Track developer inks deal with Spencer, adds to mix - The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area:

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David Risdon would like to seediscountr shopping, other retail, office spacew and perhaps some residential uses across from his High Rock Raceway. “The conceptt would be like a Birkdale Village but withpremiun outlets,” he says, referring to the mixed-usre center in Huntersville. The timeline would be dictatedd by a recovery from the he says. Risdon, chief executive of , the limited liabilityg company developing High Rock would devote 40 acreson U.S. Highwaty 29 to the new project. He would seek a retaiol developer to build theoutlet center.
The plan callsd for as much as 300,000 square feet of retail space andabout 200,000 square feet of A museum and hotel are also plannedd on the site. Combined with the $30 million, 2.15-milw road-course racetrack and 114 adjacen townhouses, the total price tag for High Rock willbe $205 The track is being built on 200 acres once occupiee by N.C. Finishing Co., or Color-Tex a former Fieldcrest Cannon plant that wasonce Rowan’s largest employer. The facility closed in eliminating its last 350 The credit crisis and recession have delayed the project since it was announcefin 2005. of Sacramento, pulled its offer of a $30 million construction loan earlierthis year.
Now Risdonj has the interest of a consortiu of insurance and pension companies in financing the trackm and townhouse phase of the He declines to identify the This month, the Spencer Board of Aldermej approved a 28-page development agreemenf that was required by Risdon’s investors. The agreement requires the track and an initial phase of townhousesz be complete by a year afted sitework begins. Risdon expects gradinfg to startnext month. He has 20 yearxs to complete theentire project, accordinvg to the development agreement.
Clayton which operates three plants within 30 minutez ofHigh Rock, will build the The structures will be fabricated at the plant and erectedf at the development site. Spencer Town Manager Larry Smithu says the potential tax revenue and prestige of the projecyt make it worththe “We’re behind the project as much as we can