Jackson to purchase old Pepsi-Cola plant for $500K

If all goes as planned, Jackson County will spend $550,000 to buy the old Pepsi-Cola plant in Whittier, following a party-line vote Friday, Nov. 9. 

Farmers lease old Drexel factory in Whittier

jacksonAfter years of sitting empty, the old Drexel Furniture factory in Whittier will now enter a new phase of useful life as home to the recently formed Thomas Valley Growers, LLC.

Whittier farmers make an offer on Drexel plant

fr drexelThe future of the old furniture factory in Whittier has been through more than its share of twists and turns over the past year, but Jackson County now has an offer on the table from a group of farmers who want to turn it into a packing and agricultural resource facility. 

Whittier farmers likely to set up shop in Drexel building

jacksonA group of Whittier farmers hoping to turn the vacant Drexel factory into an agricultural resource got a nod of support from Jackson County commissioners this week.

Jackson businessman floats alternative fate for vacant Whittier factory

fr drexelIts future has been envisioned as an agricultural center, a recreation facility, a Cherokee cultural site, a farming co-op and an empty field. Now there’s a new twist in the plot toward settling the future of a defunct county-owned factory building in Whittier.

Whittier farmers float idea for vacant factory’s future

fr drexelIdeas surrounding the fate of a vacant factory building in Whittier have been swirling since Jackson County commissioners started taking a serious look at its future earlier this year. Turn it into an agriculture center? Make it a recreation park? Deed it to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians? Demolish it?

High cost estimate likely to sideline ag center project

fr drexelA plan to turn the old Drexel furniture factory in Whittier into a Mecca of resources for small-time farmers and agricultural producers in Western North Carolina is likely dead in its tracks after a building assessment found it would take $1.7 million to get the building up to code.

Nibbling at the elephant: Plan to flip abandoned factory into community center inches forward

fr drexelThe old Drexel furniture factory in Whittier isn’t producing much these days, unless you count bird nests and ivy vines as products. Tall grasses wave across the 21-acre property, obscuring the wood pallets strewn across the yard and reaching into a crumbling woodshed offset from the main building. Vines spider across the building’s brick exterior, and swallows dart and dive in the grasses.

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