Union County Real Estate Talk

Wesley Chapel NC Village Commons is Growing Up!

A country red brick church.  Rolling fields of grain and woodlands.  Horse farms.  Do you remember when the intersection of Waxhaw-Indian Trail Road and Weddington Road in Wesley Chapel NC looked like that?

When the Village of Wesley Chapel incorporated over ten years ago, town residents decided that the Village would have a town center at this intersection.  They set plans in motion for the Village Commons shopping center encompassing three corners of the crossroads.  Today the church is still there but the fields and horse farms have been replaced by stores, restaurants and banks.

Construction at Village Commons is ongoing and not all storefronts have been leased yet but the number of shopping opportunities for nearby residents is impressive.  Here are photos of Wesley Chapel’s Village Commons and a partial list of businesses in the center.

Harris Teeter, Blockbuster Video, Wells Fargo Bank, a pizza restaurant, a Chinese restaurant, Subway, a dentist.

Lowes Foods, Bank of America, a cleaner, a nail salon, Coffee Table, Taekwondo, Walgreens

Target, CVS, Radio Shack, Rack Room Shoes, Hickory Tavern, a pizza restaurant, Verizon

Perhaps the best thing about Wesley Chapel NC is that you can still live in a neighborhood with half acre or larger lots surrounded by fields and horse farms.  Need something from the store or want to eat out?  Just take a short drive to the Village Commons.

Learn more about Wesley Chapel NC.  Wesley Chapel NC:  Snapshot of Community Life

Copyright 2010.  Carol Fox.  Allen Tate Realtors.  *Wesley Chapel NC Village Commons is Growing Up!*

Who lives in Wesley Chapel NC and what is community life like in this small Union County village?

Wesley Chapel incorporated just ten years ago and lies in western Union County, one of the fastest growing counties in North Carolina.  According to a 2007 estimate, Wesley Chapel has 4,793 residents.  The Village council has worked over the last two years to develop a vision for the community and a master plan to guide growth according to that vision.  In 2007, village residents were brought into the planning process and the results of a citizen survey give us a glimpse of Wesley Chapel community life and resident opinions.

Who lives in Wesley Chapel NC?

• Wesley Chapel residents are fairly young.  Almost 40% of the responding households have two or more children under the age of 18.  Twenty five percent of the households have two or more residents in the 40 to 49 age group.
• Seventy one percent of the survey respondents have lived in Wesley Chapel fewer than nine years.

Where do Wesley Chapel NC residents work?

• Wesley Chapel is a bedroom community.  Thirty six percent of survey respondents travel 50 or more miles per day to work.  Over 50% spend more than 45 minutes per day commuting.
• Thirty five percent of the commuters work in South Charlotte and another 23% work in Uptown Charlotte.  Twenty four percent work in Union County.
• Twenty five percent of the survey respondents work at home.

How do Wesley Chapel residents feel about the quality of life in the Village?

• Approximately 60% of the survey respondents felt that it was very important to preserve the rural, small town atmosphere in Wesley Chapel.  Nearly 40% felt that it is very important to maintain agricultural activity in the village.
• A majority of survey respondents were satisfied with the rural character of the town, its clean and healthy environment and the existing architectural style of its buildings.  They were less satisfied with the availability of shopping and restaurants.

How would Wesley Chapel residents like to see the village grow in the future?

• Survey respondents called for a greater mix and diversity of building styles and housing styles for different life phases.  Most wanted to encourage single family housing rather than condos, townhouses or rental housing.
• When asked about housing density, survey respondents favored larger acre lots and opposed quarter-acre and mixed density lots.
• A majority of survey respondents support the development of recreational amenities including active parks, such as ball fields, passive parks of open space, and greenways along floodplains and creeks.

Related article:  Happy Birthday Wesley Chapel NC!

Visit www.CarolinaSmallTownLiving.com to learn more about the Village of Wesley Chapel NC and its neighborhoods.

About the author:  Carol Fox of Allen Tate Realtors is a veteran real estate agent who has been selling the horse farms, rolling pastures and neighborhoods of Wesley Chapel NC for over twenty years.

Copyright 2008.  Carol Fox.  All rights reserved.  "Wesley Chapel NC:  Snapshot of Community Life"

Wesley Chapel NC is ten years old and the town is throwing a birthday party Saturday September 6, 2008.  The celebration will take place at Village Commons Shopping Center, which is the "downtown" for the village.  Like many other areas in Union County NC, Wesley Chapel incorporated in 1998 to control its growth and maintain its relatively rural nature.

Ten years ago, the crossroads of Waxhaw-Indian Trail Road and Weddington Road had Siler Presbyterian Church and little else except farmland.

Today, the four corners of the intersection are filled with commercial development, including Union County's newest Target store.  Pretty impressive and convenient for a village that has fewer than 5000 residents!

Neighborhood shopping includes a grocery store, restaurants, a real estate office, insurance office, video store, bank, gas station, and several pharmacies.

Wesley Chapel has an ongoing master planning process and is asking its residents to complete a survey regarding future development around the downtown.  While the village now requires subdivisions to have half acre lots or larger, it is asking it citizens whether they would like subdivisions that preserve more open space by clustering homes on smaller lots in the interior.  Another question deals with the village allowing different types of housing, such as townhomes and retirement homes, and whether higher density homes should be clustered around the village town center.  Survey results should be published in October.

Want to help Wesley Chapel celebrate its birthday?  Join the parade at 11:00am and the festival from 12pm to 4pm at the Target parking lot.  The festival will have a bicycle rodeo, a teen driving experience, a bounce house, food, and music.

Visit the Wesley Chapel page at www.CarolinaSmallTownLiving.com for more information about the Village of Wesley Chapel.

Copyright 2008.  Carol Fox.  All rights reserved.  "Happy Birthday, Wesley Chapel, NC!"

About the auther:  Carol Fox of Allen Tate Realtors is a veteran real estate broker who has been selling the neighborhoods, rolling farmland and horse farms of Wesley Chapel for over twenty years.