When Jack and Eli Williams left the city of Albemarle for college in 2016 and 2020, respectively, neither thought they’d return.
That’s not out of dislike.
Albemarle is where the brothers began their art careers, a family skill they learned from their father, John, who taught art in Stanly County schools for 30 years. Albemarle also is home to the brothers’ first public art piece, the restoration of an old Pepsi mural Jack worked on for a high school project.
Still, the small city 40 miles east of Charlotte was a bit barren, spotted with offices, few restaurants, empty storefronts and dilapidated buildings. The mood was mute and mundane.
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So when Jack moved on to UNC Wilmington and Eli left for UNC Chapel Hill, both attending college for art, Albemarle went from home base to a pit stop for family visits. But when the brothers returned by chance during the pandemic, they saw a very different Albemarle.
The vibes were quaint and refreshing. Downtown was blooming with new businesses, a university and, most importantly, people. There’s even a brewery now. “When we left, there was nothing going on downtown…There wasn’t much here for people in their 20s to 30s… but slowly a lot of stuff is starting to take shape,” Jack Williams said.
All of this change is fueled by the city and Stanly County’s consistent population growth. And those numbers are beginning to rise faster.
The Albemarle Micropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Stanly County, ranked in the nation’s top 10 for population growth and growth rate from July 2023 to July 2024, according to recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The area ranked 10th for numeric population growth, increasing from 65,818 people to 67,326. That’s a 2.3% increase, which earned the area 8th place in percent growth.
The numbers and ranking weren’t surprising to Kevin Robinson, Albemarle’s director of planning and development services.
“I came here nine years ago for this job and I told everybody when I got here that I thought that Albemarle was going to grow,” he said. “I was kind of shocked that it happened as fast as it did but not surprised.”
What’s a micropolitan area?
A micropolitan area is a geographic region made up of a county or counties with an urban core that has a population between 10,000 and 50,000 people, according to the census.
Life inside the Charlotte region’s most densely populated neighborhoods
Stanly County’s urban center is Albemarle, which has a population of 17,344 as of last July, per census data. There are 542 micropolitan statistical areas in the U.S. and 23 of them are in North Carolina, according to the data.
Only one North Carolina area ranked higher than Albemarle. In third place was the Anderson Creek Micropolitan in Harnett County, 26 minutes north of Fayetteville.
What drives Albemarle and Stanly County growth?
As Charlotte continues to climb toward the population milestone of 1 million people (maybe by 2028), residents are starting to venture to the outer regions.
Some of the largest cities surrounding Charlotte are Concord (112,395 people), Gastonia (85,535), Rock Hill (75,798), Huntersville (67,087), Kannapolis (60,521) and Mooresville (52,884), according to the census.
And as those places experience their own increases in population, the nexus surrounding Charlotte widens, putting Albemarle closer to the inner circle.
“If you look at larger cities in the Southeast, go to Atlanta, go to Raleigh, look at how far the influence of those larger cities stretch,” Robinson said. “We’re not that far from Charlotte. As Charlotte expands and the businesses expand and the suburbs around it grow, we’re becoming a lot closer to that center.”
And growth isn’t just happening in Albemarle. Even rural Locust that sits 20 minutes west of Albemarle is seeing an increase in its population, nearly hitting 6,000 people last year, a 23% increase between July 2020 and last July.
Albemarle’s downtown revitalization
As the Williams brothers said, Albemarle in 2015 looked very different than it does today.
On a recent afternoon, The Charlotte Observer went on a tour of Albemarle with Robinson, city economic development director Lindsey Almond and communication director David Fath to see some of the changes the city is experiencing.
One of the major differences is the revitalization of downtown Albemarle.
“The biggest change is getting people living back downtown so that there’s actually people walking around and doing stuff at night, in the afternoons and on the weekends,” Robinson said. “And besides living (here), giving people a reason to come downtown.
“We have events put on by the city or by local businesses on at least a monthly basis, if not a weekly basis during the summer. So there’s always stuff going on.”
The revitalization began with the redevelopment of the Lillian Knitting Mill Co. building in 2008. Like most of the Piedmont region of North Carolina, Albemarle’s major economic driver was its textile mills up until the early 2000s.
