- Haywood room tax hike deep-sixed
- Courthouse lawn to get spruced up in time for tourists
- Hospital for sale? All options on the table as MedWest hospitals contemplate future
- WNC duo star on reality TV show
- With lawsuit in the rearview, Canton plans to step up its game for public recreation
- Social workers say student homelessness on the rise
- The sticky wicket of downtown sandwich boards
- Haywood commissioners win political game with school board
A major remodeling job to convert the abandoned Wal-Mart in Clyde to house the Haywood County Department of Social Services could get underway by November. This rendering by Asheville firm Padgett & Freeman Architects shows how the dreary big-box storefront will get a new façade more fitting with the mountains. Contractors are now bidding on the $12.5 million project. The 115,000-square-foot superstore will also serve as home for Haywood’s health department, planning and erosion control, building inspections and environmental health. Commissioners bought the Wal-Mart primarily to move DSS from its crumbling building, which would have required millions to fix up. In August, the county locked down a 40-year rural development loan, funded with federal stimulus money through the USDA, to pay for the project.