Thanks for the info Anthony. Unfortunately I’ll be out of town on business and my wife will be attending class that night. It would be nice for someone who does attend to “take minutes” and post a synopsis of the discussion pertaining to this topic.

I must admit I am a bit surprised and less than thrilled about these two businesses being the first ones in the development. It seems to fly in the face of our namesake to allow businesses that are already established less than 1 mile from here to relocate to our retail area – that doesn’ t sound like a Renaissance to me. I’d rather see some businesses that are not already represented in the area. I had envisioned something a little more upscale than a Golden Corral here. The reviews of the one up the street are less than satisfactory and I don’t have faith that relocating here would change that. Additionally, I can’t believe that having a Golden Corral on the corner is going to help this development sell more houses. Wouldn’t we rather have something more appealing?

Perhaps I’d feel better if I knew more about what type of businesses they are planning in putting in the rest of the development. When we were inquiring about the retail area before we purchased here, we were told that the only chain retailers they were considering at that time was a pharmacy and a Starbucks. Perhaps the economic situation has changed, but the idea of giving small businesses a chance to flourish here with an installed customer base (us) – THAT sounds like a Renaissance.

I understand that starting off this development with a non-chain restaurant would be very risky; however, to me, Golden Corral is not the “something special” kind of restaurant I’d like to see here. My wife and I would like a Panera Bread or Bear Rock Cafe, something ethnic like Pei Wei Asian. All of these examples don’t have stores already in the vicinity. Some other retailers we’d like to see here is a Trader Joe’s or Fresh Market or similar unique market. I think a pharmacy, Walgreens or CVS would be a good choice as a store that would provide an immediate benefit to our community.

By the way, if anyone who reads this plans on attending, feel free to take this along and share it. I’d love to hear what other homeowners here have to say.

Golden Corral wouldn’t be my first choice either considering that there is already a Golden Corral restaurant located within a mile or so of Renaissance Park on Highway 70 next to the Garner Ale House.

As far as Strayer goes, they are also currently located within a mile of Renaissance Park (on Garner Station Blvd) so I don’t understand why they would be building on that corner unless they are looking to expand.

So both businesses already have an established presence in the area and must be successful to consider such a move. By moving to a new building less than a mile away they will likely benefit from a newer, larger facilities and possibly lower facility costs. But while it may be positive for them, it is certainly negative for the community.

This move would leave two older, empty buildings sitting within a mile of our community that are less attractive to new businesses because they must be renovated and the location is less desirable. I think it will be difficult to find new tenants/owners for this space and, like the old Wal-Mart building, they will just sit empty.

And since both GC and Strayer already have a presence in the area, the move won’t attract new customers to the area so there’s no growth in the customer base meaning that there’s no additional incentive to other investors to bring new businesses here. If we want a successful retail area, we need to encourage new business that will attract consumers from the surrounding neighborhoods that would otherwise go to Crossroads, White Oak, or Cameron Village to find what they want.

In the end, we can take the businesses in the area and move them from building to building forever, but that’s not growth. We need new businesses that will succeed in the current demographic and also attract new customers from surrounding areas.

I could not agree more! Unless Golden Corral is planning to drastically change their market focus as well as their typical facility plans we are looking at yet another example of poor suburban design…An ugly restaurant with a huge (and sometimes neon) sign and a sea of parking. Can we not get something that people would want to walk to? I don’t forsee many people living in Ren Park walking up to go to Strayer University or Golden Corral.

To add to my previous post, we are in DESPERATE need of a daycare here. That would be the most useful thing you could add to the neighborhood.