High Point hears objections to showroom zoning

Building owners outside district want to be included

Heath E. Combs -- Furniture Today, November 17, 2009

HIGH POINT — After hearing objections to its proposed showroom zoning district Monday, the High Point City Council voted to continue the hearing later to get more comments.

Several property managers and showroom owners, mainly those outside the proposed district, voiced concerns about the plan's long-term effect.

The 249-acre district will establish a showroom boundary centered on the city's downtown. Developers will need approval from the city to build new showrooms outside the district, although showrooms already there would be grandfathered in.

But any building outside the district that isn't used as a showroom for four consecutive High Point Markets would lose its grandfathered status.

A date wasn't set for part two of the public hearing. The council said it will discuss that question at its Dec. 7 meeting.

The showroom district proposal is part of a plan High Point adopted in 2007 to revitalize the city's downtown. The idea is that showroom district zoning could open up properties outside the district to other types of development.

At the hearing, most objections to the plan were from owners of properties excluded from the district.

Rod Townsend, owner of the Union Square showroom building, which is outside the district, requested his property be included in the district. Townsend said he purchased the former factory building seven years ago for use as a showroom, and has spent millions renovating what had been an eyesore.

Some felt that the proposed district is already so close to their property that it could easily be included.

"What's half a block to put me back in the showroom district?" said Pam Stern, who owns the chest-of-drawers building at 508 N. Hamilton and other properties in High Point. "I don't feel like someone should be telling me what do with my property."

Rod McLean, vice president of sales for Stickley, whose showroom would be outside the district, said that the company - which also owns two factories in the area - doesn't want to see its investment in the city marginalized. McLean said Stickley has created a showroom destination at 225 N. Elm St. that helped attract other developers and small independents like Union Square, Randall Tysinger and Dino Mark Anthony.

Randy Short, president of Stanford Furniture, said he was dismayed to find that his furniture showroom on Wrenn Street was just outside the district, while the other side of the street is inside the district.

Libby Cheek, whose property at 300 Church Ave. also is just outside the district and is vacant, said she small furniture companies are interested in developing corporate headquarters and showroom space and are waiting to see what happens with the proposed showroom district.

"I'd be happy to lease retail, but 1,700 square feet is a lot of retail space," Cheek said.

She said that if the city wants to develop its downtown, it needs to develop further incentives to draw property owners there.

In a statement to city council read at the meeting, Arash Yaraghi, a principal with rugs and leather upholstery resource Safavieh, said the company had acquired a property across from Market Square - but outside the showroom district - to construct a $5 million showroom.

"We do not believe that this is the time to diminish the attraction and viability of (the) High Point Market, particularly when Las Vegas is desperately fighting to maintain its convention and trade show business at High Point's expense," Yaraghi said.

He said the overlay district will push up rental costs by limiting showroom space and forcing furniture companies to move there. Higher rents will drive exhibitors out of High Point, he said.

Yaraghi asked that his planned showroom be included in the district.

Local officials and core city plan officials said the issue is not so much about constraining showroom growth as it is about having a vibrant downtown. Tom Terrell, chairman of the Core City Steering Committee and an attorney in High Point, said the city has historically contained showroom growth through zoning.

"Somewhere lines have to be drawn," Terrell said.

Jay Wagner, vice chairman of the Core City Plan board and a local attorney, said not one showroom will close as a result of the district, but that it will govern future showrooms.

The city has an opportunity to carve out an area for its residents the rest of the year, Wagner said. He said that while the market was the "goose that laid the golden egg," it was both a blessing and a curse.

"People who live here want a place to gather," he said.

Wagner added that businesses like the downtown Best Western hotel, formerly the Radisson - occupied heavily during market but lightly otherwise - are put in jeopardy because they need other events to justify staying open.