Transportation hub a go
Energized by strong market, HP Authority OKs project
By Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, May 3, 2004
HIGH POINT — HIGH POINT—With spirits buoyed by the strongest market in several years, directors of the International Home Furnishings Market Authority agreed to proceed with the first phase of an overhaul of the market's transportation hub on Commerce Street.
The first phase, which may be completed in time for the April 2005 market, would involve widening Commerce between Wrenn and Hamilton streets to allow more buses to use the transportation terminal simultaneously.
Market Authority President Judy Mendenhall told board members the project would allow three lanes of the street to be used for bus loading and unloading during peak travel periods.
Preliminary estimates have pegged the cost at $1.6 million, which includes street widening, landscaping and the purchase of a small slice of property from Showplace, the showroom building whose main entrance faces the terminal.
Mendenhall cautioned that design work is not yet completed, and said the cost could rise if it becomes necessary to move several utility lines or complete other infrastructure work.
The bulk of the cost will be paid from a grant of nearly $800,000 from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The remaining funds will come from the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the city of High Point, and the Market Authority itself.
The authority has set aside $80,000 for that purpose in its budget for the 2004-05 fiscal year, and another $150,000 is being held in escrow in case the tab exceeds $1.6 million.
Long-range plans call for a permanent canopy to cover a three-block section of Commerce that typically is closed to vehicles during market.
A $5 million federal grant is being sought for that project.
Mendenhall told board members that ridership on the market's shuttle system has soared since the shuttles to area hotels and motels were provided free beginning last October.
Preliminary figures show that ridership at the just-concluded market was 20% to 30% ahead of the October market, and was nearly double that of the April 2003 market, the last time riders were charged for the service.
"Only High Point provides free shuttles … from the airport and the hotels. No other trade show in the world does that," said board member Tom Mitchell, vice president of Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. in High Point.
"That's pretty significant. We should be very, very proud of that," he said.
Several board members noted that complaints about parking and transportation were few and far between.
"I can't think of anyone who complained about parking at this market," said Bruce Miller, CEO of the International Home Furnishings Center. "That's a first."
Board members agreed the April market was the strongest, in both attendance and order-writing, in the post-9/11 era.
In many respects, it marked a return to pre-9/11 levels, board members said.
"I was thrilled with market; it was stellar," said Randy Short, president of Stanford Furniture and owner of a showroom in the Hamilton-Wrenn district.
Board Chairman Paul Toms Jr., president of Hooker Furniture, said attendance at his showroom was about 13% ahead of April 2003.
"People came here with four to six months of good business at retail … and they are optimistic about the future," he said.
