Gibsonville could be closer to having a “full-service” grocery store for the first time in decades.
Town officials – longtime former mayor Lenny Williams, who retired at the end of this January, was among the most vocal – have long pointed to their desire to have a grocery store within the town’s municipal limits since its last full-service grocery store, Byrd’s, was sold to Lowes Foods in 1997 and later closed.
Retired former Republican state senator Rick Gunn is now lending a hand in the effort to recruit a commercial developer for a 28-acre parcel of land in Gibsonville’s jurisdiction that came on the commercial real estate market Friday for $4.8 million.
On Monday, Gunn pitched the property during a weekly projects meeting at the Graham headquarters for developer Shawn Cummings, who initially bristled at the asking price but indicated that he may be willing to take a closer look.
The 28-acre property, which has an address of 563 South N.C. Highway 61, is just over the Alamance County line on the south side of Gibsonville, at the juncture of U.S. Highway 70 and N.C. Highway 61.
The property is also situated approximately a mile down Highway 70 from Lindley Park Estates and near several other residential developments just outside Gibsonville’s town limits, such as the Ardmore Meadows, a 324-unit apartment complex scheduled for completion this year, and Poets Walk, a 200-towhome subdivision that started in 2022 and is continuing to be built out in several phases.
“This is quite a tract of land,” Gunn told Cummings Monday morning. “It’s the last piece within the town of Gibsonville’s jurisdiction. Gibsonville has been dying to get a grocery store; nobody’s going to go in downtown Gibsonville.”
“I do think it lends itself for any number of outparcels,” Gunn said. He acknowledged in response to the developer’s initial reaction to the asking price (approximately $171,735 an acre) that the same property had been listed two years ago at $1 million below the current price.
“Gibsonville folks want this to be fully commercial,” Gunn told the developer.
“I don’t think we have the bandwidth right now,” Cummings responded, apparently referring to the several dozen other developments that his company, VennTerra, has underway and reiterating that the $4.8 million price tag is unrealistic. “Let’s see what the market does,” he added.
“It literally listed this past Friday,” said Gunn. “My gut is, between Brightwood [Farm] and Waterford, that market is deprived,” he said referring to two residential developments that are both within a few miles of the 28-acre parcel.
“Price aside, I think the dynamics might be pretty good,” Gunn told Cummings, adding that he’s the only developer that he has approached about the property.
Meanwhile, Gunn said he’d discussed the property last week with Gibsonville town officials, including town manager Ben Baxley and planner Brandon Parker.
He’s also waiting to hear back from Chuck Edwards, the district engineer for the state Department of Transportation division that includes Alamance and Orange counties, about what type of road improvements other than existing traffic signal might be needed at the intersection where the 28-acre parcel is located, Gunn told Cummings and his team.
Gunn: Grocery store would serve new residential development in Gibsonville
In a brief subsequent interview with The Alamance News, Gunn suggested that a grocery store, as well as other types of commercial development, is needed to serve new residential development.
“There are 2,200 rooftops being built or proposed for Gibsonville,” he told the newspaper, adding, “a grocery store has been talked about [by town officials] for years.”
Though now semi-retired, Gunn continues to be active in the local commercial real estate market and co-owns several locations in North Carolina and Virginia for the American Family Care chain of urgent care clinics. Previously, he and several business partners helped to redevelop Holly Hill Mall in Burlington about 15 years ago.
Gunn confirmed for the newspaper that he’d met with Gibsonville town officials on Monday, August 11 – noting that he isn’t the broker for the property along South N.C. Highway 61 – and had stopped by Cummings company headquarters to discuss the idea on behalf of the listing agents, who are with North Group Real Estate and based in Graham, Gunn explained in the interview.
“Gibsonville’s land use plan has this zoned for commercial,” the former state senator told the newspaper. “I find this to be a very intriguing property,” he said.
“It’s on the Guilford County side [of Gibsonville] but would directly impact Alamance County,” if developed for a grocery store and other commercial tenants, Gunn told the newspaper after the meeting.
The listing brochure states describes the property as an “exceptional development opportunity at the highly visible corner of Highway 61 and Burlington Road (Highway 70) in Gibsonville” that would support a variety of potential uses, including retail, office, or a mixed-use development, though the town’s land use plan designates it as “commercial use in its entirety.”
Guilford County tax records list the latest, total assessed value for the 28-acre parcel at $1.9 million. The property also includes a 1,940-square foot brick house built in 1971 and currently valued at $159,219, according to Guilford County tax records, which indicate that the home is not the owners’ primary residence.
Currently, the nearest grocery store from the property along South N.C. Highway 61 is a Food Lion, three miles away at the Stoney Creek Village shopping center in Whitsett, and Lowes Foods 2.5 miles away along University Drive in west Burlington.
