JDH Capital : News
GROCERY STORE CHAIN POISED TO BREAK GROUND IN TWO LOCATIONS
9 Aug 2006
The Gaston Gazette-
MONIGAN-
This column: All about Food Lion. Updates on new stores for South New Hope and Stanley as well as the former location on Linwood Road.
It was 16 years ago Friday that the fortunate soul who gets paid to write this column first moved to North Carolina.
Rome, Ga., was the point of launch and Burlington was the destination. Somehow, the genius leading this expedition managed to run the rental truck out of gas somewhere around Archdale on I-85.
Things managed to improve after that. Tommy and Magnolia spent 64 months in Alamance County. He became part of the Freedom family and even managed to graduate from journeyman to sports editor around age 45.
Before something possessed him to spend 32 months of exile in Northern California’s Land of Pears, he was fortunate enough to meet a transplanted Hoosier by the name of John Pea.
So there’s our cosmic connection for today.
John Helton was the man who helped Tommy get the job. They had met in Pensacola, Fla., and worked together in Georgia. Helton made a point of mentioning something he found humorous.
“They’ve got this grocery store chain here they call Food Lion,” he said. And that brings us to the business at hand. We’ve since found out that Salisbury-based Food Lion is no joke. For instance, the Eastwood Village store next to Ashbrook High School has been around since 1977. That means several generations of shoppers from adjacent neighborhoods have been going there.
New Hope Crossing
Recently we were the first to tell you that Food Lion and JDH Capital of Charlotte would be developing a new store of nearly 35,000 square feet where South New Hope Road and Beaty Road intersect. We’ve got an artist’s rendering of that on Page 6B.
Food Lion spokesman Jeff Lowrance said recently that no decision has been made on whether to close the 30,000-square-foot Eastwood Village store. Our experience with him tells us he’ll let us know if or when anything happens there.
Meanwhile, Jude Crayton of JDH Capital is our contact on New Hope Crossing. His company developed Hoffman Village, anchored by Lowes Foods, at the intersection of Hoffman and Gaston Day School roads.
As you can see on the artist’s rendering, there are three “outparcels” lined along New Hope, while the Food Lion section is adjacent to Beaty. There are two other buildings in the mix, with available slots as small as 1,200 square feet.
Crayton projected a start on New Hope Crossing by the end of the year, with varying stages of completion throughout 2007.
Stanley Market Place
We were also the first to tell you that Equity One from Atlanta had finalized a 35,000-square-foot Food Lion lease and would be developing Stanley Market Place on N.C. 27 in Stanley. That project would include 6,300 square feet of new retail space at a site where the former Winn-Dixie has been demolished.
This project is set to start in the third quarter of this year, and we’ll bring you some artwork on it as soon as possible. Jay Levy of Equity One told us recently that although no start date has been set yet, “they’ll be moving dirt there in the next few weeks.”
Linwood Road
Late last year Food Lion closed its Linwood Road location and opened a new store as the 34,000-square-foot anchor to Hudson Corner Shopping Center on Hudson Boulevard. That’s very close to the Gaston County Health Department’s offices, for those who might need a landmark.
Recently faithful reader Sandra Patterson called and asked about the dormant location on Linwood. Seems many residents from Linwood Terrace and the surrounding neighborhood miss being able to walk to a grocery store.
So we called Salisbury, and once again spokesman Jeff Lowrance responded quickly.
“Food Lion’s lease on the Linwood Road space runs a few more years,” he wrote in an e-mail. “We’re actively looking for a business or other organization to sublease the space.”
