Cottonwood Development seeking right fit for high-end restaurant at West Union building

The wheels are in motion to bring another high-end restaurant to downtown Morganton.

The building, on the corner of East Union and Green streets, is owned by Cottonwood Development, a sister company of Engel & Volkers real estate. A high-end restaurant will be on the street level, while four two-bedroom luxury apartments will be on the second floor.

The companies’ marketing and office manager Kara Jones gave an update on where the building stands and what’s to come. Beyond the addition of new beautiful window wraps, Jones said there isn’t much to report on the building.

But she is hoping that will soon change.

Real estate broker Bobby Edwards of Real Estate Development is helping to “piece together a good relationship with a restaurant,” said Jones of the property at 117 E. Union St.

“The renovations are dependent on that,” Jones said. “It’s been gutted and it’s ready, but it’s kind of a relationship of who is interested or renting there or buying into that. … It gives a lot of creative freedom to the person who’s going to be in that position.”

Jones explained that the real estate market has been slower, so the developers hope to see activity regarding the building by springtime.

“We’re really excited, because we want it to be a high-end restaurant, and then upstairs is going to be luxury condos, a lot like what we did with the drugstore lofts that are up above West Union Art Studios, with that little section of downtown and the yoga studio,” Jones said. “That’s our hope, is that it’ll be like a residential slash commercial kind of project, which is really exciting for downtown.”

The goal of the building is to make downtown Morganton a thriving place; however, finding the right fit has been challenging. “There has to be the right restaurant because it’s an expensive space, it’s huge, and it’s a cool spot. It’s a very good location in Morganton.”

Previous plans for the building called for a food hall. The cost of a commercial kitchen is expensive so the initial thought was to share the kitchen among multiple food vendors. However, Jones said Morganton does not have the population to support an idea like that, unlike Charlotte or Raleigh.

High-end, upscale restaurants such as Root & Vine in Morganton or Cowa Sake and Frothy Rooster in Hickory are examples of what the developers are looking for.

“Where there’s a daytime and a nighttime option, to be able to bring more food downtown,” Jones said.