Anchor store to build at site of new center
By Bonnie Edwards
Published in News on January 25, 2007 1:50 PM
Office Depot is coming to Goldsboro in the fall as one of the anchor stores at the new Memorial Commons shopping center on Wayne Memorial Drive.
Connell Radcliff of 1st Carolina Properties, which is developing the former Nichols department store site, said he expects demolition and clearing at the former shopping center to begin some time this week.
The Office Depot will be a new 20,654-square-foot building, Radcliff said. The development company also is planning to include about 25,000 square feet more for several smaller shops in the first phase of the project.
The City of Goldsboro's Inspections Department is currently reviewing the building plans for the Office Depot building. The city Planning Department has reviewed the overall plan, which includes the row of smaller shops and possibly another large anchor store.
The overall plan includes a 56,000-square-foot section, and Radcliff said discussions are under way concerning that parcel and a smaller co-anchor of about 15,000 square feet.
"But nothing is definitive yet," he said.
"We will build the Office Depot and the shops now, with Office Depot and the shops opening this fall," Radcliff said. "I am hopeful that the other anchor, or anchors, will be committed later this year, so that we can complete the project as soon as possible."
The other large stores would be located in the rear of the property, near U.S. 70. The row of smaller shops will be on the north side of the shopping center.
The old Nichols department store stood at the back of the lot for years. After the store closed almost 20 years ago, the building was used for a time as a flea market.
Office Depot, founded 1986, has corporate offices in Delray, Fla. The chain operates more than 1,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada.