There is a big story that very few people are paying attention to in the little Town of Cornelius, NC. On the east side of I-77 between Highways 21 and 115 sits a little road that winds through Oakhurst Subdivision around the nicked named Dead Mans Curve on up to Hwy 115. In the entire town of Cornelius there are only two roads that connect the East Side of Cornelius to the West. They are Catawba and Westmoreland. Bailey Rd. is the only other road that connects Hwy. 21 to Hwy 115.
Cornelius has a tax base formula that requires a certain amount of Commercial Zoning to bring in it's needed income to support the various expenses it has each year on it's budget. For some time now, the town board has been searching for a way to update the commercial portion of it's land base to meet the rising costs associated with a growing Town.
In January of 2007, Bailey Road was rezoned to light industrial commercial from residential. That was the beginning of Cornelius getting it's much needed opportunity towards increasing it's commercial tax revenue. Some of that land is for sale (see my listings), forty acres was recently sold on the south side and is being converted to an Industrial Business Park and the balance belongs to many of the home owners that have chosen not to sell at this point. The town had a great deal of feedback from the residents as well as the current commercial businesses on Bailey Rd that the road needs to be straightened out to eliminate dead mans curve. Illustrative plans were drawn up for the towns vision of the new Bailey Rd. widened, full of beautiful trees, sidewalks, 4 lane road and the curve eliminated.
About the same time that the Town was considering the rezoning of Bailey Rd. along comes a developer who wanted to create a High Quality, Mixed-Use Development called "The Village At Lake Norman" on 102 acres along I-77 from Westmoreland South to Grace Covenant Church. It's sandwiched between I-77 and Hwy. 21. In Jan.08 the planning and zoning board approved the 102 acres to be rezoned and it then went to the Town Board for approval.
The Developers offered to do massive improvements to the infrastructure to offset the 4000 plus employees that will be working on site as well as all the shoppers and residents. They will be widening I-77, Hwy 21, building a huge new exit at Westmoreland, building a fly over bridge that would be called Bailey Rd. Bridge, reconfiguring exit 28 to flow more effectively, and finally reconfiguring the turn lanes at the corner of Westmoreland and West Catawba. The estimated time table for the majority of this to be done by the state is 2030 so this would dramatically speed up the time table and utilize today's dollars.
As of April 22nd, the developer purchased the rights to the property to realign Bailey Rd. offering the Town a much improved traffic flow to the East. This will now make Bailey Rd an even more important road than before. The net effect will take Bailey Rd. from Hwy.115 down to Hwy.21 through The Village over the fly over Bailey Rd new fly over bridge and turn North up the new road that will connect up to Westmoreland.
For you investors, there is a huge opportunity that very few people see on Bailey Road because they simply don't see the big picture here. Bailey Road is probably one of the most important roads in the town of Cornelius with respect to it's connectivity especially when you factor in the new fly over bridge being built to expand it's connection to the west side of I-77.
I have been working with the project for nearly two years and this is just the tip of what I know about the area and this road. Contact me today if you are interested in the listings I currently have on Bailey Rd or would like find additional property in the surrounding area of "The Village of Lake Norman".