East Waterfront Task Force...Design Competition

   

Swiss Bear board member cleaning up
Union Point Park

  

Design cometition judge discussing the
winning entry


 

Model of winning design -
Protected harbor & river research center 

 

  

Concept board of winning entry

In July 1983, following the City’s acquisition of the Texaco property, the Board of Aldermen designated Swiss Bear as the entity to plan the use of the Texaco property and Union Point,  granting 120 days to come up with a plan.  Swiss Bear organized the East Waterfront Task Force composed of representatives Swiss Bear, the Chamber of Commerce, Weyerhaeuser, Neuse River Foundation and the City Manager, several Aldermen and the City Planner.

The group met weekly, organized teams to clean up Union Point and visited the waterfronts of other cities including Norfolk, VA  and Baltimore MD. The Task Force determined a design competition would be the best way to obtain a creative plan for redevelopment of the Texaco property and Union Point and organized many sub-committees to include, fundraising, audio-visual and project/design. A professional advisor was hired to run the design competition and money was raised to cover costs incurred. Brochures were mailed to 3,300 architects and landscape architects in North Carolina, Virginia and South Carolina. In February 1984, around 15-18 firms had submitted proposals and concept drawings. Judges with impressive credentials  were selected to jury the design competition, held in the Bank of the Arts. On April 26, the announcement was made that  Raleigh architect, Edgar Carr’s submission was chosen as the winning design. His plan called for the excavation of a large part of Union Point to create a protected harbor and construction of a river research center. Over the next three years, the Task Force worked diligently to acquire the support and funding to develop this project. Numerous meetings were held with local, state and federal legislators to secure funding. Presentations were made to civic groups soliciting support. In the 1986 “short session” the request to the state Senate Appropriations Committee for $1,900,000, a third of what they originally asked for, was turned down.  

In August at a Swiss Bear Board meeting, Harold Talton said the article in the Sun Journal stating the chairman of Swiss Bear said the project was “dead in the water” was untrue. He said the statement  made was “that the current design appeared to be dead in the water”. This project didn’t reach fruition as the design was simply to radical to garner the community support required to obtain state and federal funding.

However, this was just one of many more hurdles that had to be jumped before the Park was developed in the mid-1990’s.

Susan Moffat Thomas
Executive Director

Redevelopment of the Neuse River Waterfront/Texaco Property

In the June 13 Sun Journal edition, an article by Eddie Fitzgerald reported City workers were repairing an area in Union Point Park where the soils had been sinking due to settling around a large concrete foundation.  He called and asked if I knew the history/background of the large concrete base that had never been removed when the City acquired the property. I do know, as Swiss Bear played a major role in getting the then, Texaco property donated to the City. Tourism was seen as an industry that would be the key to the revitalization effort. The Texaco property could be utilized as an expansion of the adjacent Union Point Park.  The concrete  base was originally the foundation for three massive Texaco fuel storage tanks that stood  beside a vacant gas station built in the 1950’s. Removal of the foundation turned out to be very difficult and costly and ultimately the City made the decision to leave the foundation in place, add soil and plant grass over the foundation.

Acquiring the Texaco property was a process that took over three years. Following the donation of the waterfront section to the City, Swiss Bear accepted a bargain sale offer and purchased lots 1 and 2 along the street which in turn, was sold to the City. To determine the best use of this property and Union Point, this led to the creation of an East Waterfront Task Force made up of members from the City, Chamber of Commerce Weyerhaeuser, Hatteras, Neuse River Foundation and Swiss Bear. This project, along with many others, was  based on the goals and objective of the 1977 Central Business District Revitalization Plan.

The following paragraph from the Central Business District Revitalization Plan  summarizes the existing conditions of the Neuse River waterfront and recommendations for redevelopment of property historically used for commercial purposes including seafood and saw mill operations.

The three block commercial area east of South Front Street including the old Holiday Inn, the Texaco Storage property and Union Point Park as fragmented and in some cases represented incompatible land uses as the city moves toward the accommodation of tourism and recreation. These key land parcels should be assessed and planned to conform with the rest of the central business district. The spectacular waterfront  setting and convenient accessibility to boat traffic will make this area increasingly valuable as other development occurs. This waterfront area should be carefully controlled from a visual point of view to insure its compatibility throughout the central business district. Waterfront pedestrian access should be required in this area as the land is redeveloped, creating a continuous connection from the existing City Park (Council Bluff Green) beneath the Highway 17 bridge along the water’s  behind the Holiday Inn (demolished in the 1990’s) and the oil storage area, around Union Point Park, under the Highway 70 drawbridge and along the edge of the urban renewal site. New development along the Neuse waterfront should include a 30 to 50 foot pedestrian easement to allow public access along the water.

In a future blog I will relate the steps taken after the three and a half acre parcel with a then value of $300,000, by the City and the East Waterfront Task Force in coming up with plans for the development of Union Point Park. The evolution of Union Point to its present day appearance was a long and challenging process and one of the many projects that played a major role in the incremental redevelopment of the waterfront and revitalization of the central business district.

Tell us what you think. 

Susan Moffat Thomas

Executive Director



Council Bluff Green 1990

Holiday Inn at
East Front & Broad St - 1985




Texaco Property on East Front St.
Fuel storage tanks and vacant gas station

 



Barge being towed away from Texaco site