Vacant Canada Dry Warehouse Put to Good Use

The Greensboro Area Convention and Visitors Bureau has a new place to call home.

On Thursday, several community members gathered to celebrate the official opening of their new office on High Point Road in the former Canada Dry building.  Henry Fourier, the president of the Greensboro Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said there are a lot of advantages to moving locations.

“The Greensboro Coliseum is the hospitality and event icon in our community, and it's nice being on the same footprint with them. We work very closely with their staff, so the proximity is going to be a great convenience. The significance of redoing this building is that we are making a concerted effort here in Greensboro to redevelop High Point Road, and this will be a significant improvement to reach that goal,” said Fourier.

The renovation of the 10,000 square foot building is one of several projects the city is investing in to redevelop High Point Road. Some of the improvements taking place in this area include an $8-million streetscape project, the renovation of the Greensboro Coliseum and a campus expansion project by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Fourier said a lot of work went into maintaining the historical integrity of the former Canada Dry warehouse. “Being a bottling company, there was a lot of concrete structure and brick structure that they left, so we have exposed ceilings and all of the ceilings are painted white. The walls are a cream color and then they put in a synthetic wood floor, and so it really is a great melding of old and new.”

The funds to build the $2-million Convention & Visitor's Bureau came from the Hotel Occupancy Tax, which is given to the Greensboro Coliseum for maintenance and other needs.

The new Convention & Visitor's Bureau building will also house the Greensboro Sports Commission.

*Celia Spell, an intern at WFDD and a student at Wake Forest University, also contributed to this report.