City's oldest shopping center gets new owners
By J.D. Walker
Staff Writer, The Courier-Tribune
ASHEBORO - Asheboro's oldest shopping center has new owners to start
the New Year.
This month, Greensboro-based Kotis Properties sold Hillside Shopping
Center at 1007 S. Fayetteville St. to Scott Soule and Jim Wells.
Soule is the owner of Nautilus Family Fitness Center, one of three businesses
currently in operation at the shopping center. The other two businesses
are Taste of Asia and a barber shop. The three operations occupy 16,944
square feet of the 45,702-square-foot property.
Wells is Soule's brother-in-law and a general contractor from New York.
"We are excited about the possibilities for the location,"
said Soule.
He said he hopes to attract other healthcare professionals such as physical
therapists and physicians to the site.
"We already do so much rehabilitation and physical therapy work
here at the gym," he said. "It just makes sense."
Soule said he has already had inquiries from interested parties who have
seen cleanup work under way in the property's landscape. Wells said engineering
evaluations on the existing structure are also in progress.
"We will be making improvements to the building soon," he said.
"Anyone interested to occupying a space would be able to have their
input considered if they contact us now."
While a large part of the property is ready for occupancy, re-roofing
the former site of the Moore Lumber Co. will be a big project, Wells said.
Other upgrades include bringing the unoccupied facilities' restrooms into
Americans with Disabilities Act compliance and improving the electrical
work.
Soule said the site has already passed one critical test. A soil analysis
proved that the property does not have any problems with soil contamination.
Rumors of soil contamination from a former Laundromat surfaced in 1997-98
when the federal government considered the property as a potential site
for a new post office. Kotis owners paid for an analysis at that time that
showed no potential risk from contaminants.
However, the federal government made other plans, eventually constructing
the W. Joseph Trogdon Post Office on Church Street in Asheboro.
Hillside Shopping Center opened in 1959 as Asheboro's first strip mall.
Over the years, tenants have come and gone, many choosing to relocate on
busy Dixie Drive. The new owners hope to have the facility revitalized with
most of the property occupied by the end of next year.
Copyright 2002, Stephens Media Group
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