Landmark Lake Norman waterfront site to undergo major redevelopment
A South Carolina developer plans to revive the landmark Queens Landing entertainment complex on Lake Norman with a marina, restaurant, multi-family housing and a public greenway, a town of Mooresville public hearing notice shows.
Columbia-based developer Arnold Companies, which owns the 6.5-acre complex, is scheduled to unveil its plans before the Mooresville Planning Board on Oct. 10, according to the hearing notice posted on NextDoor on Friday by a neighbor concerned about traffic.
The company bought Queens Landing for $7.5 million in August 2022 from the estate of longtime local owner Jack Williams, The Charlotte Observer previously reported, citing Iredell County public tax records. The county values the property at $5 million, according to the records.
The waterfront site was most notably known for its 149-passenger Catawba Queen, a Mississippi River paddle wheel boat that offered sightseeing and dinner cruises. Queens Landing later added the 93-foot Lady of the Lake dinner cruise boat.
Williams died in 2016, according to his obituary. Known as “Captain Jack,” he bought the Catawba Queen in 1992 with friend Bud Lancaster, owner of Big Daddy’s Restaurant and Oyster Bar in Mooresville. Lancaster died in 1997.
They built what Williams’ obituary called “the largest complex on Lake Norman,” with a restaurant, two miniature golf courses, bumper boats, tennis courts, a floating dock bar and marina.
The complex is along River Highway (N.C. 150) beside the McCrary Creek Access Area, a longtime public boat launch.
Weeds sprouted in the Queens Landing parking lot when the Observer visited the site in June as word spread that the complex had closed. Large ornaments on the Queens Landing miniature golf course lay toppled over.
And renovations to the two-story Queens Landing building appeared to have stopped midstream, with no construction equipment on the grounds.
That all could change soon, according to the hearing notice.
Indoor and outdoor dining
Besides the marina and greenway, 172 multifamily units are planned in two six-story buildings. Each building would include five stories of housing and one for parking.
An existing building that housed a restaurant and bar will remain, according to the developer’s plans. The space will offer both indoor and outdoor dining overlooking the lake.
The first phase of the project will include the marina and restaurant-commercial building. Phase two would be the buildings with multifamily housing.
Plans also include covered and open dining, a recreational swimming pool, and an open landscaped area for various activities. Access to existing boat docks would be available.
What about the boats?
The fate of the two sightseeing boats remains uncertain.
The boats vanished from the site this year. They are tied together and anchored near an unnamed island south of Stutts Marina, Morris Sample, executive director of the Lake Norman Marine Commission, told the Observer in June.
He also is a former Catawba Queen dinner captain.
No government rules prohibit the anchoring of a boat of any size anywhere on the lake, Sample told the Observer.
Deborah Harwell, a Mooresville and Myrtle Beach resident whom public documents say is the executor of Williams’ estate, owns the boats and had them moved when the developer told her the company wasn’t interested in them, Sample said.
Representatives of the developer didn’t return messages from the Observer.
“Ahoy, mates!” a woman says on the Queens Landing answering machine, which doesn’t allow callers to leave a message. “The Lady of the Lake and Catawba Queen continue to wait for available dockage on Lake Norman.
“Thank you very much for your interest in calling,” the recording says. “We love our customers to the moon and back and look forward to seeing you.”
