CVS
After five years of looking at the chain-link fence and deteriorating building on the corner of Weaver and Greensboro Streets, I'm starting to get irritated. Isn't it about time to take some action?
The town seems impotent- they are glad to "facilitate a conversation", but that's about it. Meanwhile, CVS's developer, Mark Pantlin, told a group of us that he is planning on submitting a scaled-down plan to squeeze a CVS on the property. He also said he would- as a show of good faith- "clean up" the property, but then renigged. From an email string:
> I will be happy to clean up the site upon receiving the Rezone but not before. I've made that clear to the Town staff as well. Rezone in exchange for a clean up.
> That's because of the excessive monies already spent by both myself and CVS for approvals and nothing to show for it.
So if we bend over he will "remove the eyesore", but not before. We can not take him at his word, he has proven that. Pantlin claims to control the property for CVS, and is not the least bit interested in what the community needs or wants.
What can we do?
- CONSENT AGENDA
- PUBLIC HEARING
Date:
Tuesday, February 26, 2013 - 7:30pm
From CarrboroCitizen.com:
Neighbors of 201 N. Greensboro St. are invited to a meeting on Feb. 8 from 7-9 p.m. at Carrboro Town Hall to discuss the proposed CVS development project.
This will be the last neighborhood meeting before a public hearing. Attendees will be updated by developers on plans for the second floor and will hear answers to questions and concerns addressed at the previous meeting in December.
To ensure all questions will be answered at the meeting, email any questions you might have to Chris Bostic at chris.bostic@kimley-horn.com.
Date:
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 - 7:00pm to 9:00pm
On May 5, the potential developer of 201 N Greensboro Street in Carrboro presented a concept plan to several of the town's advisory boards. As discussed in previous threads (1, 2, 3), the plan includes a two-story building with 11,800 sq ft of CVS retail space on the first floor and 11,800 sq ft of storage and office space on the second floor. Surface parking would dominate the northern half of the block along Short Street.
Presentation of a concept plan to the advisory boards is the required first step before submitting a conditional use permit application to the town. The developer has reportedly already submitted a permit application. The applicant will be required to respond in writing to the advisory boards' comments when they come back to the boards during the permit application review process.
Copied below are the comments on the concept plan from the Planning Board, the Appearance Commission, and the Transportation Advisory Board. Comments from the Environmental Advisory Board are forthcoming also included [added August 23, 2011].
As reported in our local newspapers (see here & here), CVS has submitted plans to the town of Carrboro to build a large CVS and parking lot on the corner of N. Greensboro St. & Weaver St. This development would demolish at least 2 historic buildings, cut down many trees, create more traffic problems and the parking lot would be placed on a residential street.
See my previous two posts to get more details on the history of the project so far.
There are some new pieces of information that are relevant to the development:
Back in November, I posted about the large development CVS is proposing to build catty-corner from the Century Center. (see here). Since that post things have been moving along quietly.
Here is a quick recap of whats going on...
CVS is in the process of buying up properties in downtown Carrboro across from Weaver Street Market to potentially build a 2 story building that would house a retail tenant (presumably CVS) on the 1st floor and office space and/or apartments on the second floor.
Ruby talked a little bit about the new development on the corner of Greensboro and Weaver Street in a previous post. To recap: Weaver Street Market needed money to help pay for debt they have incurred the passed few years and they sold 3 downtown properties to CVS. (See Map) They sold the property on the corner of N. Greensboro and Weaver Street (where WCOM and Community Realty used to be), the parking lot next to that building and 104 Center Street. The house on 104 Center Street is an historic Mill House built around 1910. This house will most likely be torn down in the near future. The developer working for CVS is close to purchasing 203 N Greensboro St (Debra Seaton’s Dental practice) and the hair shop on the corner of Short and Center Street. This would mean CVS will own all but one the property on the block.
Part of the latest Weaver Street Market newsletter states that Weaver Street Market has sold their property at the corner of Greensboro and Main Streets to Mark Pantlin of Raleigh. (This was the former location of WCOM and Community Realty.) Apparently they had high hopes for this high-profile property in the center of Carrboro, but finally resigned themselves to just taking the money and avoiding the hassle of a new venture and new development. I keep hearing the word "Walgreens" come up in discussions of this corner, so this makes me nervous.
A friend and I did a little research to see if we could find out more about this developer. Pantlin lives in Cary, and on a LinkedIn profile he says he is President of Pantlin Development. (But he only has one connection on LinkedIn, and the NC Dept of State says Pantlin Development was dissolved in 2009.) I found him on this neat CorporationWiki network map (at left), which also lists some other companies to which he may be related. It also looks like he donated to the Republican National Committee in 2001 and to George Bush in 1999.
Of more concern is the possibility of a national chain not just locating, but developing a lot (or multiple lots, probably) in the heart of Carrboro. Since it would be right across the street from an existing chain drug store, you can't even really argue that it's meeting some community need.
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