Orthodontist in Kannapolis NC

Chick-fil-A's new distribution center will create more than 85 jobs paying an average of $58,000 per year, Gov. Roy Cooper announced.

ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. — Chick-fil-A plans to open a new distribution center in Kannapolis that will bring dozens of jobs to Rowan County as part of a $58.3 million investment, Gov. Roy Cooper announced Tuesday.

The new distribution center will serve around 100 Chick-fil-A restaurants in the Charlotte area. Chick-fil-A Supply currently operates four distribution centers, including a 180,000-square-foot facility in Mebane, North Carolina. The Rowan County facility will create more than 85 jobs, Cooper said.

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"Chick-fil-A's expansion is good for Kannapolis along with Rowan and surrounding counties," Cooper said. "We appreciate their vote of confidence in North Carolina and the strength of our workforce and infrastructure."

The One North Carolina Fund will provide Chick-fil-A Supply $20,000 for building the distribution facility. To qualify for the grant money, the company must meet job creation and capital investment targets. Chick-fil-A must create 82 jobs to receive the funding, which will be paid once it meets the criteria. The company will not be paid any money upfront.

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The Kannapolis Chick-fil-A distribution center will have job openings for drivers, managers, office staff and warehouse personnel, the company announced Tuesday. The average annual salary for these positions is $58,574, which is about $8,000 more than the average wage in Rowan County.

"We're delighted to welcome Chick-fil-A to Rowan County," North Carolina Sen. Paul Newton said. "These new jobs and investments will be great additions to our community and it's part of our mission to help them grow."

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Known for its chicken sandwich and waffle fries, Chick-fil-A has boomed to one of the biggest fast food restaurant chains in the U.S. with locations popping up all over the country, including the Carolinas. Chick-fil-A opened its first location in Atlanta in 1967.

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Josh Sanders is on Reba McEntire's team and won the knockout round earlier in April.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Kannapolis native competing on Team Reba on NBC's "The Voice" took to the stage Monday for the playoff rounds. In the end, Reba McEntire chose Josh as one of the contestants who would be moving forward in the competition.

Josh Sanders originally made it onto McEntire's team after performing a rendition of "Whiskey On You" by Nate Smith in the blind auditions. He made it through the battle rounds with a rendition of Luke Combs' "When It Rains It Pours."

McEntire ultimately chose Josh as the winner of that battle round, saying his vocal runs and high notes were "perfect."

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On Monday, April 29, Sanders and the other artists competed in the knockouts, in which the coaches pair artists on their teams to perform solo songs against each other. A winner is selected from each pair of performances, and each coach gets one "steal" to claim a losing artist for their team.

After Josh went head to head with fellow team member Ashley, McEntire picked Josh to advance after saying he could "sell a song." He now moves onto the live rounds.

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A longtime Kannapolis City Council member resigned in December so he could avoid a conflict of interest and accept $3 million in federal tax money. But a month later, he’s back on the job.

Tom Kincaid’s surprise reappointment last week drew criticism from three of his colleagues, who are raising concerns about ethics, an “attempt for power” and how the city can move forward from an episode that’s divided a council once united around efforts to transform the former mill town into a thriving Charlotte suburb. The reappointment was possible, two of the council members said, only because council member Doug Wilson, who would’ve voted “no,” was sick and absent from the meeting.

Kincaid, who first joined the Kannapolis City Council in 2010, resigned last month under pressure from council members who said accepting $3 million in American Rescue Plan Act money could be a conflict of interest — even if it passed through Cooperative Christian Ministry first. The Concord-based nonprofit bought Kincaid’s nursing home to turn it into transitional housing.

Kincaid resigned Dec. 11, and the council voted at the same meeting to give Cooperative Christian Ministry the $3 million. It put him back on the council less than one month later.

For others on the council, member Ryan Dayvault said, there’s not a legal issue because Kannapolis gave $3 million to the nonprofit, not directly to Kincaid.

“But that was the whole purpose of giving the money, to buy that facility,” Dayvault told The Charlotte Observer.

Wilson said the council’s actions aren’t illegal, but that it was “handled inappropriately.”

“If we as a council pass something that ends up with one of the council members receiving a sum of money, something about that feels like a conflict of interest,” Wilson told the Observer.

Kincaid, Mayor Darrell Hinnant and councilman Darrell Jackson, who made a motion to reappoint Kincaid, didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment. Efforts to reach councilwoman Jeanne Dixon were unsuccessful.

Ed Hosack, CEO of Cooperative Christian Ministry told the Observer a previous chair of the nonprofit’s board asked Kincaid years ago to “consider CCM” when he decided to retire so the nonprofit could use Caremoor Retirement Center “for the benefit of the community.” The Kincaids owned the property off of Kannapolis Parkway from 1992 until they sold it last month, according to Cabarrus County property records.

The Salisbury Post reported last month the total purchase price was $5.25 million, including the $3 million in federal relief money. Kannapolis said in a December staff report using $3 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding for the grant was OK because the city claimed a “standard allowance” for revenue replacement.

