The Standard Still Plans To Open in October

By Jesse Wood

The Standard of Boone is still planning on opening in October, according to a spokesman for the developer.

A joint venture between Landmark Properties, Harrison Street Real Estate Capital and Stonegate Developers, The Standard of Boone is a mixed-use development off of Blowing Rock Road that features more than 560 beds, a 155,000-square-foot parking deck with about 500 spaces and 12,600 square feet of commercial space fronting Blowing Rock Road.

“We still anticipate an early to mid October move-in date,” said Cody Nichelson of Jackson Spalding, a communications firm working for the developer.

The Standard of Boone development began in February of 2015 with the demolition of blighted properties in between Faculty Street and Blowing Rock Road, including two old hotels, including one condemned by the Town of Boone, and old apartment complexes and houses.

In July, the developers of the project announced that the student-housing development would not be ready to open before Appalachian State University’s fall semester began in mid August. The developers estimated that move-in date for most tenants would be early October and provided students with temporary housing at local hotels and a pro-rated credits. 

Reasons for the delay cited by the developers were “unforeseen construction delays, challenging weather conditions and a tight labor market.”

At Monday’s gathering with High Country Home Builders Association when the topic of The Standard came up, one of the contractors asked Bailey and Watauga County Planning and Inspections Director Joe Furman about out-of-town developers underestimating the winters in the High Country.

“I will tell you with every single project, we try to tell people, ‘We actually have winter.’ And they all say, ‘We are used to it.’ – even if they come from Mississippi. Then they complain that they have delays because of the weather,” Bailey said.

Furman added, “I have those same conversations. I asked The Cottages [developers] about plan B [regarding winter delays], and their answer was, ‘We’ll have more snow removal on site than normal.’ And I said, ‘Ok.’”

Bailey recalled another past development that ran into winter-weather delays: The Courtyard by Marriott in Boone.

Bailey said the developers weren’t concerned about winter, acting as if it was “no big deal. We’ll handle it.” But Bailey said they were “shocked” after their equipment remained frozen for 37 consecutive days.

“We actually document it now and put it in the file that we told them about winter because nobody ever believes us,” Bailey said.

Editor’s note: This story has been modified.