In recent months the Hope Mills Area Chamber of Commerce got bogged down with some internal disappointments and loss of momentum brought about, in part, by 10 years of frustration in the town because of the uncertain future of Hope Mills Lake. The dam on the lake was compromised twice. It was first breached in 2005, and again in 2010. The town has been without its popular lake for those 10 years and only now is the dam being rebuilt. 

New life has been breathed into the organization. The Chamber has new leadership. Longtime President Jan Spell got a new board of directors in May and a new executive director the same month. 

“We did a lot of reorganizing, and I now have a new spring in my step,” said Spell. She’s been the chamber’s volunteer president for 10 years. Jan and her husband Terry have changed the face of the town. Their company developed 16 residential subdivisions and three apartment complexes. Terry Spell is a native of Hope Mills. Jan has been a civic leader in more ways than one. She’s treasurer of the Hope Mills Kiwanis Club. She serves on the Methodist University Board of Visitors and the Southeastern Regional Medical Center Board.

A couple of months ago, Spell was introduced to Tiffany Aldridge, a recent college graduate with a business degree from Campbell University. Her parents settled in nearby Rockfish years ago. Tiffany is a native of Alabama and a military brat. She was recommended to Spell to take over the chamber’s vacant executive director’s post in the charming chamber offices on Trade Street. When they met, they clicked immediately because their personalities meshed. Spell’s friends refer to her as a dynamo. Aldridge is described as spunky. 

“I like the whole small town feeling,” Aldridge explained. “It’s friendly and feels like home.”

Spell says the chamber of commerce currently has about 190 members. She notes they enjoy a significant degree of free-wheeling independence in their zeal to promote and develop the town of 16,000. The chamber’s focus for some time has been on what’s referred to as “Area 41,” a 1,000-acre mostly undeveloped tract along both sides of I-95’s Exit 41. N.C. Highway 59 crosses the interstate there. It’s the main gateway into the town from the east. As a professional developer, Spell believes the area has unlimited potential for growth not only in the hospitality industry but with major big box companies. 

“I have a vision,” she said. 

Fayetteville Public Works Commission water and sewer are available, making Area 41 one of only two I-95 interchanges in Cumberland County equipped with utilities. The other is Exit 49 at Cedar Creek Road in Fayetteville. Also, working with the chamber of commerce, the State Department of Transportation installed half a dozen lights along the NC 59 overpass. Spell has posted a virtual flyover of Area 41 on YouTube in hopes it will attract interested developers. 

“I’m a finisher,” Spell emphasized. “Eighty percent of life is showing up.”