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Although electrical issue paused work, Fairmont-Cedars development is on track, owners say

Although a change in electrical parts stalled construction at the Fairmont Heritage Place — The Cedars, the project is on track and will restart fulltime soon, the owners say.

By Bill Moss, Published: May 20, 2025

Although a setback in electrical work caused a pause in work on a luxury hotel and condo development at the historic Cedars, the project is alive and well, the owners say.

The most prominent project downtown in recent decades, the Fairmont Heritage Place — The Cedars on 3½ acres on U.S. 64 at North Church Street is to be made up of two six-story buildings in an L-shape behind The Cedars. The mixed-use development including shops, a restaurant, bar and other amenities is designed to have 130 studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units plus penthouses. Units were priced from $400,000 to $3.8 million when the project was announced in 2022.

The Cedars and surrounding land is owned by Fran and Tom Shipman. Their son-in-law, Greg Covin, is the developer.

“We had an issue where Duke Power decided we cannot use the private submeter system we had intended to use,” Covin, who is married to Shelley Shipman, said in an email to the Lightning on Monday. “So our engineers had to redraw the power system using the Duke Power meters. This has stalled our progress because we have to relocate our transformers and redesign the power lines from the transformer to the meter room on every floor. We are hoping to have the redesign done shortly and be able to ramp back up so we can proceed with drywalling and finishing the interiors.”

'We're in good shape'

Tom Shipman said that the utility’s order was a setback but emphasized that contractors would resume work fulltime soon.

“We’re hoping to have it resolved this week,” he said. “We’re in good shape.  We hope by the end of this week we’ll have the crews back in there.”

Pre-sales of units have gone well, he added.

“We’ve sold about 64 of them already,” he said. Asked whether presales cover construction costs, he said. “Not totally, no, but it’s a good start. We’re going to build another tower right beside” the one that is now standing on the site of the old Chariot (and Clifton’s cafeteria). “We’ll start on the construction here soon and get it going.”

A Facebook post last Oct. 25 celebrated the sale of a penthouse for $2,729,000.

Sales director Amy Shipman, Fran and Tom’s other daughter, said the issue with the electrical equipment was costly in time and money.

“We're having an issue with Duke Power right now,” she said on May 2. “So even though they've had our schematics for two years, they came in and said you can't use those sub boxes. We had $300,000 of wiring put in for the sub boxes and they're like, ‘Oh no, sorry you have to change all that out.’”

Duke Energy communications manager Bill Norton said the utility had no choice but to demand the change in meters.

"My understanding based on reviewing some correspondence is that it was originally represented as a hotel, but Henderson County inspectors confirmed the development consists of residential units," he said in an email response to the Lightning's inquiry. "North Carolina Utilities Commission regulations require that residential units have individual meters, not one or two master meters covering the entire building. That’s not up to us, it’s an NCUC requirement."

The chatter around town notwithstanding, the contractor has not laid off the entire crew, Amy Shipman said.

“We had to lay a few people off because we can only do what we can do on the inside,” she said. “So we have to get that in place before we can move forward with the interiors.”

City Manager John Connet told the Lightning earlier this month that Covin, the developer, had assured him that the project is on track “to be constructed and completed as designed.”