One of the things I hoped to do with this column was provide a space for local businesses to announce the latest developments related to what they’re doing.
Where are you, guys?
If you have any news items you want to submit for the Corner Store, please send them my way at zhorner@chathamnr.com. You can also tweet me at @ZachHornerCNR.
Hope to see a bunch of emails flood my inbox in the coming week. But for now, the roundup:
This weekend’s storms
According to a tweet from the National Weather Service Sunday morning, the central North Carolina area saw two to four inches of rain in the swath of storms and tornado watches. As a result, Jordan Lake rose 11 feet — from around 216 feet to around 227 feet. It wasn’t high enough to flood — that’s 240 feet — but it’s quite a stunning shift. The storms saw school early releases and closings across the center of the state.
This upcoming meeting
The Chatham Economic Development Corporation’s annual meeting is right around the corner. Scheduled for 8-10 a.m. on Friday, March 6, “Opportunity Chatham” is “a tremendous gathering of business and community leaders from Chatham County and the region,” according to the EDC. The keynote speaker will be Ted Abernathy, an economic development consultant who has been working with the group in recent years. You can get tickets for the event, which will be held at the Chatham County Agriculture & Conference Center in Pittsboro, at eventbrite.com/e/opportunity-chatham-tickets-91196843213.
This new development
It’s not in Chatham, but it’s just outside the border — Miami-based Lennar is planning a massive mixed-use development west of Apex in Wake County. The 200-acre project, currently called “Depot 499,” is slated to have as many as 1,350 new homes and up to 650,000 square-feet of commercial space. The Triangle Business Journal reported on the project from Lennar, the second-largest home builder in America.
This money spent
Now to something not really related to Chatham, but a fun fact: TV and film productions in Wilmington spent nearly $137 million last year, according to the N.C. Dept. of Commerce. North Carolina as a whole saw a total of $167 million and 11,820 jobs from the productions. Among the projects: “Halloween Kills,” the slasher sequel slated for release this October starring series star Jamie Lee Curtis, and thriller “The Georgetown Project,” starring Russell Crowe, which does not yet have a release date.
Reporter Zachary Horner can be reached at zhorner@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @ZachHornerCNR.