Kannapolis is a city with a rich southern textile heritage that honors its past, while
embracing its future. The development of West Ave District plays a key role by restoring
the historic downtown while creating a vibrant and attractive place to live, work and play.
Today, beautifully designed public spaces have been completed to preserve the historic
character of the city. A new dynamic streetscape that has created an exciting visual
landscape that the residents and visitors can enjoy. Shops, boutiques, eateries, and
entertainment with the Swanee Music Theatre now fill the once empty historic brick
buildings. In addition, a new Sports Entertainment Venue, home of the Kannapolis
Cannon Ballers has been added to the downtown landscape. The revitalization of this
charming old mill town has restored the heart of Kannapolis. Historic Kannapolis has
become a “go to” destination for both residents and visitors alike.

The renewal of downtown Kannapolis was kicked off by the City’s decision to build a
state-of-the-art stadium. The developing company, LMG, owned by Kent Gregory and
Peter Flotz won the City’s bid to create compatible housing (VIDA) and eventually,
restore the entire historic section to make it an active mixed-use community. The
historic downtown buildings and new retail under VIDA is owned and operated by Kent
Gregory and his partners Ken Lingafelt, Tom Linn and Peter Flotz. This ownership team
are committed to honor the town’s history while developing a place where people want
to live, shop and be entertained.
Breathing life into the historic buildings of downtown Kannapolis has its challenges.
“Without the strong support and oversight of Ken Lingafelt and Tom Linn this
transformation would not have been possible” says Kent Gregory. “They have worked
very hard to insure the project’s success with a very tight timeline.”
The focus of 2023 is to complete the South Main Street block redevelopment, which
includes creating a food hall in the historic bank building and retail build out of the
second floor of 1906 Marketplace.
Additional housing will soon be available as VIDA II and Stadium Lofts (under
construction) with three other planned multi-family downtown developments in the
works. These will be Joint ventures of LMG and Temerity Capital (owners of the
Cannon Ballers).
 
The History of Kannapolis
In 1906, J.W. Cannon purchased the land that later became Kannapolis, and acquired a
total of 1008 acres in Cabarrus and Rowan Counties. Approximately 808 of those acres

of farmland, purchased along the historic wagon road between Salisbury and Charlotte,
became the location of the new textile mill, Cannon Manufacturing.
Cannon Manufacturing began production in 1908. By 1914, Cannon Manufacturing
became known as the world’s largest producer of sheets and towels. Shortly after, Mr.
Cannon opened plants in Rowan County, Concord and in South Carolina totaling
20,000 workers. Mill founder J.W. Cannon’s youngest son, Charles A. Cannon,
consolidated all the separate mills into the giant Cannon Mills Company in 1928.
 
James W. Cannon wanted the new town surrounding his mill to be a community with
nice housing, schools, recreational activities, and medical facilities. As a result, Cannon
Mills built many of Kannapolis’ facilities and amenities like 1,600 homes, a YMCA and
civic center, movie theater, daycare center, and a temporary hospital for the mill
employees and their families. All aspects of life, from housing, to road infrastructure, to
recreation and services, centered around mill operations.
 
Beginning in 1932, Mr. Charles Cannon, son of founder J. W. Cannon, realized the
people who worked for him needed someplace to shop and gather; so he expanded the
downtown area and made it the heart of the community by building West Ave.
 
One of the most beloved Kannapolis landmarks and a center of the community was the
historic Gem Theater. The Gem Theater served the residents of Kannapolis during the
glory days of cinema and is one of the finest surviving Art Deco buildings in North
Carolina. Mr. Charles Cannon envisioned the Gem to be the finest theater between
Washington DC and Atlanta. Completed in 1936, the theater became a grand
showplace, even hosting in-person appearances of famous stars like Roy Rogers.
 
In 1982, Cannon Mills was purchased by Pacific Holding Company and David H.
Murdock, which came with a $20 million renovation of downtown and included the
development of the Cannon Village shopping district. Residents voted to incorporate the
city in 1984. The years 1986 to 2000 were a period of transition in the textile industry
and in Kannapolis as well. Cannon Mills was sold to Fieldcrest Mills of Eden, NC in
1986. The new company consolidated as Fieldcrest Cannon, resulting in layoffs,
primarily among executive and administrative staff.
 
In 1997, Fieldcrest Cannon was sold to Pillowtex Corporation. Unfortunately, by 2000,
Pillowtex filed for bankruptcy protection. Globalization and the export of textile jobs
overseas brought on the July 2003 closing of Pillowtex. In Kannapolis, 4,340 lost their
jobs in the largest one-day layoff in North Carolina history.
The with the closing of the mill, the future of Kannapolis looked bleak. In 2004,
billionaire and sole owner of Dole Food Company, David Murdock returned to
Kannapolis to purchase the mill at auction. In a ceremony in front of the one-time
world’s largest manufacturer of household textiles, Murdock announced plans for a $1.5
billion scientific and economic revitalization project called the North Carolina Research
Campus.

The North Carolina Research Campus emerged as an internationally-recognized
research hub where collaborative science is leading to ground-breaking discoveries in
nutrition, disease prevention, and agriculture. Future development plans included 3.2
million square feet of office, lab, and civic space providing jobs for approximately 5,000
people, making Kannapolis home to one of the largest urban redevelopment projects on
record in the United States. Today, the NC Research Campus is home to eight
universities including; Duke, UNC Chapel Hill, NC State, UNC Charlotte, Appalachian
State, NC A&T, NC Central, and UNC Greensboro. Rowan Cabarrus Community
College’s offers Biotechnology Associate’s Degree classes on the research campus, as
well as other certification programs. The Cabbarrus Health Alliance, Sensory Spectrum,
Carolinas Medical Center-Kannapolis, Standard Process, and other nutrition,
healthcare, and food technology organizations have joined the Kannapolis business
community.
The Campus is helping revitalize downtown Kannapolis as an increasingly diverse
community of educators, researchers, and healthcare professionals relocate to
Kannapolis. In 2015, the city of Kannapolis bought the downtown shopping district, with
exciting plans of revitalization that have recently been realized with the West Ave
District.