Roy Carroll, president and chief executive officer of The Carroll Companies, tweeted an announcement today that The Carroll Companies had purchased the 6.6 acre site at the corner of Hobbs Road and Friendly Avenue, that had been the center of one of the most controversial zoning battles in recent times
The site was owned by Halpern Enterprises, Inc. which through lengthy negotiations with the opposition had managed to get the site rezoned for a mix of residential and commercial development in 2015, but had made no progress in actually developing the site.
In the tweet Carroll states, “The truth is that no one was happy with the current plan. Our team at The Carroll Companies will work to develop a plan that is beneficial to Greensboro while creating an asset to the neighborhood and city. I don’t blame the neighbors, I would not want to live next to a strip center either. My goal is to come up with a better plan. If the new plan we develop doesn’t obtain approval, I will still not build the strip center that is currently approved.”
The original plan to develop the site in 2014 involved a Trader Joe’s grocery store and Carroll also addressed that issue.
Carroll said, “Since we have been involved with this site I have been asked frequently, by my wife and others about Trader Joe’s. Trader Joe’s has been very clear that they were turned off of Greensboro by the actions of some of the neighbors who were opposed to the last plan that was approved. I want to be very clear that no one on my team has been in touch with Trader Joe’s to date. The development we propose will not be based on a Trader Joe’s. If our team can put together a great plan that gets approved and Trader Joe’s or any other business wants to discuss being a part of a really neat development, we will certainly listen.”
The Carroll Companies also owns the Rhino Times.
