Whether it is routine maintenance, renovation, expansion or new construction, Macon County Schools has a long list of needed capital improvements. One of those projects is a step closer to completion after county commissioners approved a contract for architectural services earlier this month.

In a unanimous vote Friday, June 10, the Western Carolina University Board of Trustees selected Charlotte-based Jenkins Peer Architects to design renovation efforts at Moore Hall. 

With some demolition work currently underway and a membership drive event held on July 12, the new owners of The Waynesville Inn and Golf Club are eager to present the project to the public as soon as possible. 

Work will soon begin on renovations to the Community Services Building in Sylva — which houses the Jackson County Health Department — following commissioners’ unanimous vote April 16 to accept a bid on the project from Western Builders of Sylva and approve a project ordinance. 

Plans are moving forward for an extensive renovation of the Jackson County Health Department building, with County Manager Don Adams hoping to have an architect contract ready for commissioners to approve at their May 7 meeting. 

The black glass Liston B. Ramsey Regional Activity Center is an iconic structure on the Western Carolina University campus, but it will soon have a much different look following the WCU Board of Trustees’ Dec. 1 endorsement of a $3.9 million project.

Jackson County will spend $10,000 on a revised plan to renovate the Health Department building off Hospital Road after commissioners decided they’d like to see the building house the planning and code enforcement departments as well.

After years of discussion, Jackson County is ready to move forward with plans to address the needs of its aging health department building — but the resulting project will likely affect the planning and code enforcement departments as well.

An ambitious dream of expanding and remodeling the main Haywood County library in Waynesville has been abandoned, with sights now set on a renovation plan to improve and upgrade the library within the existing footprint.

It was a scene that any fan — or casual viewer — of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” would find familiar. A crowd, ramped-up and excited, gathered together wearing matching T-shirts. A decrepit property in the background. And Ty Pennington, host of the show, running up in front of them, throwing his arms in the air yelling “Let’s flip this house!” 

SEE ALSO: An interview with Ty Pennington

Except when Pennington came to Hazelwood last week, he didn’t say “house.” Instead, he was there to flip a prison. Specifically, the old Hazelwood prison, which dates back to the 1920s and was closed in 2011. Starting Nov. 1, the facility will serve as a center for healing, housing a Christian-based halfway house, soup kitchen and homeless shelter, jointly referred to as Haywood Pathways Center.