Honoring Tradition, Supporting Innovation: Redevelopment of Conover Station

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Alternate title
  • North Carolina in the New Economy: Case Studies from the North Carolina Chapter of the American Planning Association: Honoring Tradition, Supporting Innovation: Redevelopment of Conover Station
Creator
  • Hight, Lance
    • Other Affiliation: Planning Director, City of Conover, NC
Abstract
  • Conover’s downtown, like many others in North Carolina, once buzzed with furniture and textile factories. The industrious and innovative nature of the local people, coupled with good transportation linkages and natural resources, provided for a strong economy. However, in the early 2000s, the economic landscape dramatically changed. Conover and other cities in the Hickory region witnessed the decline of manufacturing and staggering losses in employment. From 2000 to 2012, Catawba County lost 23,152 jobs. In February 2010 the unemployment rate for the metro peaked at 15.8%. Broyhill Furniture, once a fixture in downtown Conover, was one of many that closed its doors, leaving over 400 workers without a job and over 400,000 square feet of vacant factory space. Though no long-term vision was in place for the site, the City of Conover was concerned about the future of land situated so prominently in the downtown and took a proactive approach by purchasing the 27-acre property.
Date of publication
DOI
Resource type
  • Article
Rights statement
  • In Copyright
Journal title
  • Carolina Planning Journal
Journal volume
  • 40
Page start
  • 45
Page end
  • 47
Language
  • English
Digital collection
  • Carolina Planning Journal

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