Alexander Farm hearing Monday at Town Hall

Published On: August 5, 2019

Alexander Farm property at Westmoreland and Catawba

Aug. 2. By Dave Vieser. The first of two Town Board Public Hearings regarding the Alexander Farm property will be held on Monday at 7 pm in Town Hall. The new proposal has a mix of commercial/retail and age-restricted housing, along with over 4 acres dedicated to parkland.

The project would be called Alexander Farms. At build-out it would be valued at more than $110 million.

The plan has been informally presented to town officials and residents during the past two weeks but Monday’s hearing will be the first opportunity for residents to comment in a more formal, official setting.

Concerns from residents at these meetings about the plan have focused on traffic, density and the need to preserve the site’s agricultural heritage.

Previous plans for the 54-acre site disappointed town officials and residents, but the applicant, WIN Development LLC of Huntersville, is hoping this one will receive a better response.

Here’s the breakdown on the new proposal:

Retail/commercial: 18.75 acres are planned for development, fronting on West Catawba Avenue, Westmoreland Road and new interior roadways. Approximately 85,000 square feet are to be set aside for this segment, including 29,000 square feet on Catawba for a “grocer.” No specific chains were mentioned.
Retirement residential: A 130-room resort style residential age-restricted apartment complex would be located on a new interior roadway which will run from the intersection of Catawba Avenue and Village Harbor Drive eastward, then southeastward until intersecting with Westmoreland Road. The housing would encompass approximately five acres.
Age restricted residential: Approximately 84 units are planned on 18 acres, also on the interior section of the property, starting north of the retirement residential and extending eastward.
Finally, 4.35 acres is reserved for parkland within the extreme northern section of the property, behind the age restricted residential units.

Multiple levels of approval will be required before the project can begin.

The highly visible site, one of the last large parcels in Cornelius, was actively farmed until 2013 by the late Eugene Alexander, a graduate of the old Cornelius High School. He died New Years Day 2014 at the age of 96.

2 Comments

LKN Person August 2, 2019 at 12:36 pm

Why would the area continue to support more age-restricted developments in an area already constrained by low-supply and high demand for single-family housing without restriction? Towns that focus so much on this aging demographic are setting themselves up for long-term stagnation. You force the innovators and people with capability to grow their income/consumption to look elsewhere… the younger demographics push GROWTH in an economy… the older: stagnation or contraction. There needs to be a blend of the two and unfortunately the combination of opportunity for builders combined with poor planning by the town will have consequences 10-20 years down the road.
Audrey Cannon Pace August 3, 2019 at 2:43 am

My memory, is the cows in the
pasture when I road through for the first time with my parents. We got out spending time, and listening to “Paw Gene” talk about the history of the lands. Wonderful memories I
shall never forget,or the 2 men I spent the time with.