THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 3, 1996 TAG: 9604030403
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
Construction of a multi-million dollar downtown hotel on Halstead Boulevard and a major department store expansion at nearby Southgate Mall are included in a business boomlet in Elizabeth City.
Ground-breaking ceremonies were held this week for the five-story, 101-room Hampton Inn that will rise next to the new Golden Corral near Halstead and Ehringhaus Street.
At Southgate Mall, construction is under way for an expanded J.C. Penney store. Penney's will move from its present site in the mall to the renovated former Roses' department store at the west end of the mall.
Penney's relocation will more than double the store's floor space, said Natalie Southworth, a Southgate Mall spokeswoman.
``Completion of the new Penney's and a grand opening is scheduled for early summer,'' Southworth said.
The design of the new Hampton Inn will be unusual, said Randy Harrell, executive director of the Pasquotank County Industrial Development Commission. Harrell was one of several officials who attended ground-breaking ceremonies for the hotel Monday.
Plans submitted to county and city planners for approval showed a five-story, L-shaped structure pointed toward Halstead Boulevard. A large patio behind the two wings of the L-shape will include a swimming pool. Extensive parking space will surround the hotel.
The Hampton Inn will be operated by First Carolina Management Inc. of Rocky Mount. The corporation develops and runs franchise-affiliated hotels in North Carolina and Tennessee, said Debbie Herndon, a company official.
Herndon would say only that the hotel would be a multi-million dollar investment and that the owner of record would be First Investment Associates of Elizabeth City.
Jack Bishop represented First Investment Associates, and Richard Tharrington and Jerry Dimeo, president and vice president, represented First Carolina Management at the ceremony. by CNB