4 - MorrisviUe and Preston Progress. Thursday. June 26.1997
Photo by Mary Beth Phillips
GO TO THE LIGHT: Billy Pressley holds one of the lights in his
3,000-square-foot store, Cary Lighting, which moved to Quail Fields
Court off Morrisvilte Parkway last fall.
Local business a
shining success
BY MARY BETH PHILLIPS
Billy Pressley began his career in
the lighting industry as a delivery
person for a large lighting store in
Durham.
Within a year, he was managing
another store owned by the same
company in Smithfield. Today, he
owns the “best display of lights bar
none in the Raleigh area,” with
3,000 square feet of lights, and
another 11,000 in the warehouse.
He moved his store, Cary
Lighting, which had been operating
from a rented building, to Quail
Fields Court off MorrisviUe
Parkway in October of 1996. The
family had bought the acre of land
in December of 1994, but had to
wait a while for water and sewer
services. -They-■•started- buil(hng in ■
October
Paula Prli^e'y''worked'^ a service''
representative for Southern Bell for
16 years. In October of 1994, she
began working full time for the fam
ily business.
The new store keeps nine full-time
employees busy, designing lighting
systems for houses for about 100
area building contractors, or selling
lights to retail customers at whole
sale prices. Their two daughters.
Crystal, 14, and Courtney, pregnant
with her first child, also help out in
the business.
“When you own your own busi
ness you have to do everything,
including take out the trash and
clean the toilets,” Mrs. Pressley said
with a laugh. She mostly takes care
of accounts receivable and payable,
but also waits on customers.
For that task, “You have to be a
salesperson, a decorator, and a lis
tener,” she said.
Customer service is the Pressley’s
main goal. They count on word of
mouth to increase their business.
So far it has worked. They are in
the process of opening new stores in
Smithfield and another area that
Pressley did not want to divulge yet.
Pressley said he finally gave him
self a raise this year. He had been
turning the money back into the
business.
“You need pretty stuff hanging
here,” he said, “or the people will
not come.”
As another sign of his success, he
recently invested in a set of expen
sive chandeliers for his showroom,
ranging from-Sb.OiOOper light and up.
Pressley looks for lights that are
out of the ordinary. If he doesn’t like
a light, he asks the distributor to
change it. His changes have turned
some lights into popular sellers.
Pressley hopes to have his certifi
cation as a lighting consultant in the
next month, which would allow him
to write blueprints for new homes.
In their spare time, Billy and
daughter Crystal like to fish. Billy
also enjoys motorcycles. Paula’s
hobby is cooking. They hope to
build a home in MorrisviUe, and
leave MacGregor Downs in Cary so
they will be closer to the business.
After dealing with 100 contractors
for all of their lighting needs, their
biggest problem is who to choose to
build their new house.
The board approved the site plan
for a two-story office building at the
intersection of Sorrell’s Grove
Church Road and Slater Road at its
June 9 meeting.
The office building, to be called
Concourse Lakeside, will contain
78.416 square feet on 6.5 acres. The
owner is Copley Capital One
Partners of Cary. The board of com
missioners required the developer to
upgrade a water service line from
four inches to six inches.;
A new self-storage business may
be built on the west side of Church
Street near the south boundary of
Treybrooke apartments.
Wanda Ivey of Medlin Drive in
Cary has a contract to purchase the
4.791 acres of property, which is
currently zoned agricultural district.
Ms. Ivey is asldng that it be rezoned
to industrial management district,
on the condition that a mini-self
storage business be the only use
allowed there.
A public hearing was set for July
14 to discuss the rezoning.
Public hearings will also be held
on July 14 for another rezoning peti
tion and an annexation petition.
Algie I. Stephens requested to
rezone 88.83 acres on the east side
of Airport Boulevard north of
International Drive from agricultur
al district to industrial management
district.
The annexation petition was sub
mitted by Preston Development
Corp. for the annexation of the rest
of the property in Preston Grande
subdivision.
Rep. Price to attend flag ceremony
A flag that was flown at the capitol
in Washington, D.C., will be pre
sented during a Fourth of July cere
mony at the MorrisviUe Chamber of
Commerce building on Church
Street on Saturday, July 5.
The ceremony, organized by
Mayor Margaret Broadwell with the
help of Congressman David Price’s
POT plans to widen Airport Boulevard,
Wade Avenue to six lanes this summer
Over 2,000 improvement projects slated for N.C. roads
BY MARY BETH PHILLIPS
The MorrisviUe Chamber of
Commerce got one of the first peeks
at the annual Transportation
Improvement Program, adopted in
June by the North Carolina
Department of Transportation to
cover road projects for the next
seven years.
Calvin Leggett of the North
Carolina Department of
Transportation focused in on
MorrisviUe area projects in his talk,
and fielded questions about roads
that were not included in the plan.
