A new home for R3 Career Center

By Emily Ford

eford@salisburypost.com

KANNAPOLIS — Rather than renovating the downtown Visitors Center and reopening it as a tribute to science, textiles and NASCAR, the N.C. Research Campus has leased the building to Rowan-Cabarrus Community College.

RCCC's R3 Career Center is moving into the building in the former Cannon Village and plans to open for business March 1.

"R3" stands for retrain, refocus and reemploy. The career development center, opened in response to devastating layoffs in Cabarrus and Rowan counties, helps unemployed and underemployed people prepare for new careers.

"We are very excited," director Keri Allman-Young said. "We think that this will be a wonderful move not only for our clients but for downtown Kannapolis."

Castle & Cooke North Carolina, developer for the Research Campus, closed the Visitors Center one year ago and planned to do extensive renovations to better showcase the center's collection of textile artifacts and NASCAR memorabilia, as well as the city's newest industry, biotechnology.

Dole Food Co. chairman and Castle & Cooke owner David Murdock built the biotech Research Campus in Kannapolis, which is the birthplace of NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt and once was home to the world's leading manufacturer of textiles.

The artifacts and memorabilia remain in the building. Allman-Young said they add to the mission of the R3 center.

"It's such a good fit for us to be in this space, to not only carry the message of the past but carry message of future," she said.

The addition of the R3 Center "can only be a positive for merchants in the Village, and it creates more traffic on the street," Castle & Cooke marketing director Phyllis Beaver said.

R3 staff members are "protective and proud" of the heritage of both Kannapolis and their clientele, which includes many former textile workers, Allman-Young said.

RCCC is paying Castle & Cooke $1,500 per month. The college signed an 18-month lease.

The college had to vacate its previous location next to the Sherwin-Williams paint store on Dale Earnhardt Boulevard, which Castle & Cooke had provided rent-free. The new Cabarrus Health Alliance, which serves as the public health department for Cabarrus County, is slated to go up on that block, although construction has been delayed until the city of Kannapolis can secure financing for the project.

The R3 Center has seen an increase in foot traffic by moving downtown, Allman-Young said.

"And we're not even officially open yet," she said.

The center, which employs five full-time and four to six part-time people, has about 500 visits from clients per month, including individual career counseling and group workshops. Since opening in 2007, the center has served more than 4,300 clients, said Jeanie Moore, RCCC vice president for continuing and corporate education.

The new location, which includes a 100-seat auditorium with a sound system, provides more opportunity for larger gatherings, Moore said.

By moving downtown, the center also wants to "help local citizens find a connection to the Research Campus," she said.

RCCC will have a second location at the Research Campus when the college moves into a $26 million state-of-the-art biotech training facility this summer. The new building will consist of laboratories and classrooms.

The Kannapolis History Associates and the city of Kannapolis have expressed interest in acquiring or borrowing artifacts in the former Visitors Center for a museum.

"We are definitely open to doing something in conjunction with the city and the history associates," Beaver said.

City council recently agreed to create an interim history museum in the Kannapolis train station.

"When you start doing something like that, you need professional people to come in and help," Beaver said. "Budgets and funds are so tight."

But there are still "some things we can do that will work without spending a lot of money," she said.