High Point may cover, widen Commerce Ave.
By Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, January 26, 2004
HIGH POINT — HIGH POINT — In three years, a huge canopy might be covering downtown Commerce Avenue.
The International Home Furnishings Market Authority has hired an architectural firm to oversee a preliminary study of possible improvements to the market's transportation terminal on Commerce Avenue, including covering the street with some type of permanent roof over three blocks and widening one block to allow more room for buses and make loading and unloading safer.
The $30,000 study is the first step in what could be a massive facelift for a three-block section of Commerce that would take at least three years to complete and cost upwards of $6 million.
"This is a huge issue," said Market Authority board member Bruce Miller, vice chairman and chief executive officer of the International Home Furnishings Center. "And it's exciting to think about what it could do for downtown High Point."
The authority wants to cover Commerce Avenue between Hamilton and Elm streets, a stretch that is closed to private vehicles during markets, to create a pedestrian-friendly atmosphere that would make it easier and safer to use shuttle buses, taxis and other market transportation.
The loading area was especially congested during the October market, when the shuttle ridership surged 58% as the Market Authority made the entire shuttle system free to market attendees for the first time.
Market Authority President Judy Mendenhall told board members the North Carolina Department of Transportation has agreed the project is necessary, but wants a plan with detailed cost estimates.
An initial $800,000 federal grant for the project from the U.S. Department of Transportation was part of a spending bill that Congress approved last week, so that money is on the way.
The state and the city of High Point each promised to kick in $100,000 once the federal money is made available, she said.
The project likely would be built in phases, beginning with the widening of Commerce Avenue, she said.
Board members voted to hire architects Walter, Robbs, Callahan and Pierce of Winston-Salem, N.C., to oversee the initial study. The engineering firm of Davis Martin Powell will assist.
In other business, board members were told that a San Diego marketing firm hired late last year to help promote the market soon will begin mailing promotional materials to retailers who haven't attended the High Point market in recent years. Potential attendees also will be reached through e-mail promotions and advertisements in trade publications, said board member Joanna Easter, who heads the group's marketing committee.
The board also voted to change its bylaws to provide for a two-year term for the board seat set aside for small showroom owners. The board's original bylaws didn't specify a term limit for that seat.
Randy Short, who has represented small showroom owners on the board since its inception in 2001, said he supported the change because it would allow more people a chance to become involved with overseeing the market.
Short will retain the seat until June 30, the end of the Market Authority's fiscal year.
