Downtown Fayetteville officially has a recognized Social District, at least for the next 12 months. 

Following a 9 -1 vote by the Fayetteville City Council on Nov. 14 at a city council meeting, work began on Dec. 1 to make the ability to enjoy and carry alcohol throughout Downtown Fayetteville a permanent perk of the area. 

“We are so excited about that, we've been working on that for the past year, ever since the legislation was passed in September of 2021,” said Cool Spring Downtown District President and CEO Bianca Shoneman. “It was really great to see our city council support our legislators who created the law for us and then gave cities and counties the empowerment to enact it. Specifically, Senator DeViere was instrumental in getting that legislation passed alongside of the North Carolina Retail and Merchants Association. And we are proud of it, and we think that the social district will provide a sense of vitality to downtown Fayetteville that other metropolitan areas offer throughout the state, and really nation at this point, because it is an economic strategy many communities are using in a post COVID economy to generate sales and interest in their community post COVID.”

While the new Social District is expected to be an exciting addition to the downtown landscape, it doesn’t come without rules. According to an ordinance from the City of Fayetteville, a new Article 11 outlines the requirements of the Social District providing definitions and applicable restrictions including the Social District’s boundaries comprised of 26 addresses throughout downtown Fayetteville where open carry will be allowed. 

One of the main specifications include the requirements for what cups must be used by businesses for the sale of open alcoholic beverages, including:

a) The container clearly identifies the permittee from which the alcoholic beverage was purchased. 

b)The container clearly displays a logo or some other mark that is unique to the social district in which it will be consumed. 

c) The container is not comprised of glass. 

d)The container displays, in no less than 12-point font, the statement, "Drink Responsibly - Be 21." 

e)The container shall not hold more than 16 fluid ounces.

To meet these requirements, the CSDD is divvying up their first allotment of 5,000 customized cups to the 26 businesses that have signed up to sell alcohol in the district. 

Shoneman shared that an additional 10,000 cups are being made thanks to the sponsorship of local law firm Smith, Dickey & Dempster P.A.

The temporary Downtown Social District officially launched on Dec. 1, with signage posted, businesses marked for their participation and cups distributed, and operates seven days a week from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday. 

So far, there are 44 businesses in total participating in the district whether it’s by allowing guests to bring drinks in, purchase them at their establishment and leave with them, or are strictly not allowing open adult beverages in their stores. Specific signs are posted on all participating businesses to notify guests of their preferences by the verbiage: Welcomed Here, Sold Here, or Not Permitted Here.

While the temporary pilot of the district has been approved, there is still more work to do before making the change permanent. According to legislation text from the City of Fayetteville, the CSDD will present a progress report of the program’s impact every three months. At the end of the trial period in December 2023, the action will be reintroduced to rescind the pilot to create an ordinance amendment for a Social District.

City Council Member of District 2 Shakeyla Ingram voted in support of the Social District and said safety and having a solid plan in place to implement the program were some of the reasons she felt confident voting yes. 

“Making sure we had clear guidelines, a footprint, making sure that our city partners were on board, and they felt heard, and most importantly making sure our merchants felt heard too. And I think considering it was a nine to one that, you saw that all parties involved, felt heard and felt comfortable to move this forward,” said Ingram. “Once the pilot is complete, we will review the stats that will come out of it and we will make a vote and say, ‘Hey, based off of what maybe Cool Spring is presenting, let's go ahead and do this.’ Or if the council chooses not to, that is also an option as well. But I think we'll be good to move forward because we'll be getting reports throughout.” 

Along with the new social development in downtown, new real estate is in the works to help increase residential and commercial offerings. 

A new project is currently under construction on Donaldson Street. The building is more than halfway done and is set to be a multi-use building adding 9,000 gross square feet in commercial development including living space and retail bays to the downtown area.

“That is being done by the Ammons Group, an architectural firm located in the Haymount District. This is one of the first infill projects to come out of the ground. So, it's a new construction project, that’s sandwiched between two existing buildings,” said Shoneman. “If you go down Donaldson, you can see he's already got the cinder in and he's done all his plumbing. It's very far along.” 

Just up the street, progress continues on a new high-end luxury apartment complex under construction on Adam Street. The first phase of the project was completed in May of 2022 with two buildings with 20 two-bedroom, three-bathroom units. For phase two, the Adam Street complex is expected to add three additional buildings also with three bedrooms and two bathrooms that will be available for lease bringing 50,000 square feet of new residential development to downtown.

Another residential project in the works is a 150,000 gross square foot apartment building that will include 212 apartments and have an expected $65,000,000 impact on the downtown area. 

“This project has been led by Jordan Jones, who’s a Fayetteville native. He also did the adaptive reuse project on the Prince Charles [building], which is, you know, a beloved building that has been part of our urban form since the early 1900s,” said Shoneman. “This project should begin in the near future. The lay down site has already started to be laid down and by that, I mean you'll see a crane come in in the next few weeks and construction should begin in the near future. Jordan’s development company is called Anchor & Pillar and they are leading this investment.”

Finally, 12 new condos are also under construction at 111 Maxwell St. in the Kress building. 

“We love the idea of expanding residential opportunities in the downtown district. And so, to see that we have, you know, the 212 units, the 20 units from Adam Street and then these additional 12 units that really is going to provide a substantial boom and to our residential impact,” said Shoneman. 

In total, 244 new residential developments have been completed, planned or were begun in Downtown Fayetteville between 2017 and 2021, adding 540,000 gross square feet of new residential real estate, a culmination of $210,000,000 in private investments.