A resolution approved by the Kannapolis council in December said the city and Cooperative Christian Ministry “continually discussed” opportunities for transitional housing in Kannapolis. They ruled out sites on North Main Street and Pine Street for reasons not described in the resolution.

Hosack said Cooperative Christian Ministry matched the Kincaids’ preference to keep the center’s ownership local instead of selling to a national company. It “felt good in terms of legacy,” Hosack said.

The Kannapolis resolution describes the retirement center as “suitably located to serve the Kannapolis community.” The related contract tells Cooperative Christian Ministry the $3 million it received should “be used exclusively” to purchase Caremoor Retirement Center, which contains four buildings on 5.36 acres.

The nonprofit will continue to operate Caremoor as a retirement home and a facility called Grace Place, which will house seniors and mothers with children. Kannapolis drove that solution by encouraging the nonprofit to add space for mothers with children into a plan pitched in 2022, Hosack recalled.

The grant agreement between Kannapolis and the nonprofit requires 75% of current spaces to become transitional housing within five years, space for 15 families with children in the same time and the facility to operate for at least 10 years.

Councilwoman Dianne Berry said she first learned about Kincaid’s involvement in the project during a closed session meeting in October. Kincaid recused himself from the discussion and left the room, Berry recalled.

A Kannapolis city spokesperson didn’t respond to several emailed questions, including about the October closed session.

Berry, who voted against the $3 million grant, raised questions about whether Kincaid used nonpublic information gained as a council member to make the deal with Cooperative Christian Ministry.

Wilson and Dayvault said they’d vote for the $3 million grant if Kincaid resigned, Queen City News reported. Kincaid agreed to step down and wrote a resignation letter on Dec. 7.

“I wish each of you the very best for your future leadership and continued success,” Kincaid wrote.

His resignation was forced by the work of a political trio with motivations beyond ethical concerns, Mayor Hinnant told Queen City News in December. Hinnant acknowledged at the time a replacement would be difficult to find because of a three-to-three split and that he thought the seat would remain empty until the 2025 election.

The calculus changed when council members learned Wilson would be absent for last week’s meeting, Berry said. Four council members and the mayor were present. Only two of the five, Berry and Dayvault, voted “no.”

Wilson told the Observer he would’ve voted against Kincaid’s reappointment — making the vote a three-to-three tie.

“I just find it distasteful,” Wilson said.

Kincaid said the resignation “really took a toll” and asked whether it mattered how he resigned and rejoined the council, the Salisbury Post reported.

“It’s politics and sometimes you hate to have to play politics, but you have to do what you have to do,” the Post quoted Wilson saying during the meeting.

Berry’s reaction: “We have a good qualified council, but we let this attempt for power or whatever we wanted override what we were thinking.”

Regardless of council concerns, the way Kannapolis handled the $3 million grant appears legal.

UNC School of Government professor Robert P. Joyce said state law stipulates that public officials “can’t be on both sides of a contract.”

“No public officer or employee who is involved in making or administering a contract on behalf of a public agency may derive a direct benefit from the contract except as provided in this section, or as otherwise allowed by law,” says N.C. General Statute 14-234 (a) (1).

An intermediary like Cooperative Christian Ministry may be OK, but Kincaid’s resignation “cures the problem” entirely Joyce said. Kincaid wasn’t a council member at the time Kannapolis approved the $3 million grant and he rejoined the council after the deal closed.

Hosack, of Cooperative Christian Ministry, said Kincaid handled the disclosure appropriately, that some Kannapolis council members were “trying to be extremely cautious” and that he’s hopeful the members will reconcile their differences “for the good of the city.”

For years, Kannapolis City Council members united around turning remnants of a massive textile mill into a thriving downtown. The city purchased land and buildings in its downtown, rebuilt streets, paid for a new Minor League Baseball stadium there and attracted retail businesses into previously vacant buildings.

Dayvault says he wants to move on from the Kincaid controversy, but he also doesn’t want people to “think I’m ready to forget about it all.”

Berry and Wilson are more resolute.

“I don’t know how you just put something like this behind you and think it’s OK if you felt strong enough to take a position,” Wilson said. “I don’t know where we’re at now.”

Wilson said he would’ve preferred if Kincaid remained off of the Kannapolis City Council until the next election instead of being reappointed one month later.

“I don’t even think an apology would work right now,” Berry said.

This story was originally published January 16, 2024, 6:00 AM.

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Piecing together the world is something the news industry as a whole strives to achieve, but a man in Kannapolis did it all by himself — and it only took him 13 months.

In this case, the world was a 232-square-foot, 60,000-piece puzzle depicting the world. It's billed as the "world's largest," and it features the artwork of puzzle-creator Eric Dowdle.

Francisco Camacho of Kannapolis said his wife purchased the puzzle for him as a Christmas gift in 2022, and he started piecing it together the following January. He had had plenty of puzzle experience to lean on going into the project.

