Tesla eyes site in High Point

Pat Kimbrough, The High Point Enterprise, N.C.
·2 min read

Feb. 17—HIGH POINT — Electric car company Tesla is seeking to open a store and service center in High Point, which would be its first Triad dealership.

Woodhaven Development Group of Charlotte has applied to rezone the property at 2620 N. Main St. to support a Tesla dealership, said Tom Terrell, an attorney representing the applicant.

"This is a jewel in High Point's crown," Terrell said.

Tesla manufactures and sells its cars directly to consumers, unlike other automakers that sell through franchised dealerships. The proposed High Point location would be part of its network of company-owned showrooms and galleries that include service centers.

"Broadly described, it will be a place where a buyer can come look at the cars and test cars, but their car is then ordered to be delivered to the showroom for pickup," Terrell said. "There will not be a large fleet of cars on-site that can be driven off the day you buy it."

The 5.7-acre zoning site includes a 42,680-square-foot retail anchor space that's been vacant since a Gold's Gym closed there a few years ago.

The developer is asking the city to rezone it from a retail center district to a conditional zoning general business district.

"Traffic will actually go down for this use, as opposed to a retail facility like Gold's Gym," Terrell said.

In its description of the rezoning request, the applicant wrote that the majority of the proposed Tesla center's business will include servicing and delivering vehicles to customers, with sales of energy products such as wall packs, solar panels and solar shingles a "small part of the operation."

The applicant stated that, "The service area is more like a technology lab since there is no exhaust or petroleum products and much of their repairs revolve around computer software diagnostics. The operation is extremely clean."

Terrell said he expects the request to be on the agenda for the High Point Planning and Zoning Commission meeting in late March.

Tesla's only other two stores and service centers in North Carolina are in Charlotte and Raleigh.