Business View Civil & Municipal Apr-2023

183 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 4 and historical buildings downtown refurbished and renovated for retailers. Cawley says that visitors can walk from one end of downtown to the other and back in two hours, and never worry about not finding an interesting store to visit. The city is short on housing even though there is little room to add new developments. So, the old site for Spencer’s, a well-known children’s and women’s clothing manufacturer, has been redeveloped to include condominiums and apartments. Spencer’s moved its headquarters to Miami many years ago. Another portion of that property is being developed as a Marriott Tribute hotel complete with a conference center. That planned development is expected to cost Marriott more than $40 million and should provide an added tourism boost. “We can only grow so big,” says Cawley. “Growth will come more in quality of life rather than quantity of residents.” He hopes that the convention center may draw hundreds of visitors into town most weeks. Cawley and his team have been busy attempting to recruit other investors and employers to the city. In his first two months on the job, Cawley has already visited California and Ohio to recruit new businesses that want to move to a warmer location. He believes that new manufacturers will find the community welcoming and full of needed infrastructure and resources. One valuable resource is the abundance of water. The Ararat River and multiple creeks border much of the city, and previous infrastructure built for the textile industry remains, meaning the city has access to an extra six million gallons of water MOUNT AI RY, NORTH CAROL INA