The John O’Daniel Business Center

Closer and Closer!

2009-03-24T18:18:00.000-07:00

Hello Gang,
It's been pretty amazing how the building is coming together. I am having a GREAT time taking people through the building who saw it before to see what it is now. It's fun to share this journey. This evening as it was getting dark, I stopped by. Some cabinets are in. It's getting down to the finish. April 17th is our move-in date. To begin another chapter in this amazing venture called the John O'Daniel Exchange. I cannot wait!
Thanks!
Wendy

We are near the completion of Phase 1!

2009-03-15T07:20:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends and Family,
We are in the final count down. Sheet rock is up, some painting has been done, flooring ordered, tenants coming. In the next 4 weeks, we can start moving in! If you know of anyone that needs office space, please send them our way!

It's amazing!

2009-02-08T17:56:00.000-08:00

Grace and Peace Friends,
Hope you are well. Last week showed a lot of changes. We painted the ceiling of the interior of the building. Dry wall is being installed. And the outside is being prepared for a big painting. It is very exciting to start to see it come together. April 1st here we come!
Thanks,
Wendy

It's fun!

2009-02-01T10:07:00.000-08:00

Hello Gang,
Hope you are well. There are sooo many life lessons through the process of this building. There has been much work over the past 18 months but it's not what is seen. When people love the building, it will be the things that are happening in the next few weeks, not the work we are doing now. Yet, it is the work that we are doing now, that will provide the stability and sustainability for the years to come. We are finishing up the electricity, phone lines, and heating and air. This weekend the ceilings are being painted. Next week, sheet rock will be coming up. We are getting close.
Thanks for your support!
Blessings,
Wendy

Great Strides!

2009-01-23T10:20:00.000-08:00

Hello Gang,
Hope you are well. It's the exciting part of the restoration process where you can start seeing the physical changes. We are preparing to open our doors April 1st! This past week we have been wrestling with paint colors. We decided on a color that is as close as we can get of the red it is now.

Please feel free to come on by and see the location and if you know of anyone that needs office space- we have great prices and availability.

Thanks!
Wendy

Random Thoughts

2009-01-11T19:04:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,
Just wanted to share a couple of fun pictures. saw a beautiful, double rainbow from my current office last week. Plus a picture of me and two of the Carpe Diem gang hanging out at the building. Have a GREAT week!

Now the renovations are coming right along!

2009-01-11T18:40:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,
Hope you are well. It's amazing that after months of preparation and hard work with little to show how now things are coming right along. We have been having a lot of masonry work done. As the building is close to 100 years old, there has been areas that need some more support. Chuck, my business partner and the general contractor came up with a beautiful way to secure the back wall which was in serious disrepair.

Besides the masonry- we have been working on the heating and air units which are going to be great.

Please let me know if you want to come see the building. We look forward to sharing it with the community!
Thanks,
Wendy

Herald Sun Article.

2009-01-08T09:56:00.000-08:00

Thank you Monica for your support, we appreciate it.

Duo transforming blight into might

Christine T. Nguyen/ The Herald-Sun

Wendy Clark (left) and Chuck Lewis, of Lewis & Clark Community Developers, are renovating a building on Gilbert Street into a center for small businesses and nonprofit organizations. The duo is putting $1.2 million into the renovations, and they hope to welcome tenants on March. 1.

BY MONICA CHEN : The Herald-Sunmchen@heraldsun.com

Dec 26, 2008 DURHAM -- From hosiery mill, to a farmer's cooperative, to a Hispanic nightclub. And by this spring, small-business owner Wendy Clark and real estate developer Chuck Lewis are hoping a blighted, 91-year-old building near the Cleveland-Holloway neighborhood will become a busy small business and nonprofit center, home to burgeoning ventures and a host of workshops enriching the local entrepreneurial community.

In September, Clark and Lewis purchased the 14,500-square-foot building at 801 Gilbert St. for $275,000. As Lewis & Clark Community Developers LLC, they are putting $1.2 million into the renovations. It'll be a speedy process. Upfitting began on Dec. 1. Working with Raleigh architect Andy Lawrence, the pair is building open spaces on the main floor, with walls that open to the roof above. An exhibit space will be in the lobby. By March 1, they hope the building will welcome its first tenants. Less than one-third of the building has been leased.

Clark, 34, comes into the project with ample knowledge of the difficulties of starting a small business and keeping it alive. She founded her business, Carpe Diem Cleaning Inc. with just $100 and three clients when she was only 20 years old. Steadily, she has grown it to what it is today, with 18 employees and a client roster of 350 homes and businesses. Along the business's 15-year history, Clark has hit numerous speed bumps, one of which several years ago cost her dearly in reparations. For the past seven years, she has also lived in Northeast Central Durham and made combatting poverty a priority in her life. Clark knew Lewis from King's Park International Church and convinced him to help in the project. "I thought about how I could support other people in business," she said. "The more a dollar passes through a community, the wealthier a community is."

