Swain County, like much of the United States, is under a stay-at-home order due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, on a sunny day, you can still hear the sound of dirt being moved, walls going up and other sounds related to construction as working in this industry continues.
All of the trades, in fact, are deemed essential under the stay-at-home orders and if you look at some of the projects going on, you might even forget other parts of the economy are at a standstill.
According to Swain County Building Inspections, construction is down slightly compared to the previous year. From Jan. 1-April 1, there were 22 new single family dwellings compared to 24 the previous year; 4 renovations compared to 10 and a total of 47 permits compared to 55.
“As you can see, construction is down some this year compared to last year for the first three months of each year,” noted Bill Marr, inspections director. “I do attribute part of this decline to COVID-19 as the building industry here is Swain County has been on the upswing the past several years.”
Even as projects are not as high as the previous year, the office is still busy issuing permits and doing sit inspections. While the office is closed, appointments can be made.
“We are also doing our best with social distancing. We ask our contractors and owners to not be on site when we are there to inspect when possible,” Marr said.
Residential
In the past few years, residential construction has picked back up after taking a lengthy hiatus after the 2008 recession that was primarily driven by the housing market. Swain County has a good number of these types of projects mixed throughout the county between those in developments and on private lots.
While there’s no paper trail, per se, with the Inspections office that indicates if the new homes are for vacation rentals or full time residences, Marr estimates the number of part time residences and vacation rentals would be high— estimating it’s about 80 percent.
“Very few houses are built just to sell,” he said.
Commercial projects
Commercially, there are a handful of significant projects that are continuing, including renovations at Swain County High School, a new four-story hotel and new vacation units at another property in town. “Both projects are still going at this time with little or no slow down,” Marr said.
At Swain High, the progress is obvious to the additions that will include two new classrooms, additional space for administration and counseling with a move of the main entrance, plus additional kitchen space. Work began last summer on the project and is slated to continue into the fall.
“The high school additions to the main building are all on schedule and looking nice,” said Toby Burrell, Swain County Schools public information officer.
Most recently, the concrete blocks walls went up last week for the administration and counseling suite— a dramatic difference from the start of the week when there weren’t any walls up.
Another project at the high school, the multipurpose building, located next to the football field that will include a new weight room, office space and a large multipurpose space for wrestling and other activities is nearly finished.
“The multipurpose room has progressed nicely and is almost ready for the flooring to be put down, after that will come the weights, both of which will be done by outside companies,” Burrell reported.
Swain County also has two in-house projects that are nearly complete. One is a two-story building next to the Senior Center on Brendle Street. County Manager Kevin King estimated it’s about 97 percent complete. The downstairs adds more space for the senior center including some small meeting rooms. The upstairs will be dedicated to the Swain County Genealogical and Historical Society, which will move from its location on the square that is not ADA compliant.
Additionally, an addition at the Family Resource Center on Hughes Branch Road is about 80 percent complete, King said. It will add storage space and office space for the Family Resource Center. Both of those projects were grant funded.
The biggest project in town is a four-story hotel going up on Main Street just past the historical museum where Gracey Manor motel used to be located. This will make the third Stonebrook Lodge owned by Sandra and Mark Fornter, with the other two in Cherokee and Murphy near the casinos.
Fifty rooms are planned, and the new hotel will be open year round and have an indoor pool. It appears to be nearly completed and should open this summer. The Fortners could not be reached for comment as of press time.
with the other two in Cherokee and Murphy near the casinos.
There’s also quite a bit of activity at Bryson Village, located on the corner of Slope Street and Franklin Grove Church Road on the historic Bryson property.
Owner Pat McConnell, said Phase II of the project began with water and sewer connections.
Phase I opened last spring with the renovated Bryson home, and the addition of several small prefab homes, all of which are vacation rentals. With the rentals going well through the first season, McConnell said he decided it was worth beginning the next phase.
“We’re currently putting in a loop road from the front gate,” McConnell said of the work underway now. “Those 2 story units are two units one you can get to behind it they overlook the pond and fountain; then the ones from the bottom you access from the bottom and the walk out along the pond or yard.
The new units will be log cabins for a total of 8 new rentals, and the top units should offer some good views of town, he noted.
He was hopeful that once the new units are ready in June and the public health crisis is over, people would again be traveling to Swain County.
“The hope is when this is all said and done people will not fly and take cruise ships, they’ll come to North Carolina,” he said.