The Fayetteville Observer, N.C., Rebecca Logan column
Jan 26, 2013 (Menafn - The Fayetteville Observer - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --Yes, northsiders. You're getting a Starbucks.
Starbucks Coffee has signed a lease in a new shopping center called Ramsey Commons, said local developer Cam Stout. He and his father, Frank Stout, are developing that center just south of the Ramsey Street Walmart.
Starbucks will have a drive-through. So will Jimmy John's, a gourmet sandwich chain that Stout said is also a lock for the center. Watch for fall openings, he said.
The first phase of Ramsey Commons will include two perpendicular sections intended to house about a dozen tenants. Stout said he is close to signing leases with Mellow Mango yogurt shop and Five Guys Burgers and Fries. He expects the remaining spots to fill quickly once he starts marketing the project.
For the past few years, the Stouts have been prepping the land, building Francam Drive (which now connects Ramsey with McArthur Road) and quietly shopping the site around to see which retailers might bite. When it comes to the biggest big-box chains, Stout said, there has been some economy-driven hesitation about whether Fayetteville can support two locations.
But there's no shortage of smaller national and franchise retailers who want to be on Ramsey Street, Stout said, adding that the thoroughfare is running out of places to put them. That's why the project already has some solid names.
"I wish I could tell you I had some creative idea, and that's the reason," Stout said. "But really, they want to be there because of the Super Walmart . and all the traffic on Ramsey Street."
Sketches for the second phase of Ramsey Commons show a grocery store. Stout said he has talked with some grocery chains -- he's not naming names -- but described the grocery aspect as "a beautiful idea that may or may not ever happen."
Alternative site drawings include options such as two junior anchors side by side. I told Stout that I had a hard time envisioning all of this fitting on the land now bustling with bulldozers.
"It is deceiving," Stout said, adding that the parcel is a deep 15 acres.
I used to have a fixation with an old white house that once sat on that land. I'd often stare at it from my car window and wonder what Ramsey Street was like back in its rural days. It turns out that the house -- torn down a couple of years ago -- was a childhood home for Frank Stout.
His father, Joe Stout, opened Fayetteville's Eutaw Village Shopping Center in the mid-'50s, long before Cross Creek Mall came along. Joe Stout was an early supporter of what was then Methodist College and donated land to the school.
I asked Cam Stout if there was any bittersweetness to all this, given the potential paving-the-family-paradise-and-putting-up-a-coffee-shop-parking-lot subtext.
"My grandfather believed in the potential of that part of Fayetteville," Stout replied. "So we're proud."
Still, as he and his father watched that house come down, he said, eyes did get "a little misty."
Bulldozers also are in motion at Owen Drive and Gillespie Street where Burger King used to be. Deed records show that land was sold in December to AutoZone Development Corp. AutoZone's regional office is tracking an estimated April opening.
A sign on Horne's Cafe notes that the Hay Street eatery is closed temporarily as the business gets new management. The doors will reopen, said Kirk DeViere, who bought the business in 2011. DeViere said he is in the middle of completing a deal involving a new owner/operator and that he will have more details to share soon.
Speaking of staying tuned, I hope to get a better look at the business apparently headed for the Haymount spot that was once Romelia's Bridal and Formal Salon. Romelia's closed on Fort Bragg Road last year after nearly four decades of serving local brides.
It seems the carriage is following marriage. It looks like they're still painting the walls in there. But, according to a new sign outside, we can expect Bundle of Joy Boutique to carry children's apparel, accessories and gift baskets.
If all went as the owners planned Friday, Salsa's & Beer should now be open on Grove Street in what had been a food court. This is a second location for Noe and Patricia Patino, who opened their first Salsa's & Beer in Spring Lake about three years ago. The new location is two doors down from Mi Casita.
"But we aren't really in competition," Patricia Patino said. "We've got a totally different style."
Rebecca Logan is a former business reporter turned stay-at-home mom who is filling in between "Retail Therapy" reporters. Email her at retailtherapy@fayobserver.com.
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