The building will include a meeting space with 90-person capacity that Clark envisions could be used by churches on the weekends and host networking and entrepreneurial workshops during the week. Rents will be kept low. Office rents range from $295 to $595 a month for 180-430 square feet, which includes wireless access, work center, conference rooms, and rental storage and multipurpose rooms. Clark's own Carpe Diem offices will be in the center after moving from the Snow Building, a Gothic, art deco structure on Main Street that is currently being renovated by three Duke University alumni. Clark said the cost of her office space at the Snow Building was going to double from about $700 to more than $1,400 this year.

Businesses have shown a voracious appetite for office space in downtown Durham, and the demand has kept up with renovations inside the square-mile area. Total office space has increased from less than 2 million square feet in 1998 to slightly less than 3 million square feet in 2008, according to Karnes Research Co. Meanwhile, occupancy rate has remained high, at between 86 and 94 percent in the same period. The typical 250-square-foot office suite is now leasing for $495 a month at the Snow Building, according to one of the partners.

The Gilbert Street building could not be put on the National Register of Historic Places, an unfortunate result of a fire that ended its days as a Hispanic nightclub. The fire burned down the roof, which then was replaced and became a "foundation" in a sense for the renovations. However, Lewis & Clark was able to secure a commercial revitalization grant of $177,000 from the city of Durham and secure the rest of the financing from BB&T.

"We're trying to create space that will be under the market, for entrepreneurs just starting out, just trying to move that Web site business from their home to a more legitimate space," Lewis said. "We feel like it's a good opportunity for businesses and local people to either start up something or something that would serve the community and thereby reinvest in that area."

The building will be named the John O'Daniel Business Center, and will be nestled among other industrial/office buildings, including the Food Bank of Durham, TROSA and the Triangle Brewing Co.

O'Daniel was one of the earliest African-American landowners in Hayti. The building was built around 1917 as a hosiery mill and purchased in 1919 by Julian Carr, who named it for O'Daniel, his "right-hand man" and former Carr family slave. According to Lewis & Clark, O'Daniel likely handled for Carr the recruitment and hiring of black mill employees, a rare practice at the time. After Carr's death, the building became The Farmers' Exchange, a farmers' cooperative with 900 members by 1935. Small businesses thrived there in "curb markets," where goods such as chickens, eggs, baked and pickled goods, and vegetables were sold.

Clark hopes to increase communication between nonprofits and businesses at the center and eventually combine the two business models into something that could benefit the community. "I love blighted buildings. I love seeing something and being able to create something," Clark said.
© 2008 by The Durham Herald Company. All rights reserved

Continued update!

2008-12-25T11:13:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone! It is great to be able to take time and rest (a little) and celebrate. This building reminds me a lot about life. It takes a long time of preparation and then the up fitting goes quickly. If only preparation wasn't so long and tedious.... But the great news is that when this project is done, you can feel the stability, security, quality, and peace that comes from a job well done.

This past week continued to work on the initial plumbing, continued masonry work, and preparing for the electric and HVAC in the next segment of work.

As always, please feel free to drop by to check on the progress. Look forward to seeing you!

Blessings,

Wendy

Dec.17th Update!

2008-12-17T11:01:00.000-08:00

Hello Gang,
Thanks for checking in to see how we are doing!
The past several weeks were demolition. Unfortunately the floor joists were severally rotted and that was our one big surprise. We had to put in a whole new floor system! But as we have been going through this process, we are trying to recycle as much as we can. We are coming up with creative ways to utilize some of the old beams and wood. The building is already looking so different. You may have noticed that we put the windows in the building but a few bricks through them after hours have had us remove the glass part until we are more ready for completion. In the past 2 weeks we have started up fitting. The first step has been the plumbing and some framing. It is just so exciting for me to see what was once a dream, now becoming a reality! I am still pinching myself!!!! Please stop by to check-in. We look forward to being part of the great Cleveland-Holloway neighborhood!

Blessings,
Wendy

Demolition, Bids, & Great New Finds

2008-11-08T20:33:00.000-08:00

We are working on interior demolition and it’s exciting to see the building from wall to wall. We found an old stencil sign from the Farmers’ Exchange that was kind of cool and some old tops of bushels. A creative use will be found for those. We have been recycling what we can. Also we have been able to use local people recommended from PAC #1 and Phillip Jackson with Omega Industries has been doing a great job. Thank you for all the local support. We are currently receiving bids for plumbing, masonry, electricians, Drywall, Painting, Handrails, and HVAC.

Welcome to the 801 Gilbert Street Blog!

2008-09-17T09:11:00.000-07:00

This is the first official blog for The John O'Daniel Business Center. Be on the lookout for more pictures and updates as they become available.

We closed on the building Monday and can now prepare for renovations!
We would like to say THANK YOU for all of the support from the community. We are truly humbled and grateful for the opportunity to work with everyone and to play our small part in seeing wonderful change in our great city.