Bailey Road Is Becoming Cornelius's Park District, With Dinner at the West End
What do you put across the street from one of the busiest parks in Cornelius? In June 2025, the Town Board answered that question for the east side of town. Commissioners voted 5–0 against rezoning for the Cornelius Business Park. Greenberg Gibbons Properties had proposed about 188,000 square feet of flex-office and industrial space there. The site sits directly across Bailey Road from the entrance to Bailey Road Park.
Fifteen months later, the outline of the corridor is clear. Private restaurants are filling in at the Statesville Road end. The middle stretch around the park is becoming public land for recreation. The road projects now underway aim to move traffic through the area. This fall, all three parts are visible at once.
The western end of Bailey Road, near U.S. 21, has picked up two full-service restaurants within four months.
They join Cocotte, the French bakery that opened in Suite 110 at 9623 Bailey Road in August 2024. A bakery, a Tex-Mex dining room and an Italian dining room now sit within a couple of addresses of each other. For the east side of Cornelius, that's a real dinner cluster that doesn't require a drive toward Exit 28.
Scibelli described the menu as "the foods I grew up with and love to share — classic Italian-American dishes, made from scratch and served with genuine hospitality."
Head east from the restaurants toward Bailey Road Park and the corridor looks different. Here, the town has been buying land.
After the June 2025 denial, Cornelius bought the 36-acre tract that had been proposed for the business park. Lake Norman Publications reported the price as $3.45 million, paid in October 2025. Cornelius Today reported that the proposal had drawn significant opposition from nearby residents. In March 2026, the board approved buying the 37 acres next door for about $962,000.
In September, the N.C. Parks and Recreation Trust Fund awarded Cornelius $500,000 toward that second purchase. Cornelius Today reported that the town's application ranked first in the competitive review.
| Tract | Acreage | Purchase price | Approximate cost per acre |
|---|---|---|---|
| Former business park site, bought October 2025 | 36.18 acres | $3.45 million | About $95,000 |
| Adjacent wooded parcel, approved March 2026 | 37 acres | About $962,000 | About $26,000 |
| Same parcel after the $500,000 state grant | 37 acres | About $462,000 net | About $12,500 |
| Combined site | 73 acres | About $3.9 million net of the grant | About $54,000 |
The town paid much more per acre for the tract where the business park would have gone than for the wooded land beside it. Both parcels now belong to the town and sit directly across Bailey Road from the park entrance. The newer parcel is mostly wooded and has several creeks running through it. Cornelius Today reported that it offers room for natural open space and passive recreation.
The grant also helps the parks budget. The 2024 park bonds would otherwise have repaid the full $962,000. Instead, $500,000 of that bond money can go to another parks project. Voters approved those bonds in November 2024, for $20 million in total. The town's 2024 Parks and Greenways Master Plan calls for two new large parks of at least 100 acres each, and it names this area as an ideal spot for one of them.
The town refers to the combined site as LP2. Its bond update funds preliminary planning in 2026 and expects the first bond sale in early 2027. For now, both parcels are vacant.
The plan to build next to Bailey Road Park makes sense given how much that park has grown recently.
The 12-court tennis complex opened in October 2025, and all 12 courts are lighted. The first phase was originally planned with six courts. Financial support from the USTA, USTA Southern, USTA North Carolina and the Lake Norman Tennis Association let the town double it to 12. In 2026, the complex won a USTA Outstanding Facility Award in the Large Public Facilities category. Parks and Recreation Director Troy Fitzsimmons and Assistant Director Adam Abernathy accepted it on Aug. 31 at the U.S. Open in New York. The courts host instructional and social programs, junior and adult leagues, school tennis and tournaments. Program partners include Modern Strike, the Lake Norman Tennis Association and Bailey Middle School. The bond package includes shade structures and a restroom building for the courts in 2027.
The tennis courts are one part of a larger park. The town's facility listing for 11536 Bailey Road also includes:
Parks and Recreation replaced the turf on both fields early this year at a reported cost of $756,000 and planned a ribbon cutting for Feb. 23.
That gives LP2 an established neighbor. Its future visitors will park across the street from an active complex that already has a national award, newly resurfaced fields and a bandshell.
The bandshell and fields have two town events this October:
From either event, Little Mama's and Chili Willi's are a short drive west for dinner afterward.
Traffic on Bailey Road has been part of this story from the start. Cornelius Today's headline on the June 2025 business park vote called the road "congested." Two projects now underway target that traffic.
In March, NCDOT awarded Blythe Development a $7.8 million contract to extend Bailey Road about a half-mile on a new alignment between U.S. 21 and Poole Place Drive. The contract also includes a roundabout where Bailey Road, Poole Place Drive and the new extension meet. The town says the extension is meant to give drivers a more direct connection to U.S. 21 and take daily traffic off Oakhurst. The project will also connect the new road to the Caldwell Station Creek Greenway through a new culvert. Installing it will require a temporary greenway closure at a later date.
Two timelines are in circulation. In March, Cornelius Today reported that the roadway should be finished in fall 2027, with landscaping and vegetation work possibly continuing into spring 2028. The town's project page lists an April 2026 start and May 2031 completion for the overall project. The town page is the one to check for updates.
At the other end of the corridor, the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization approved $64,000 to study traffic flow at the intersection of Bailey Road and N.C. 115.
| When | What happens on Bailey Road |
|---|---|
| Oct. 10, 2026 | Laketoberfest at Bailey Road Park |
| Oct. 24, 2026 | Halloween Treat Trail at Bailey Road Park |
| Early 2027 | First park bond sale expected |
| 2027 | Shade structures and a restroom building planned for the tennis complex |
| Fall 2027 | Bailey Road Extension roadway expected, per the March 2026 contract report |
| May 2031 | Overall extension completion listed on the town's project page |
If you own a home off Bailey Road and want to understand how the park plans and the road extension could affect your property when you decide to sell, Logan Ruffin and The Ruffin Group follow these town decisions closely. Contact Us for a conversation about your street.
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