By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

Pelham leaders are working with the Retail Strategies company to attract businesses to a proposed 5-acre retail development in front of the former Moore Handley building, Council President Rick Hayes said on Oct. 22.

Hayes’ comments came during a meeting with the city’s business owners at the Pelham Civic Complex and Ice Arena.

Hayes said the proposed development would be a “boulevard-style” shopping center fronting U.S. 31. Parking for the shopping center would be behind the center, Hayes said.

“We don’t want another big parking lot right there on Highway 31,” Hayes said.

The proposed development is part of a plan to revitalize the area surrounding the former Moore Handley tool warehouse, Hayes said. The Summer Classics furniture company currently is in the process of renovating the old Moore Handley building to house the company’s new showroom and warehousing operations.

Hayes said Retail Strategies is working to attract businesses Pelham is “missing right now” to the 5-acre development.

“Nothing has been decided about exactly what it could be, but we are working on that,” Hayes said. “They are making good headway on that now.”

If the project moves forward, Pelham city will not pay to construct the proposed retail development, and will work with an outside developer on the project.