparcels at Salisbury Village. Bank of North Carolina will break ground on a new facility in early 2005. The second component to Salisbury Village will be apartments toward the rear of the large tract -- almost 200 units. Yates later will look to build out 65,000 square feet of interior space in retail stores and offices. If Salisbury Village is ever developed to its full potential, Yates says it will represent a $50 million investment for Salisbury. "The town has a lot of promise, but it won't just come to us," Yates says. Someone needs to put together a good marketing package for Salisbury and beat the bushes as he has been doing, he adds. One reason Yates moved his development business to Huntersville was because of that town's growth -- almost 650 percent in the past nine years, he says. "If developers find that Salisbury's leadership is very interested in seeing the town progress, they'll show up," Yates says. Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263 or mwineka@salisburypost.com.
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