Instead of tearing down the historic mill, it was turned into a $6-million mixed-use development with apartments and office space.
Another major addition was the construction of Pfeiffer University’s Health Sciences Center. It’s a $16-million project that brought a satellite campus to the downtown center.
“It’s been transformative,” Almond said. “It’s brought over 200 students into our downtown. A lot of them live downtown or in the immediate vicinity.”
Robinson continued, “That’s a whole demographic we were missing. A young professional demographic. They’re going into these businesses. They’re in the running club. They’re a part of downtown.”
Pfeiffer also helped fuel the redevelopment of the over 100-year-old Albemarle Hotel into housing and a restaurant, an $8-million project.
In 2019, the city estimated that both developments would have a $136.5 million economic impact over the next 10 years, Spectrum News previously reported.
A brewery, business center and jobs
Transforming older buildings into new spaces has been at the forefront of Albemarle’s redevelopment. It’s why walking along Main Street one feels a captivating sense of charm and change churning in the air.
“I think the Main Street philosophy of economic development through historic preservation is really important to our community,” Almond said. “A lot of these older buildings have just been repurposed and it just adds to the character and the charm of the downtown.”
Besides the renovation of the hotel, the city’s first brewery, Uwharrie Brewing, is inside a former fire house. The brewery opened in 2023 and was birthed through a partnership with the city, Almond said.
The city intended to demolish the building and turn it into a parking lot. Instead, it sold the site at a reduced price in exchange for a financial investment. The brewery has delivered.
“To date, they’ve invested over a million dollars into the property and created at least 15 full-time jobs,” Almond said. “Had we not offered the building at a reduced price, they wouldn’t have invested in that space and perhaps even in our area. It’s been a great attraction to our downtown.”
The city’s next big attraction is something new — the Albemarle Business Center.
It’s a 282-acre vacant patch of land but the hope is that several companies decide to call it home. It can accommodate facilities between 25,000 square feet up to 1 million.
The industrial park is a few minutes from downtown and is close to a future housing development that’ll bring over 770 units including apartments, townhomes and senior living. The goal is to bring manufacturing companies to the site that will stay long-term and create high-paying jobs.
“Our focus is really going to be on advanced manufacturing, professional and technology,” Robinson said. “That’s who we’re trying to attract to the area. We really want to get high-paying jobs and careers for people.”
Embracing change in Albemarle
While growth is already standing on Albemarle’s door step, Robinson expects it to remain at a manageable flow. To be exact, he expects an additional 400 to 500 new residents by next year, which has been the consistent rate for the city.
And as the people come, so will the housing, the jobs and the amenities.
“With respect to growth, it shouldn’t be looked at as a negative thing,” Robinson said. “It’s a sign that people want to be here. And there are good things that come with it… We’re expecting to see more jobs. New restaurants. New shops and just more investment in our community.”
The Williams brothers come home
Albemarle’s changes are part of the reason the Williams brothers moved back.
“I didn’t think I would ever move back here or live here but with the growth in the past few years, it really did change my perspective. I personally could see myself staying here for a little bit longer or staying here for good,” Eli Williams said.
Jack Williams agreed. It’s why they are beginning to make some investments of their own.
Besides the numerous murals the pair have put up, they recently completed the renovation of an old Sinclair Service Station. It’s where they live and manage their business, WMSBrothers.
Albemarle’s changes, while stimulated by encroaching population growth, are adhering to the aesthetics that were already in place. Along Main Street there are a multitude of ongoing projects transforming those old dilapidated spaces into new gathering places.
It’s one of Jack Williams favorite things to see.
“There’s this new wave of businesses coming in and the building owners are trying to fix stuff up and bring the buildings back to their former glory instead of trying to make them look like new modern buildings,” he said. “I like that our town still has its character.”
The Williams’ next project will be a high stakes one. They intend to paint an Albemarle sign atop the old silos that still dot the downtown area. It’s an ode to the city’s history while creating something new.
“In a town like Albemarle, you have a lot bigger impact than in some bigger towns,” Jack Williams said. “The town is a home base for us. It’s really fun getting to love a town so much and get to pour back into it and see other people pour back into it as well.
“Seeing the downtown come together, it’s been really cool to build this community with everyone who’s just wanting to see the town grow.”
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