7 minute read
Residential Real Estate
New residential development
LUXURY COMPLEX UNDER CONSTRUCTION IN DOWNTOWN FAYETTEVILLE
Anew residential development is headed to downtown Fayetteville off of Adams Street.
The development represents a $5 million investment and brings 20 new units to the downtown area. In phase one of the project, there will be 12 units ready to be opened in May 2022.
Bringing these apartments to Adam Street is a staple in making the area a more safe and clean area that people want to come to and live in.
“Adding 40K+ gross square feet of new residential construction to our city's urban core will have a substantial impact on retailers' bottom line and downtown's walkability sense of place,” stated Bianca Shoneman, president and CEO of Cool Spring Downtown District. “The investment is the first of its kind being constructed by a local, Black-owned development company, RAJJ Investment Properties, Inc., and adding 60+ new residents is a win/win for our community and surrounding property values.”
The project is headed up by Jerome Njuan Bell of RAJJ Investment Properties, Inc.
“I want to play a role in the community and with my tenants to create an atmosphere where people can interact with one another, while supporting local businesses downtown,” said Bell.
As a high-end luxury complex, each apartment will have three bedrooms and two baths. Additionally, there is a lot next to the development that Bell hopes to turn into a recreational space for tenants.
“I’ve been here since 2003, and this change is to show that we are a city of heroes and hometown,” added Bell. “We need to bury the bad image of Fayetteville and play a part to become something more as a community.”
The groundbreaking ceremony for the apartments was held in July last
GRAPHICS PROVIDED BY COOL SPRING DOWNTOWN DISTRICT Phase one of the project will result in 12 units ready to be opened in May 2022. Eight units are planned for phase 2.
NCDOT predicts a 24 percent increase of vehicles per day on Gillis Hill Road two decades from now. year. “July 23, 2021, was by far one of the most special and amazing days of my life to date,” Bell told Greater Fayetteville Business Journal last year. “My father and family … all showed up to help me celebrate a major accomplishment — building my first apartment complex. With their continued love and support, I will be building many more.”
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Western Cumberland County Route widening
GILLIS HILL ROAD WILL BE IMPROVED UNDER NEW NCDOT CONTRACT
Astretch of Gillis Hill Road in western Fayetteville will be widened and see new improvements, the North Carolina Department of Transportation says.
The 1.1 mile stretch between Stoney Point Road and Raeford Road is under contract with W.C. English Inc. for $22.6 million and will be widening from two lanes to four. The project also includes concrete curbs and gutters.
The installation of a drainage system and a raised median will improve safety.
Additionally, the bridge over Little Rockfish Creek will be replaced with two bridges to accommodate the wider road.
The project is expected to ease congestion and plan for anticipated growth. According to NCDOT, on average, 25,000 vehicles travel on Gillis Hill Road a day. The volume is expected to increase 24 percent to 31,000 vehicles a day in 20 years.
Construction is expected to begin in July and will be phased, allowing the original two-way path and bridge to remain open as half of the new road is being constructed.
Once the new construction of the road is completed, traffic will transition to the new pavement while the existing pavement is being rebuilt. The project is scheduled to be completed and fully opened by the fall of 2024.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY BAST FIBRE TECHNOLOGIES With the acquisition of Lumberton Cellulose comes opportunities to expand – something that will happen in phases.
Sustainability sells
Bast Fibre Technologies Inc. (BFT), a manufacturer of premium natural fibers for the global nonwoven and textile industries, announced its agreement to acquire Lumberton Cellulose LLC, a natural fiber processing facility in Robeson County, from Georgia-Pacific Cellulose LLC.
“Acquiring this state-of-the-art natural fiber processing facility and integrating the great team at Lumberton enables BFT to immediately establish North American manufacturing operations to meet the rapidly growing demand for our sustainable natural fibers,” says BFT Co-founder Noel Hall. “Following our recent acquisition of German-based fiber processor FVT, this is another key step in our long-term strategy of building significant high quality manufacturing capacity for our global customers supporting our core mission of ‘grow local, process local, sell local’.”
The Lumberton facility was originally built in 1968 as a mill that produced pulp for paper applications from cotton. Unlike the paper used for newspapers or copy paper, the material was more durable, creating high-end, permanent products.
That facility operated from 1968 until 2003 when it shut down and all of the production was consolidated in the Memphis, Tennessee location. The company was privately held at the time. In 1993, the company was sold to an investment group. In 1996, it was acquired by Buckeye Technologies, which was part of Procter & Gamble. In 2013, Georgia-Pacific bought all of Buckeye Technologies.
The line that is run today started up in 2001. It is a stable fiber bleaching process. The company purifies cellulose fibers. The cotton fibers are primarily produced for the hygiene markets. Baby wipes, diaper layers, cotton balls, cotton swabs, and filtration applications are just a few of the products the fiber is used for.
“The plan is for us to grow in that segment and still use bast fiber, which in this case will be flax as a raw material, and it will also be agricultural hemp fibers. That’s kind of where Bast Fibre Tech comes in because they’re in that market, and they’ve been doing a lot of development work to use those kinds of fibers, those natural fibers, that will replace plastics in many of the non-woven products that are being used around the world today,” Charles Oxendine, the Lumberton Cellulose plant manager, said.
BFT, a cleantech fiber engineering firm, is based in Canada. “We have offices up in Canada and in Greenville, S.C., a facility in Germany, and now one here in Lumberton. We’re what we would call a triple-bottom-line company whose mission is to replace plastics in single-use items like cleaning wipes and baby wipes with plastic free fibers,” said Larisa Harrison, director of corporate communications for Bast Fibre Tech.
She explained that the vast majority of wipes contain plastic, which go into the garbage and then to a landfill. “We’re looking to replace that with something that goes into the compost instead,” she said.
The mill in Lumberton uses a chemical cleaning and a chemical purification process. The finished product is put in bales and shipped to customers to be made into a finished product.
“Without giving too much confidential information away, I’ll just say that you can go into the local grocery store and you look at all the major brands, and those are our customers,” Oxendine said. “Some of the Fortune 500 companies that you’re familiar with, they make a lot of different products and they utilize these fibers.”
“The same has historically been true for Bast Fibre Tech. The big consumer product companies want to get rid of plastic in their supply chain. Their customers are demanding it, and legislation is pushing it,” Harrison said.
The sustainability factor goes deeper than a cultural demand. It impacts demand and longterm effects on soil.
“Agricultural hemp is a renewable crop – you can plant these crops and grow them in about 100 days and they make great rotation crops as well. In some climates, bast fibers can provide up to two crops in one year. These crops are more drought tolerant than some other locally grown crops. They actually have a good story in soil
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