Talbots spokeswoman says retailer "not making any commitments" to New Bern

A spokeswoman for The Talbots Inc. corporate office says the clothing retailer is "not making any commitments" to come to New Bern and won't be in a position to make such decisions until at least 2009.

But the company definitely has interest in the area, said Betsy Thompson, a spokeswoman from the retailer's corporate office in Massachusetts.

"We have been evaluating the viability of the market there, as well as a to-be-constructed building for a possible store location," Thompson said Friday. "However, we are not in a position to commit until we confirm our long-term store openings sometime in 2009. We are not making any commitments."

The retailer is at the center of a controversy over a 75-foot building proposed for the corner of Craven and South Front streets downtown. That building has been dubbed the Talbots project because city leaders solicited bids for a structure meant to woo the retailer to New Bern.

UHF Development Group LLC was awarded the contract for the project in 2006. It is proposed to have retail space on the bottom and residential units on the remaining floors. The building's proposed height has been challenged, along with its harmony with the historic downtown. The city's conditional-use permit that would allow construction to begin on the project has been legally appealed.

Developer Hubie Tolson has said that the legal appeal has been a hindrance to his company's efforts to make an agreement with Talbots. Tolson said UHF Development Group LLC has had four meetings with Talbots, the latest of which was about a month and a half ago.

"We are totally committed to coming here and haven't wavered in that at all," Tolson told a meeting of supporters on Monday. "The reason nothing's been signed with Talbots is that we can't sign anything with Talbots. "We've got this appeal hanging over us and while the appeal is unresolved, we can't get the permit and without the permit we can't build."

Tolson could not be reached Friday.

But he said previously that Talbots would not formally comment on its plans in New Bern until they were farther along.

"The city has pre-negotiated a deal to give them lower rent," Tolson said this week. "They are interested in coming to downtown New Bern and if they don't come to downtown New Bern, they aren't coming to New Bern."

Representatives of Bridgeton Harbor, a half-billion-dollar development planned across the river from New Bern, are courting retailers for their project right now. But they have been silent about their choices.

Thompson didn't say whether Talbots was considering Bridgeton.

"There very well could be other locations in the area that we evaluating," she said. "We are very thorough. We look at the viability of the market and the strength of catalog sales. ... We go into a decision like this with a lot of information."