Looking for more information about Downtown Salisbury? Call our Visitor Center at 410-677-1916 or email info@downtownsalisbury.org.Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Downtown Visitor Center is currently closed to the public.

• Most of our existing downtown was built around the turn of the century with the majority of building dating from 1860 to about 1930. The first railroad reached Statesville in 1858, linking Salisbury to Asheville, and was known as the Western North Carolina Railroad.
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Salisbury /sɔːlzbəri/ is a city in Rowan County in North Carolina, a state of the United States of America. The population was 33,663 in the 2010 Census (growing 27.8% from the previous Census in 2000). It is the county seat of Rowan County. Salisbury is the home to famed North Carolina soft drink, Cheerwine, and the regional supermarket Food Lion. Salisbury is the birthplace of former US Senator Elizabeth Dole, financier and philanthropist Julian H. Robertson and retired NBA player Bobby Jackson.
Salisbury is the site of a noted prisoner of war camp during the American Civil War and has ten National Register historic districts with many historic homes and commercial buildings dating from the 19th century and early 20th century, several of which are individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Salisbury also has a strong record of historic preservation.
Salisbury is located at 35°40′6″N 80°28′43″W / 35.66833°N 80.47861°W / 35.66833; -80.47861 (35.668289, -80.478479).

SALISBURY, N.C. (WBTV) - A much anticipated plan to redevelop an historic hotel in downtown Salisbury has been called off, according to a news release from the City of Salisbury.

City officials and the Downtown Salisbury, Inc. (DSI) Board of Directors ended exclusive negotiations with Empire Hotel Holdings, LLC, and its development arm, Black Point Investments, LLC, to redevelop the Empire Hotel.

The end of the exclusivity means that DSI and the City of Salisbury are available to explore additional redevelopment options for the site, according to the release.

Salisbury and DSI offered a final proposal to the developer in July in an attempt to conclude negotiations on the Empire project. The proposal was to “enter into a simple option to purchase the property outright with City incentives for completing the project on time.” The proposal, which included a $700,000 purchase price through Thursday, Dec. 31, was not accepted by the developer as offered. The developer offered a counterproposal which was not approved by either the DSI Board of Directors or Salisbury City Council.

“When DSI first announced this Empire Hotel redevelopment project, we understood that there was a lot of work to be done to make the plan viable,” said Salisbury Mayor Karen Alexander. “Over the past few years of negotiations, there have been many positive developments along the way. The property has undergone two brownfields assessments, market feasibility and parking studies, been listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Salisbury Historic District, listed as a local Historic Landmark, and is now eligible for Historic Tax Credits. The Empire Hotel is positioned quite well now, particularly as a property within an Opportunity Zone, and is more marketable for additional development proposals. '

“Although the DSI Board of Directors is disappointed the Empire Hotel project will not be moving forward with BPI after many years of hard work and negotiations, we are eager to explore new possibilities for its redevelopment,” said Whitney Wallace Williams, DSI immediate past chairperson. “To that end, we have created an Empire Development Task Force, whose members will guide the search for a new developer with the right fit and vision for our historic downtown. The DSI Board remains focused and committed to the Empire Hotel project and looks forward to the positive impact its redevelopment will have for our city.”

In 2010, Downtown Salisbury, Inc., through a series of public meetings, discussions, and with much public input, published the Downtown Master Plan, which advocated for the expansion of the downtown as a diverse, livable residential district. More recently, the UNC School of Government Development Finance Initiative (DFI) provided a report to City Council this week regarding downtown opportunity site selection, and pre-development analysis for two other city-owned parcels. The presentation highlighted the growing popularity of downtown residential living as noted in Salisbury. ­­

In 2016, it was announced that DSI and the developer signed a purchase agreement for the property. The group had tentative plans to convert the former hotel into market-rate apartments, in addition to retail space.

In October, officials from the White House toured the Empire Hotel property and other properties designated as “Opportunity Zones.”

“I think this gives Salisbury an opportunity to talk with the officials are actually responsible, who create it, and who run the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council, so that we can have a comprehensive conservation how do we then begin to tap into that grant money,” then-Mayor Heggins told WBTV.

In February, 2019, the developer talked about the progress and challenges in the project.

“It’s a very challenging project,” said Britt Weaver of Black Point Investments. “It’s a project that can only get done, given how challenging it is, because of the enthusiasm and commitment of Salisbury and Rowan County.”

Weaver told local leaders at a Rowan Chamber breakfast that the Empire Hotel project, with its mix of retail and residential use, was moving forward, despite a few delays.

“It’s a matter of meeting the HUD criteria and only then can we turn a shovel,” Weaver said. “The challenge with the project is we’re going to fund our financing through the HUD program, it’s not as much of a straight line as a typical conventional finance.”

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The Empire Hotel was built in 1855 by local attorney Nathaniel Boyden, opening to the public three years later as a “first class hotel” on the heels of the railroad’s arrival in Salisbury. Then known as the Boyden House, the property also housed permanent residents throughout its 100-year operating history.

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After years of substantial renovations and management turnover, the hotel finally closed its doors in 1963. DSI purchased the hotel in 2007 from the Ragsdale family of Jamestown, N.C., with the intention of stabilizing and developing the property.

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