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If the owners’ plans come to fruition, that could change. In a few years, the property that once housed Twin Cinemas movie theater building could be alive with activity once again, though the change could mean tearing the building down.

The owner of the property is looking to add new business to the area, including in nearby Tannery Square on West Fleming Drive and the former Pizza Hut.

Fleming Four LLC owns 518 and 520 W. Fleming Drive and the properties are listed with Collett real estate company for pre-leasing for a possible big box retail standalone building with 25,200 square feet and a strip of smaller units ranging from 1,200 to 6,000 square feet.

Ginny (Erwin) Bennett, who is the executive manager of Fleming Four LLC said the organization hopes to get something done at the property in the next several years, but it may take time.

Bennett said exactly how the 4-acre tract gets used would depend on needs. She said if a business approached Fleming Four and wanted a 20,000-square-foot building and it added value to the market, Fleming Four would work with the business. To do a large development like that, the old movie theater would likely be torn down for parking, she said.

“It just depends on who the users are to come to the property wanting to lease it. It may be that we just adapt the old movie theater and have it be filled by a tenant or two and leave the property alone,� Bennett said. “With interest rates being so high and construction being so high, it’s just going to be tough to get to do anything there in the, probably, short term and maybe even the long term because everything’s just so expensive.�

Bennett said a few years ago, when COVID-19 hit, her family decided to start focusing on service-oriented industries, because those services have less online competition. She said the family would like to see restaurants, home goods or grocery stores as construction starts picking up again.

“We’ve been trying to stir retail over there (on West Fleming) for a while, and we’re hoping in the next two years, three years, four years, we’ll be able to get something done over there,� Bennett said. “The interest rates are really deterring the markets, and the big guys (retail) that we’ve spoken to have been told to hit the pause button on growth and ancillary markets, of which we are considered one.�

“We want to work with folks that see our market as a value add to them, who will also be accepted by our market,� Bennett said. “And so, as we get calls, we’ll field it … in hopes of bringing something to town that our population wants and needs.�

She said at this point, the potential for the property is still fluid because they don’t know what business is going to choose to locate there.

The former Pizza Hut building at 520 W. Fleming Drive is home to Mi Pais, a Mexican restaurant. Bennett said they want to keep a restaurant there.

The restaurant uses the former movie theater next door for storage, Bennett said. She said they would want to make the building the eatery uses for storage available as long as possible.

Tannery Square shopping center

Collett real estate also has a listing for an area near Tannery Square for pre-leasing of new construction. The conceptual plan for it shows a possible stand-alone 4,000-square-foot building suited for a drive-thru on a currently vacant piece of land on West Fleming Drive in front of Burke Outdoor.

Bennett is the president of Airlie Inc., which owns the property

“I’m hoping that we will be able to find an outparcel user that will be a value add to the center, increasing the synergy there and being a benefit to everybody,� Bennett said. She said there aren’t firm plans yet. The group is going to contact businesses that need that footprint and see who’s interested in moving to Morganton, Bennett said.

The conceptual plan for the development also shows a potential 15,000-square-foot stand-alone retail building toward the back of the property with smaller units along the side of the parcel in the range of 1,200-5,000 square feet, the listing says.