Snowbird buys part of former mall property

    Andrews – When a bank foreclosed on the 28 acres of land previously occupied by the Hillbilly Mall and Bear Ridge Speedway last year, no one could have guessed what the future would bring.
    A fire ignited inside the former mall in December 2019, about two months after a foreclosure sale on the Cherokee County Courthouse steps resulted in no bids. Four months later, Commissioner Cal Stiles and his wife, Janet, purchased the property off U.S. 19/74 for exactly half of the amount the bank had set as a minimum bid.
    The Stileses then poured more money into the property and cleaned it up. They tore down the building that suffered the most damage during the blaze and removed all of the brush around the property, which had become a hiding spot for trash.
    They also removed more than 1,200 tires that were spread across the property, tore down the announcer’s booth on the race track, leveled the land behind the mall and removed electrical connections in the adjacent RV park, which had become the subject of debate after residents were suspected of living there year-round, violating state law.
    While all of that took place in the public eye, with the Cherokee Scout documenting each step along the way, a force worked behind the scenes, resulting in the latest development, which the parties involved describe as heavenly intervention.
    “When I discuss how this all worked out, I tear up because it’s a God thing,” Cal said. “Everything that fell into place could never have been put together by you and I.”
    The Stileses recently sold 7.89 acres of the property to Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters, which the gospel-driven discipleship camp will use as its north campus. Snowbird began leasing the property’s concert hall to hold worship services after Gov. Roy Cooper issued social distancing guidelines that required overnight camps to operate at 50 percent of normal capacity and keep attendees in separate cohorts.
    “We had this property only a few weeks when Snowbird called and said they needed a large place to operate in or they wouldn’t be able to hold summer camp,” Cal said. “After using it for the season, they realized they needed this additional space on a permanent basis.
    “The Lord knew they were going to need it, and knew someone needed to get it so they could have access to it. We were just the vehicle.”
    Snowbird purchased the east side of the property for $500,000. The organization paid $100,000 in cash, with the Stileses holding a 15-year promissory note for the remaining amount. The sale closed on Dec. 16.
    “In the middle of craziness, God has shown us favor,” said Brody Holloway, CEO and lead pastor of Snowbird.
    The organization will continue using the concert hall, officially known as the Super Coop, as its main worship facility whenever they have more than 250 attendees. Holloway plans to construct a secondary worship space inside the former mall building, which the Stileses split in half for the purpose of this sale.
    Snowbird’s half of the former mall building will also be used for breakout sessions, which provide instruction on social issues, world views, culture, the Bible and theology. The organization also plans to build an indoor laser tag course.
    “In 2017, we set a 10-year goal to see 20,000 people come through in 2027,” Holloway said in a recent podcast on swoutfitters.com. “We have a long way to go to get there, but we’re on the right trajectory right now; and this facility is going to help with that.”
    The group also plans to construct outdoor recreation activities on their newly acquired property, similar to the options available at the main campus on Mae Johnson Way, which offers zip-lines, swings, rope courses, a pool, a water slide and basketball courts.
    “We’re not ruling anything out,” Holloway said, adding that the north campus facilities allow Snowbird to redesign the main campus. “Going into 2021, we are looking at growing camp by 10 percent. We instantly expanded our dining space, and we have a plan to expand housing.”
    Holloway said the camp has already booked more students for 2021 than the organization has ever had before. The group set a goal to serve 6,000 during the summer months. Their previous record was around 5,300.
    “In 2020, we ran at 70 percent [of our normal participation], which by the way, was a huge blessing,” Holloway said. “Ninety-two percent of camps in America shut down. We were preparing for 50 percent [participation] and worked our tails off to make that happen.
    “And then God gave us more favor than we could have imagined. We picked up more than 500 students who had never been to Snowbird.”
    The Stileses said it feels good to know that they have had a positive impact on the community.
    “Our intention was to clean up some negative circumstances in our neighborhood. We wanted to go back to the safe, quiet, clean neighborhood that we had,” Janet said. “It makes us feel good to get cards from people, get stopped by people in Walmart or people who walk up and down the street. They say how happy they are that [the property] is cleaned up, that the neighborhood is totally different. A couple of people had been trying to sell their house for a good while and couldn’t, but this made it possible to sell their house.”
    “To clean up the neighborhood, we had to buy the whole package. Little did we know that the Lord knew that Snowbird needed a place to hold camp for the summer,” Cal said, adding that he’s in the process of converting their half of the former mall building into a maxi-storage facility for boats and recreational vehicles.
    “I don’t believe you could ever have a better neighbor than Snowbird. They’ve got some highly educated folks on their staff. That group could take over a big corporation and run it.”