WADESBORO — Uptown Square will soon be purchased by the Town of Wadesboro using funds from the Downtown Revitalization Grant it received from the NC Department of Commerce in 2018.
“The Uptown Square is where we have our Christmas tree and it has the stage over in its corner,” explained Wadesboro Town Manager David Edwards. “It’s an empty lot on the main square and it consists of three parcels of land. Two of those parcels are owned by the county. One was owned by a private corporation.”
“I spoke with the County a while back, and they didn’t have any plans for their two parcels,” said Edwards. “For the last little while, we’ve been in negotiations with the owners of the third parcel. The final purchase price for that third parcel is what we voted on during the Town Council meeting held on Monday, July 6.”
Funds from the Downtown Revitalization grant have been used to purchase the clock in the center of the town as well as to install way-finding signage. The final portion of the grant has been set aside to rejuvenate Uptown Square.
“We’ve got about $45,000 left in the grant,” said Edwards. “Some of that will go to buy the parcel of land. The remainder of the grant will go to rebuilding the stage that’s there on the square because it’s in bad condition. It can’t really be repaired anymore, so we need to tear it down and build something else.”
The town is also planning on installing an overhead canopy to the stage.
“We’ve run into issues in the past where we’ve had little concerts and stuff there that’s been canceled for rain,” said Edwards.
In the past, Uptown Square has been used for several purposes, such as a place to show movies.
For the future, Edwards plans for Uptown Square to be “a nice gathering place for events and festivals that folks can schedule through Wadesboro and use then use that space to bring people uptown. “
“We’re really excited to finally get over this hurdle,” said Edwards. “We’ve been working for this a long time. We’re excited to be in the final stages of getting this project completed.”
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