Up & Coming Weekly

March 05, 2019

Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.

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4 UCW MARCH 6-12, 2019 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/ EDITOR Stephanie Crider editor@upandcomingweekly.com OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly. com ASSISTANT EDITOR Leslie Pyo leslie@upandcomingweekly.com SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR Earl Vaughan Jr. EarlUCWSports@gmail.com REPORTER Jeff Thompson news@upandcomingweekly.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Elizabeth Long art@upandcomingweekly.com SALES AND MARKETING DIRECTOR Kimberly Herndon kim@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING ASSOCIATE Linda McAlister Brown linda@upandcomingweekly.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Martin, Pitt Dickey, Margaret Dickson, Karl Merritt, John Hood, Jim Jones, Shanessa Fenner, Prudence Mainor SALES ADMINISTRATOR/ ––––––––––– Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan St. P.O. Box 53461 Fayetteville, NC 28305 PHONE: (910) 484-6200 FAX: (910) 484-9218 Up & Coming Weekly is a "Quality of Life" publication with local features, news and information on what's happening in and around the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. Up & Coming Weekly is published weekly on Wednesdays. Up & Coming Weekly welcomes manuscripts, photographs and artwork for publication consideration, but assumes no responsibility for them. We cannot accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or material. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the pub- lisher. The publisher reserves the right to edit or reject copy submitted for publication. Up & Coming Weekly is free of charge and distributed at indoor and outdoor locations throughout Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Pope Air Force Base, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per person. © 2019 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. Various ads with art graphics designed with elements from: vecteezy.com and freepik.com. Something is missing at Fayetteville's new gateway by BILL BOWMAN e Rowan Street bridge gateway to Fayetteville offers prime locations for new eateries and other venues. PUBLISHER'S PEN BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, UP & COMING WEEKLY. COMMENTS? BILL@upandcomingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. e Rowan Street bridge is coming along nicely. Before you know it, we will enjoy one of the nicest, most beautiful and long- awaited gateways into Fayetteville. e Up & Coming Weekly office is at 208 Rowan St., practically at the foot of the bridge. So, we have had a bird's-eye view of its progress. It's pretty impressive. e timing is near perfect, coinciding with all the exciting development and innovations happening downtown. A stadium, a hotel, apartments, office buildings and busi- nesses will result from this more than $100 million of economic development. It's all good, and I'm especially excited because next door to our office is 214 Row- an St. is is a vacant 6,000-square-foot commercial building that's for sale. It's stubbornly waiting to be leased or sold to the first entrepreneur who has vision and insight into the opportunities and needs generated by our growing community. How do I know this? Because I am an entrepreneur, and I own the building. When I describe the building as "stubborn- ly waiting," I'm referring to my steadfast determination to put a themed, upscale but moderately priced restaurant in that loca- tion. Preferably, a brew pub. Why? First, location. Rowan Street is going to be a gateway into Fayetteville, with upward of 50,000 vehicles passing by that location every day. It's in a convenient proximity to Festival Park, the Airborne & Special Operations Museum, our new baseball stadium and downtown events and amenities — all of which are within an easy 5- to 10-minute walk. Secondly, after passing all the venues mentioned above, there are no restaurants or eating establishments in the area be- tween Hay Street, Rowan Street and Bragg Boulevard — except the Subway at the Amtrak Station. My formal educational background is in the food and hospitality indus- try, and I have owned and invested in several restaurants in Raleigh and Fayetteville the past two decades, including Mash House Brewing Company on Sycamore Dairy Road. So, I can tell you with confidence that people like to eat and drink on their way to and from entertainment ven- ues and social gatherings. Currently, there are no dining destinations on this major gateway. irdly, and my favorite — parking. Yes, there are more than 100 conve- nient parking spaces nearby. Imag- ine eating, drinking, socializing and parking all in one location that is only minutes away from the exciting sights and sounds of a vibrant downtown. Yep. 214 Rowan St. will be that presti- gious destination if I have anything to do with it. Unfortunately, aspirations like this do not come without a cost. My wife and two prominent commercial real estate brokers think I'm being bullheaded and stubborn for holding off and waiting for that specific, unique brew pub/restau- rant entrepreneur to occupy the location. I'm optimistic. Besides, I want to be one of the first patrons seated on the street- side dining patio enjoying a glass of wine while listening to a concert at Festival Park or the sounds of a cheering crowd at a Fayetteville Woodpeckers baseball game. It will happen — but only for someone with vision into what the Fayetteville community wants, needs and will sup- port. Is that you? If not, pass this article on to a friend. ank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. 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