By Laura Keeter

Daily Times Staff Writer

Ed Etheridge has long been one of the city's major developers, and he is continuing to live up to that reputation.

At last week's Wilson Chamber Expo, The Daily Times got a chance to catch up with Etheridge at the Etheridge Associates booth and talk to him about the city, its development, and in particular what he has on the drawing board.

Etheridge was showing the public two of the biggest local projects he's working on now: A new shopping area at the interchange of Interstate 95 and U.S. 264, and expanding the ever-developing Heritage Place shopping center into residential development.

Coming soon are four new hotels, more retail and restaurants, connections of inner roads, and lots of new housing.

Etheridge has led the development of the interchange of I-95 and U.S. 264, which now boasts restaurants such as Cracker Barrel, gas stations, and seven hotels.

Development started in 1996 and netted $10 million in tax value in just the first two years.

A three-story Fairfield Inn & amp; Suites by Marriott recently opened behind Bojangles'. It joins a new four-story Hampton Inn & amp; Suites of Wilson, Comfort Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Sleep Inn, Jameson Inn and Wilson Microtel.

Two more hotels are planning to build at the Interchange within a year, Etheridge said. Both owners are working on site plans. The hotels will be located on the same area as Fairfield Inn.

The interchange will next debut retail.

To be built is Shoppes at Southern Village, a small strip center that will house about six shops and a restaurant. The center will be built behind Burger King.

"You'll be able to see that building when you pull up the ramp," Etheridge said.

Etheridge said he's "testing the waters" with this center, and if response is good, he plans to build more retail at the interchange.

"We've been needing to get some retail out there. Hopefully this will start the retail trend."

Etheridge is a partner in Lagniappe 95, the group developing the interchange that also includes attorney David Woodard and the Virginia Haynes family.

The interchange has been developed in sections because when development started, the partners weren't sure how it was going to go. A number of acres are left still to be developed.

Etheridge credits Interstate 95 with the success of the interchange market.

"Obviously that's your draw -- the busy highway there. The road from New York to Florida -- the busiest highway in the United States if I'm not mistaken."

Etheridge is also part of the partnerships that developing "Heritage Place," which is about 600 acres of former farm land reaching from Forest Hills Road to Airport Boulevard.

At Heritage Crossing, the new 100-acre mega shopping center anchored by Target, a Harris Teeter will open next year.

Two multi-store strip spaces now building, one to include a Starbucks.

The shopping center is estimated to be a $30-million project once done. Already it has four major stores and four smaller shops open.

Heritage Drive is a road that's been cut into the shopping center, on the left side of Target. Today, it sits quietly and stops at the railroad tracks just beyond the shopping.

But in the near future, Heritage Drive will be a busy road.

Heritage Drive will eventually connect to Westwood Drive that now ends behind Lowe's. (On the other side of Forest Hills Road, Westwood Drive is a main side entranceway to Westwood Village Shopping Center, home of Wal-Mart.)

This will give an inner way to the either shopping center without having to go through the busy intersection of Forest Hills Road and Raleigh Road Parkway.

This cut-through will be especially convenient for the many new residents who will live off Heritage Drive.

About 355 new homes are planned for the land that's between Lowe's, N.C. 42, and behind the Heritage Crossing Center.

Development will begin on the first section of 55 homes this year, located further along Westwood Drive, and a section of about 300 homes off Heritage Drive will be developed later.

More of the land contains commercial plots.

Heritage Drive will soon hook into a subdivision already in place in Heritage Place -- Meadowmont, located off Airport Boulevard beyond Heritage Crossing and boasting 95 houses. Once that's done, the new connection will be the main entrance for Meadowmont, Etheridge said.

Also, Heritage Drive will eventually connect through future development to N.C. 42, he said.

The master plan for Heritage Place contains a mix of housing with a possible mix of multifamily and commercial.

Etheridge estimates about half of the 600 acres is being worked on now, either with development or having plans drawn.

"It's a long-term project still. It's coming together nicely," Etheridge said. "It's a lot of land."

The Heritage Place partners, which include Etheridge, Woodard, attorney Allen Thomas, and the Adkins heirs, planned for a mixture of uses for the property because it was too much land for just commercial, Etheridge said. Partners are the same for Heritage Crossing but also includes two Charlotte firms, Core Properties and Collett & amp; Associates.

For Heritage Place, housing seemed to be a natural fit.

"It's obviously nice for people to live close to where they shop and also work," Etheridge said. "It's convenience, a trend these days. You want to be very convenient to all your stores and businesses."

The housing is also convenient to schools, including a new elementary school to be built on N.C. 42, he said.

Along more Heritage Place property along Raleigh Road Parkway, two other hotels are preparing to build.

Candlewood Suites will be located behind Ruby Tuesday, and a Hampton Inn will be beside it behind Optometric Eye Care Center.

Between Ruby Tuesday and El Tapatio, on a smaller lot, a Cook-Out restaurant will build. The Cook-Out is a chain of double lane drive-thru restaurants featuring hamburgers, hot-dogs, and more.

Other deals are being worked on as the Wilson retail market is finally catching some eyes, Etheridge said.

"I think the market was undervalued all these years," he said.

keeter@wilsontimes.com | 265-7817