Tenants announced for Western’s mixed-used facility
A full-service restaurant, an outdoor equipment outfitter, a combination bookstore and coffee cafe, a popular convenience store and a nationally known sandwich shop are among the expected occupants of Noble Hall, the mixed-use facility being constructed on the site of a structure damaged by fire in 2013 at Western Carolina University.
Signed lease contracts are in hand for three out of five business tenants of the facility, said Mary Ann Lochner, WCU’s legal counsel. They are a new convenience store to replace the iconic Bob’s Mini-Mart, an upgraded Subway sandwich restaurant and a Cullowhee outpost for the Sylva-based Blackrock Outdoor Co.
Negotiations are still in progress for the building’s anchor establishment, a restaurant that would be operated by Aramark (WCU’s food service provider), and for the combined bookstore and coffee shop, Lochner said.
Construction is underway on the 120,000-square-foot building that will feature a mix of residential units and commercial and dining establishments on the ground floor with student residential spaces on the upper floors. The facility will include a total of about 420 student beds. Work began last spring, and the building is expected to be completed in time for the opening of the 2016 fall semester in August.
