Published: September 15, 2007 07:22 pm            

Chain reaction:

New businesses multiplying across Princeton

PRINCETON — Take a crossroads between two major highways and add a gas station or some other business. If the station’s successful, a restaurant might open next door. If this restaurant’s parking lot stays full, then a motel chain might look at the area.

Business building upon business at a big crossroads is a national trend being played out in the Princeton area.

For the last two years, the City of Princeton and the surrounding area have seen steady economic development, said Robert Farley, president and CEO of the Princeton-Mercer County Chamber of Commerce. Restaurants, new bank branches, a car dealership and retailers are either under construction or in the planning stages.

“There’s a Sonic Drive-in coming in besides First Century Bank on Stafford Drive,” Farley said. The new restaurant is scheduled to open in the spring of 2008. And land was recently cleared for a new Walgreens at the intersection of Stafford Drive and Courthouse Road.

“It [clearing out old buildings] makes that corner look altogether different,” Farley said.

Just outside the city limits on Oakvale Road, a Starbucks Coffee and a Hyundai dealership are under construction, he said. A New Peoples Bank branch will be built in the former Kmart property across from the future Hyundai site. There are also plans for a motel, though no decision has been made on which motel chain will be placed there.

Near the Starbucks, a new BP station with an Arby’s restaurant will be built, Farley said. More projects are slated near Exit 9 off Interstate 77.

“On the east side of Exit 9, a Country Inn & Suites is under construction,” Farley said. “On the left, a City National Bank should open this fall in front of Wal-Mart, and a First Community Bank sometime this winter near Chili’s.”

The growth around Exit 9 follows a trend being seen across the nation: Major growth around major highway intersections, Farley said.

“This Exit 9 is the third busiest intersection in the state,” he said. “The main reason for this is our highway system. We have a major intersection with a major four-lane east-west highway and a major interstate going north-south.”

Significant growth is evident at similar intersections outside the region.

“There’s Exit 36 in Mooresville, Va. I can recall when there was only one gas station there. Now everything’s there,” Farley said.

One indication of Exit 9’s growth was the need to renovate the U.S. Route 460 Bridge over I-77. Some minor work is still underway, but the bridge’s lanes are now open for traffic, said Phillip White, construction engineer for WV Department of Highways District 10.

Once two bridges, the new single bridge has longer turning lanes on Route 460 that lead to I-77. In the past, shorter lanes caused traffic going from one highway to another to back up, White said.

As traffic increases, so can the number of businesses.

“I’d say in the next couple of years there will be additional things in there,” Farley said.

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com

        

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