Glen Alpine eyes downtown buildings
Town hopes grants can restore Linville Street properties
Two vacant buildings at 108 and 110 Linville St. in downtown Glen Alpine need extensive renovations. The town’s board of aldermen hopes to purchase the properties and secure grants to restore them.
The Glen Alpine Board of Aldermen is scheduled to vote a second time Monday on the purchase of two deteriorating downtown buildings after town officials said residents should have more notice and time to comment.
According to Glen Alpine Town Administrator Crystal R. Carswell, the board of aldermen voted to finalize the purchase after a closed session at its regular meeting Oct. 12, but Carswell said in the interest of allowing the public more time for comment, the vote will be held again at the Nov. 9 meeting.
“That’s a big development thing that the public needs to be noticed about,” she said. “Although they technically voted and they were all in favor, I didn’t want it to seem like it was rushed and try to make sure things were on the up-and-up.”
Carswell said no further action would be taken on the matter until after the upcoming vote.
Mayor Kevin Herron said the town hopes to seal the deal on 108 and 110 Linville St. before the end of the year to secure renovation grant funding potentially available in January through the Western Piedmont Council of Governments.
Herron said the purchase price is $80,000 for both buildings. Monday’s vote will allocate funds so the town can cut the check and finalize the sale.
Alderman Reid Scott said in a prior interview that he had looked into buying the buildings as an individual, but after seeing quotes for renovation — amounting to close to $100,000 — he stopped considering it.
Scott said the buildings will have to be rewired for electricity and given new roofs, new roof supports, and new drywall at a minimum.
Scott said he supports the town purchasing the buildings because Glen Alpine “stands a lot better chance than an individual for winning grants” to get the buildings back up to snuff.
“I know there’s inherent risk,” he said, “but the other risk is that they just fall apart. You can either do something, or watch them decay and watch the town decay, too.”
According to the property records, the owner of the buildings is William K. Lawson. Lawson could not be reached for comment.
The buildings in question aren’t the only ones with potential for new life. On Thursday, Nov. 5, The Paper observed a mural on the storefront of the old Clinic Drug building at 106 Linville Street with the words, “Something really special is coming here 2027.”
The mural also features a depiction of Table Rock, wooden casks, a wine bottle, and grapes. Little could be observed by peering through the windows.
According to property records, as of September 2026, that building is owned by BDF Properties, a Morganton firm. No one with the company could be immediately reached.
The signs of life come in the midst of a months-long effort to build a strategic redevelopment plan for Glen Alpine’s downtown in collaboration with the N.C. Department of Commerce.
The Department of Commerce’s Phil Boggan told The Paper that the effort is about 75% complete.
The project, which is a free offering from the Department of Commerce, has included background market research, working group meetings with stakeholders, a lengthy survey, and public “visioning” meetings to identify economic development strategies and concrete goals.
The next meeting, primarily for a set of stakeholders selected during the process, will be held from 3-5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 30. That meeting will further refine action items to be included in the plan.
Once Boggan has reviewed and finalized a draft of the plan, he will present it to council for approval. From there, Boggan will continue working with the town to adopt implementation strategies for the plan, as well as resources, partners, and funding.
Boggan said an increase in remote work opportunities over the past decade and Glen Alpine’s proximity to “natural assets” like Interstate 40, Lake James, and Pisgah National Forest all bode well for the future of the town.
“When you’re able to work remotely, you don’t have to be in a large town,” he said. “There’s an appetite for living in a small, rural community with some character.”
That being said, Boggan said that Glen Alpine must find its own unique identity and lean into it to get recognized.
“My first impression of Glen Alpine is they really did not have an identity,” he said. “They really needed to find an identity to get that grounding and that understanding of who they were.”
Boggan said he particularly likes one of Glen Alpine’s former names, Turkey Tail, which it bore in the latter half of the 19th century.
“There’s a great story behind it,” said Boggan, referencing tales of a tree shaped like a turkey’s tail near the early railroad tracks running through the town. “I’m really hoping that will be embraced as part of the identity and branding that gets developed.”
Boggan said Glen Alpine embracing an “authentic” identity and story will contrast with places like Charlotte, whose identity he described as “skyscrapers and NASCAR and banking.”
“I see people moving to the Charlotte region, but they’re looking for these smaller communities where they can feel connected,” he said. “I feel like Glen Alpine has that opportunity.”
Carswell said Boggan has been “great to work with.”
Asked where she sees Glen Alpine in five years, Carswell said she hopes for a vibrant downtown with lots of foot traffic.
“I would love to see our town have some brightness back into it,” she said. “Have people walking downtown, have people coming downtown to shop and eat or just to walk the streets. … We’ve made some really great progress. I’m excited about it.”