Leggett was speaking at the
MorrisviUe Chamber of Commerce
Issues and Eggs breakfast on June
12 in lieu of Transportation
Secretary Larry Goode, who had an
unexpected engagement in
Washington, D.C.
One of the most interesting pro
jects listed on the TIP will begin this
month (July 1997), Leggett told
about 40 chamber members.
Motorists may find some relief trav
eling to Research Triangle Park,
when the section of 1-40 between
Airport Boulevard (exit 284) and
Wade Avenue (exit 289) is resur
faced and restriped into a six-lane
section. The lanes will become 11-
foot lanes instead of 12-foot lanes,
and there will be less shoulder,
Leggett said, but “we can squeeze
more capacity out of that road and
provide a whole lot of relief.”
Leggett admitted that it was only a
“Band-Aid” solution. There are no
plans to widen the segment before
the year 2004.
This project is one of 2,600 pro
jects in the Transportation
Improvement Program (TIP), adopt
ed in June to cover road projects for
the next seven years—through
2004. Because North Carolina has
no county roads, the state has the
largest state-maintained road system
in the country, Leggett said.
The cost of finishing this TIP will
be $8-and-a-half billion across the
state.
That may sound like a lot of
money, but it doesn’t stretch far.
The 3.7-mile stretch of 1-540
between U.S. 70 and 1-40 that was
recently completed cost $100 mil
lion, Leggett said.
That stretch is part of the Northern
Wake Expressway, which will even
tually connect U.S. I in North
Raleigh to N.C. 55 in the
MorrisviUe area. The leg from U.S.
70 to U.S. 1 is under construction
now, and right of way acquisition
for the leg from 1-40 to N.C. 55 will
begin in the year 2000.
Obtaining rights of way will take
about two years, Leggett said.
Construction of the western leg will
take place after 2004, however,
according to the current plan.
A new route is now under con
struction, which will connect the
recently completed section of the
Northern Wake Expressway to
Aviation Parkway. It is anticipated
to be completed in June of 1999.
Another connector with Aviation
Parkway will be named Brier Creek
Parkway, a four-lane section con
necting Aviation Parkway to U.S.
70. Construction on that segment is
slated to begin in July of 1998.
Planning is also under way for the
Western Wake Expressway, which
will carry the Northern Wake
Expressway from N.C. 55 southwest
to Holly Springs. Plans are slated to
be completed in the year 2000.
Right of way acquisition will not
begin until after 2004, although a
corridor has been reserved now.
Chamber members were interested
to learn about Airport Boulevard
and Aviation Parkway widening
projects. Transportation officials are
now acquiring right of way for the
segment of Airport Boulevard from
McCrimmon Parkway to 1-40.
Widening of that section to five
lanes will begin in August of 1997.
Right of way acquisition to widen
the segment from N.C. 54 to
Day was held at the Durham Bulls
Athletic Park on June 15.
About 75 town employees attend
ed, including families. Employee
Appreciation Day was cancelled last
What's going on?
Read us and find out.
Town board approves site plans
for new two-story office buiiding
Two public hearings for rezoning set for July 14
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McCrimmon Parkway will begin in
August of 2001 and construction for
that section of Airport Boulevard
will begin in November of 2002,
according to the TIP plan.
The planning process for Aviation
Parkway's expansion to a four-lane
facility will begin in March of 1998
and be completed by September of
2000.
Right of way acquisition is slated
to begin in the year 2003 with con
struction slated for a later time.
The businessmen and women
gathered at the meeting were disap
pointed that McCrimmon Parkway
is listed as an “identified future
need,” which means it will not be
paved before 2004. The section
between N.C. 54 and Airport
Boulevard is slated to be paved and
widened to four lanes sometime
after the seven-year program is
complete.
Chamber members also asked
about Davis Drive, which is not
mentioned in the TIP. Leggett sug
gested that board members lobby
their CAMPO representatives,
members of the Capital Area Metro
Planning Organization, who help
determine which projects are includ
ed in the Transportation
Improvement Program.
Morrisville's representatives to that
board are Mayor Pro Tern Billy
Sauls and Town Engineer Jay
Gibson.
Town Appreciation Day successful
A successful Employee Appreciation year because it had been scheduled a
week after Hurricane Fran hit. In
1995 a celebration was held at the
MorrisviUe Community Center
swimming pool for employees and
their families.
office, will be held at 10 a.m.
Students at MorrisviUe
Elementary School will be on hand
to read essays of “What the Fourth
Means to Me,” and an award will be
presented to the winning essay.
A member of a military organiza
tion will conduct the ceremony.
Price also plans to be in attendance.
N.C. 55 was also mentioned as a
problem area. “The overall traffic
numbers are not bad there,” Leggett
told the group, “but they all come
through at peak hours.” The road
will be increased to four and five
lanes from N.C. 64 to RTP. Planning
for the N.C. 55 widening will begin
in October of 1998. Right of way
acquisition will begin in April of
2003, and construction will be after
the current TIP.
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