"I've been getting into puzzles a lot over the past several years," he said. "I became an empty-nester relatively recently, and I had a lot more free time, so I just started doing more puzzles."

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A scientist by day, Camacho said he thinks he connects with the problem-solving aspect that completing a puzzle involves.

He worked on the puzzle during nights and weekends at home, building it in 1,000-piece sections, before assembling the entire thing in the main atrium of the North Carolina Research Campus on Sunday, with help from his wife and two sons.

"It was pretty cool," he said. "I was just doing one piece at a time. I wasn't thinking about the whole thing, and to pull it all together and realize how big it was was pretty amazing."

After completing the puzzle and snapping some photos, Camacho and his family disassembled the puzzle in sections and packed it up for transport back home.

Despite laboring over the puzzle for more than a year, Camacho said he's not too broken up about finishing the project.

"I'm not that sad, because I'm ready to do something else. But I am tempted to stick it in the closet, pull it out when I retire, and do it again," he said.

For now, Camacho plans to move on smaller, more manageable puzzles. His brother-in-law recently gifted him a book of puzzles, and his wife also gave him some new puzzles for his birthday. But completing the massive 60,000 whopper will be a piece in his memory he's certain not to lose.

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An iconic part of downtown Kannapolis — the 88-year-old Gem Theatre — has temporarily brought down the curtain. The historic movie theater is undergoing a second round of upgrades, this time for $1.2 million of interior renovations.

The movie theater at 111 Laureate Way went dark after the 7 p.m. Dec. 30 showing of Warner Bros. musical fantasy film “Wonka” to make way for a five-month face-lift, according to the city of Kannapolis. The theater is expected to re-open in May.

Gem Theatre is the oldest single-screen movie theater with balcony seating in the country, according to the theater website. It’s also on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Gem shows first-run movies at reduced prices.

This new phase of theater renovations is focused on interior improvements. Changes include replacing the seats, projector, screen and curtains, as well as repairing the historic plaster motif, according to the city.

In 2021, the Gem closed in February and reopened in May. That first phase of renovations cost $1.1 million and included three projects — adding first-floor bathroom that are handicapped accessible, adding a new air and heat system, and installing a new marquee.

Theater customers will notice the changes, Kannapolis spokeswoman Annette Privette Keller said.

So far, all of the theater chairs have been removed.

The changes balance the historic decorative elements of the theater with the needs of a modern business, Keller said. The new 700 seats will have more cushioning and cup holders, but not recline like some other movie theaters. The last time seating was improved was around the 1960s or 1970s, Keller said.

However, the balcony seats will be reupholstered. The floors will be refurbished, as will decorative plaster elements and wall repairs. “The only thing that should look and feel a little modern is the seats,” Keller said.

But even the new seating will be the same color of burgundy, as well as the curtains, as when the theater opened in the 1930s. “The colors are going to be from that time period,” Keller said.

A third phase could include expanding the lobby concession area and the back of the theater for productions. However, Keller said that phase has only been proposed so far.

The city of Kannapolis, less than 30 miles northeast of Charlotte, purchased the theater property and most of the downtown in 2015 for $8.75 million as part of its Downtown Revitalization Project.

“It’s an entertainment venue just like concerts in the parks or anything else,” Keller said.

Last year, the city acquired the theater itself for $325,000 from owner and operator Steve Morris, who has continued to book films and work as a consultant. Morris also is chairman of the Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners.

“The city’s willingness to invest in the theater will ensure the ongoing operation of the theater and protect its history,” said Morris, noting that has always been his goal as well. “The theater for a very long time has been a significant traffic generator to bring people downtown.”

Kannapolis budgeted $735,545 for the management of the theater, according to the city’s 2023 fiscal budget. The city’s parks and recreation department runs the theater.

In October, the city began three fundraising campaigns to help pay for the second phase of renovations.

The fundraisers include sponsoring a new seat, purchasing vintage seat and buying 500 bricks to be installed in the sidewalk in front of the theater’s marquee.

All 400 pairs of vintage seats sold out within weeks, Keller said. They had cost $100 per pair.

“People just want a piece of their childhood or past they want in remembrance,” she said.

Prior to this second phase of renovations, the Gem theater had a capacity for 900 people.

The family-friendly, one-screen movie theater shows one movie nightly. Movies are usually PG, Keller said.

Ticket prices are expected to remain the same, $5 for adults and $4 for children, when The Gem reopens — decidedly lower than similar evening prices for movie chains in the region.

The Gem opened in December 1936, in the middle of FDR’s time in office. It’s also the year that such classics as Charlie Chaplin’s “Modern Times” and “Swing Time,” featuring peak Rogers and Astaire, came out.

The opening movie at the Gem was “Can This Be Dixie?,” starring Jane Withers, according to the theater’s website.

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This story was originally published January 11, 2024, 5:57 AM.