Editoral #1 Draft (Revitalization of Downtown High Point)

Q News

By Cassandra Mischak

*Title*

When somebody mentions the city of High Point, NC, what is the first thought that comes to your mind?

Some people would answer that question by saying it is known for being home to, “the country club college: High Point University”. Some even classify the city as “The furniture capital of the world that hosts the semi-annual furniture market”. 


On the other hand, others flat out consider High Point, especially the downtown area, one of the worst places to visit or live, due to several unappealing reasons. 


However, The High Point city council established a strategic goal to change the public's perception of this so-called depressing city, a few years back. 


The High Point city council decided to create a downtown catalyst project to increase the commercial tax base and create a public gathering space. This was in hopes to draw more residents and visitors year-round.


Starting just after the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the transformation of downtown High Point became underway. Due to a collaborative effort of the city government, many business and community leaders, in just three short years, the revitalization plans have gone from a vision to the opening of newly-built facilities.


With the new developments and revitalization of downtown High Point over the past few years, it is bringing both the city and university students together, in a positive way. 


The most popular addition to the city is the Stock and Grain Assembly Food Hall, located directly next to the Truist Point High Point Rockers Baseball stadium.


The Stock and Grain Assembly Food Hall consists of nine independently-owned food businesses, along with two bars that are opened daily.


Directly attached to this delicious food hall is another popular addition, known as Congdon Yards.


Congdon Yards took over the transformed historic factory and plant seven building. It was built by the community, but also for the community. The yards serve as a destination for the entire city to come together and work, gather, innovate and celebrate. 


Both the university students and the citizens of High Point now consider the Stock and Grain Assembly Food Hall and Congdon Yards the gathering “hot-spot" of downtown.


There have always been a few bar options for the community members to socialize at. For example, two HPU favorites are “1614”, formally known as “After Hours Tavern”, along with “BBJ’s” (Formally called Blue Bourbon Jacks). 


As loved as those places are, it was time for something new to take over the social scene.


In December of 2023, The Dive Bar had its grand-opening and has now become a favorite for the entire community.


At The Dive Bar, you and your friends can enjoy over 30 arcade games, a 700-square-foot outdoor deck, a full bar and a tasty menu.


However, even though the city of High Point hit an all-time economy low in 2020, the project to revitalize the downtown area has been nothing but a major success.


The city has made a milestone of progress so far and the growth is expected to expand even more over the upcoming years. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Personal Column

  An Unusual Type of Substance Abuse Q News By Cassandra Mischak When you hear someone mention the phrase substance abuse, what comes straight to your mind? I think it is safe to say that I can speak for the general population. When hearing the word substance, in reference to abuse, most people's brains automatically think of alcohol, tobacco, stimulant drugs, marijuana or even certain hallucinogens.  In complete retrospect, my brain goes straight to a looked over substance that practically ruined my life. Laxatives. Laxative abuse is one of the most life-threatening eating disorders, and unfortunately, it is often ignored.  It is also a common misconception that there are only three types of eating disorders you can suffer from.  A triggering phrase that lives rent free in my head that I constantly heard from all my peers is, “you don’t have an eating disorder if it’s not anorexia, bulimia or binge-eating.” I decided to innocently swallow my first laxative during m...
Read more

Restaurant Review: Kazoku

High Point University’s Kazoku: A True Hibachi Experience By Cassandra Mischak Q News High Point University is the home to three fine-dining restaurants that are all located in the heart of campus. As students, you are able to make a reservation at one of the restaurant labs once a week. Fortunately, each student can use a meal swipe in replacement for the cost of the three-course dinners. Since these dining labs are present at the university to help prepare students for proper etiquette, professional business attire is required. All three of these on-campus dining restaurants build the students' confidence in professional settings that go beyond an office cubicle.  The first restaurant to open on campus is a steakhouse called 1924 Prime, located in the R.G Wanek Center. In the fall of 2022, a Mediterranean, high-end restaurant opened inside the Kahn Hotel, directly beside the Nido and Mariana Qubein Conference Arena.  But most recently, this year, a family-style, teppanyaki d...
Read more

Remote Class Column

Overcoming Adversity:  How Do You Cope With Grief? Cassandra Mischak Q News I will never forget the day my godmother took her own life. Nov. 22, 2013. I was just a young girl, 11 years old in 6th grade. My mom and I were driving home from my weekly piano lesson on an early, rainy, Friday evening in November. It happened to be the week before Thanksgiving.  I was so excited for the weekend, just like any other elementary student. Particularly this Saturday, I had plans to go to a pottery art class with my godmother, Michelle.  As my mom and I were discussing the layout of that day, we had an incoming call from my brother and Michelle’s son, Ashton, as they just got off of the middle school bus, going to spend the night at Ashtons house.  My mom answered on bluetooth for us all to talk and laugh about our days, like we always did, but this time, that was not the case. They were in complete panic. There were minimal words we could understand out of the boys’ frantic sho...
Read more