
The RAYWEST DESIGNBUILD team has been hard at work these past few months adding new restaurant options throughout the Town of Hope Mills. The same commercial builders responsible for the new Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers® located at 2860 Hope Mills Road, which opened officially for business on Sept. 25, are proud to see construction conclude for the new Culver’s Location opening soon off of Camden Road.
The Culver’s Hope Mills location is the result of chain owner Adrian Madsen and his family wanting to bring the Midwestern franchise’s first location to the Fayetteville area. The Culver’s crew broke ground on their spot in March of 2024 and are now just days away from holding their grand opening on Oct. 14, 2024.
RAYWEST DESIGNBUILD specializes in these types of restaurant builds and have worked with 19 other franchises so far, including Tropical Smoothie Cafe, Duck Donuts and 17 Jersey Mike’s locations throughout the state of North Carolina.
According to RAYWEST DESIGNBUILD Co-founder Greg West, Culver’s received one of the final permitting approvals from Hope Mills on Friday, Oct. 4. Now, they can move in staff and begin the training needed to begin serving customers.
“One of our selling points is, we know how important an opening schedule is, and so we take pride in helping meet those schedules and taking them seriously,” shared West. “They're hiring 80 employees here, and they didn't want to hire them for a month and have them sit around.”
Buildings like Culver’s are known in the industry as multi million “ground up” projects which can take up to a year to plan and complete. RAYWEST DESIGNBUILD is proud to utilize local contractors and businesses when bringing a project to life.
“We’re kind of a quarterback or, Hector likes to use a musical analogy, a conductor. There will probably be about 30 different companies working on this building, mostly local,” shared West.
“When we do a job, we try to keep the local guys here doing it for one reason, they know the local jurisdictions. They know because they've got a working relationship with the inspectors. They know the nuances for everything so it helps keep money in the community,” shared RAYWEST DESIGNBUILD Co- Founder Hector Ray.
Ray also shared that the welcoming developing department in Hope Mills have helped them recently complete or begin five projects in the area.

“They've got their arms open they've been very accommodating as far as working and making things happen. They’re not bending or breaking rules, but if we need to get an inspection a certain time of a day to keep things going to meet our end date, they've been very accommodating with those,” shared Ray.
While local to Fayetteville, NC, RAYWEST DESIGNBUILD has a client list spread across the Carolinas. Learn more about the company and their clients on their website here.
Editor’s note: More on RAYWEST DESIGNBUILD and their current projects throughout Hope Mills will be featured in our upcoming Oct. 18 issue focusing on “Scary-good businesses.”
This is the first year of the Veteran Business Expo, and it grew out of Fayetteville PWC’s Economic Impact Program, which focuses on expanding access and opportunity in public-sector contracting while strengthening the local economy. It builds off th
Lynlene Apiary and Crafts is owned and operated by mother-daughter duo Carolyn Kleinert and Jolene Kleinert. They are certified apiarists and sell honey, candles made with beeswax, soaps and other crafts at local farmers markets. Photos by GFBJ.Lynle
Big T’s has been a local favorite of Hope Mills since 2000 when Timmy (Big T) and Donna Gray first opened right on Hope Mills Lake. It is a seasonal restaurant, so many of Big T’s loyal customers were happy to hear they would now be open year-round, seven days a week.