Tanger Outlets helps, hurts local economy

A poor economy, lack of infrastructure and fierce competition turned what was supposed to be a 128-acre shopping center into a dead development.

Plans for the Buckhorn Village project, located near the southeast corner of Interstate 40 and Buckhorn Road in Orange County, have been abandoned, said Roger Perry, president of East West Partners and one of the project’s former developers.

The group decided not to purchase the land for the development although it is still approved by the Orange County Board of Commissioners for use.

The land would be suitable for functions like distribution, assembly and warehousing, Perry said.

“There are other uses for this property,” he said, “just not retail uses.”

The mixed-use project was approved after developers told county officials it would help reverse the county’s sluggish economic state.

But the same economy developers hoped to boost ultimately caused the demise of the project.

“When it was proposed, the economy was sort of in a different stage, and it was more hopeful than now,” said Margaret Cannell, executive director of Hillsborough-Orange County Chamber of Commerce.

Perry also said the county had plans to bring water and sewage service to the site, but the intentions never materialized.

“We thought there might be retail demand there, and we tried to see if there was,” Perry said. “It turned out that it was not.”

But in a couple of months, a similar development will open just across county lines.

Tanger Outlets is located near the border of Alamance and Orange counties, about 25 minutes from downtown Chapel Hill. The Mebane development will feature outlet stores like Banana Republic, Gap and Coach.

Cannell said Buckhorn probably suffered as a result of the outlet center’s opening, slated for Nov. 5. The project also quickly received permits and began building, she said.

“Given the overall condition of the economy, retailers are not interested in having to fight that competition,” Cannell said. “Developers know that. They are not going to push to try to get the retailers into Buckhorn Village knowing that Tanger Outlets is the next exit.”

The outlet center’s Thursday job fair attracted 3,375 people, including many from Chapel Hill and Hillsborough, said Kathleen Hackshaw, general manager of North Carolina Piedmont Tanger Outlet Center. The outlets seek to fill 800 positions.

Aaron Nelson, president and CEO of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce, said the outlets will have both positive and detrimental effects on Orange County economically.

“It will be helpful to promote our region as a great place to shop but has the negative impact on Orange County retail sales,” Nelson said.

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