Work on Lowes Foods grocery begins at major Lake Norman highway under construction
Grading work is underway for a 50,000-square-foot Lowes Foods grocery store beside a four-lane divided highway under construction in Mooresville near Lake Norman, a town official said Tuesday.
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Known as the East West Connector, the nearly mile-long road was first proposed decades ago for drivers to escape infuriating bottlenecks when traveling east-west across the town.
Phase 1 of the project, from Langtree Road to N.C. 115 (Mecklenburg Highway), is about 75% complete, Ryan Rase, assistant town manager for public services, told The Charlotte Observer in an interview at the Mooresville public services center.
The highway is expected to open early or mid-next year, he said.
In 2023, town officials said they planned to complete the $29.75 million phase by May 2025, the Observer reported at the time. The major delay has been relocating utilities, Rase said.
The project includes a realigned Transco Road, off Langtree Road, multi-use paths and a new rail crossing at N.C. 115. Langtree Road is off Interstate 77 Exit 31 at the lake.
The connector has already lured major developments, including Mooresville Village, Charlotte developer Pappas Properties’ proposed 625-home mixed-use community.
Formerly called Cadia Mooresville, Mooresville Village will include the Lowes Foods, a Pinnacle Bank branch and other businesses, Rase said.
The highway also has drawn a planned Grace Senior Living facility and Gabriel Farms, a community of 218 townhomes by Virginia-based Stanley Martin Homes.
Gabriel Farms will be on 50 acres just south of Langtree Road and Mount Mourne Loop and just north of the East West Connector.
The second and final phase of the connector, extending 2.6 miles east from N.C. 115 to Shearer and Rocky River Roads, is only 25% through the planning phase and has no final timetable, Rase said. In 2023, town officials pegged the cost of phase two at $50 million, although Rase said no updated final cost has been set.
Still, the second phase has attracted development, too, Rase said.
On the N.C. 115 end, a concept plan and a rezoning have been approved for a community called Courtyards at Holthouser, Rase said. No construction drawings have been submitted for town review, he said.
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The Epcon Communities’ development will be for ages 55 and older and include 86 single-family homes and 71 townhomes, the Lake Norman Citizen reported.
At the other end of phase two of the connector, EnergyUnited plans to relocate its operations center from Cornelius, Rase said. The Mooresville Board of Commissioners recently approved a rezoning for the project.
The second phase will directly connect N.C. 3 to Interstate 77, bypassing downtown Mooresville.
The connector was recommended in the 1998 Town of Mooresville Thoroughfare Plan and the 2007 Mooresville Comprehensive Transportation Plan, the Observer reported in 2008.
A Mooresville transportation planner at the time said he traced plans for such an east-west connector across south Iredell as far back as 1983.
Mooresville’s only major east-west connector is traffic-clogged N.C. 150, so the connectors would alleviate congestion on that road, former Mooresville Planning Director Tim Brown said in 2008.
N.C. 150 is undergoing a $247 million expansion that will include a 10-lane Interstate 77 exit 36.
In 2014, Lowes Foods began pulling out of Charlotte, swapping stores with Harris Teeter and closing underperforming stores as part of a reinvestment strategy.
The 72-year-old company has nearly 9,000 employees at about 80 Lowes Foods supermarkets in the Carolinas. Lowes Foods is a subsidiary of Alex Lee, based in Hickory.
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This story was originally published June 17, 2026 at 10:12 AM.
