Photo by Robert Dickson

By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

Over the past year, the doctors from Carrboro Pediatrics and Internal Medicine have patiently waited to move into their new building as state contractors cleaned up potentially harmful chemicals.

But the cleanup is now complete, and the doctors – who have practiced at several locations throughout Carrboro over the past 15 years – will move into their new offices in March or April of next year.

The building at 127 Fidelity Street was home to dry-cleaning businesses – most recently Hangers Cleaners – for a number of years before Carrboro Pediatrics and Internal Medicine bought the building last fall. Because chemicals used in the dry-cleaning process are linked to some cancers, the doctors had the site tested before refurbishing the building and found contamination from perchloroethylene, a dry-cleaning solvent.

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To avaoid parking hassles around the holiday shopping season at University Mall, the Town of Chapel Hill and UNC have selected alternate sites for the park & ride shuttle bus service for the December 22 UC-Santa Barbara basketball game and for the January 12 game against NC State.

Those interested in using the game shuttle are asked to use the park & ride lots at UNC’s Friday Center and Jones Ferry Road in Carrboro or board the game bus departing from the Carolina Coffee Shop on Franklin Street in downtown Chapel Hill.  There will also be a temporary park & ride location at the Highway 54 lot also at the Friday Center.

Damon Forney, who has over 25 years of experience in the water resources and environmental protection fields, has begun work as OWASA’s new Wastewater Treatment and Biosolids Recycling Manager.

Forney will manage operations and a staff of 14 employees at OWASA’s Mason Farm Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) on Old Mason Farm Road in southeast Chapel Hill.

The WWTP can treat about eight million gallons a day of wastewater from the Carrboro-Chapel Hill community. OWASA also recycles about 16 million gallons of biosolids (treated solids separated from wastewater) annually.

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The Fearrington House Country Inn and Restaurant has earned the AAA Five Diamond Award for 2008 for both lodging and dining. This is the 14th consecutive year that the Fearrington House has received AAA Five Diamonds and the only property in North Carolina to receive Five Diamonds for both lodging and dining.
“We are extremely pleased to be honored for both the Inn and the Restaurant once again,” said Theresa Chiettini, general manager. “It is a testament to our devoted staff who are committed to providing our guests with a unique and memorable experience.”

The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce monthly networking event, Business After Hours, will be hosted by UNC Executive Development at the Paul J. Rizzo Conference Center at Meadowmont on Thursday, December 13th from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. Business After Hours is sponsored by UNC Executive Development. The Rizzo Center is located at 130 DuBose Home Lane in Meadowmont. From NC-54/Raleigh Road, turn into Meadowmont on Meadowmont Lane. Travel about half a mile, passing the Cedars. After passing Green Cedar Lane on your right, turn right on DuBose Home Lane. Parking is available in the Rizzo Center’s main parking lot. Business After Hours will take place in Loudermilk Hall.

Greenbridge Developments will make it a little easier for holiday gifters to be a little greener with the opening of a free gift wrap and recycle drop shop at its offices at 405 West Rosemary Street.

The shop offers complimentary gift wrapping using post-consumer and post-industrial materials such as newspaper, old posters, print over-stock and found materials as ribbon. Those stopping by the shop are encouraged to bring along those hard-to-recycle items cluttering up your closets including  mercury laden fluorescent light bulbs, used toner cartridges, old cell phones, batteries, plastic bags,and Styrofoam packaging waste.

The shop is open Wednesdays-Fridays Dec. 12, 13, 14 from 3 to 7 p.m.; and Saturday, Dec. 15 from 2 to 6 p.m.

After opening branches in Chapel Hill and Raleigh, bank plans for more

Ben Lucas, branch manager, left, and Larry Loeser, president, stand inside the new Harrington Bank location. Photo by Kirk Ross 

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

It sounds like the opening of an old joke, but even though Ben Lucas laughs when he tells it, he’s not kidding.

“A lady walked in the other day and said she was looking for a can of red paint,” Lucas manager of Harrington Bank’s new branch on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard said. “We told her we were a bank now, and she said ‘that’s nice but where’s your paint.’”

Lucas and his staff expect to get a good bit of that since the bank opened its doors August 27 in the fully renovated former home of Piedmont Decorators.

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Mariana Fiorentino

Carrboro real estate broker Mariana Fiorentino recently received the EcoBroker Certified designation after completing a training program regarding the energy and environmental issues affecting real estate.

Fiorentino, owner of Terra Nova Global Properties, completed the EcoBroker program in July.

The program provides participants with information regarding energy-efficient and healthy features of homes and buildings through a curriculum of energy and environmental training.

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Learn what’s on the horizon
Speakers from Orange County, Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough will talk about upcoming development projects and other items on the county’s horizon at the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce’s first Orange County Development Breakfast, Monday, September 10 from 8:00 to 10: 00 a.m. at UNC’s Friday Center. Cost to attend is $25 for chamber members and $35 for non-members. Register online at www.carolinachamber.org/members/register.html or call 967-7075.

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New building (adjacent to the train tracks) and how it will look with the current configuration of the 300 East Main Street property. Source: Main Street Partners

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

The first of five major projects in downtown Carrboro won approval from the town’s Board of Aldermen Tuesday night, but only after a lengthy debate about how the project will affect parking for other businesses in the area.

Dubbed “Phase A,” the new project is a five-story, 48,000-square-foot building and pedestrian plaza on the site now occupied by Archer Graphics.

The development is the first phase of Main Street Partners overall plan to redevelop most of the southern side of East Main Street from the railroad tracks to the building now occupied by Performance Bicycle Shop.

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Carrboro Massage Therapy opens
Ruth Newnam has announced the Grand Opening of Carrboro Massage Therapy on Ashe Street in Carrboro.

Newnam is joined by licensed massage and bodywork therapists Sarah Pryor, Allyn Sharp Putnam and Naomi Heitz; Leela Breedlove of BlissWorks Life Coaching Services; and Margaret Rhee, LCSW.

Newnam recently purchased the commercial property to house her massage therapy practice and to create a group practice for like-minded massage and wellness professionals.

There will be an open house with food, music and art Sunday, July 1 from 5-7 p.m.

Carrboro Massage Therapy is located at 102 Ashe Street. For more information call 593-1630.

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It is more likely an aid for pilots, but when workers removed the old roof, they thought they found a long-forgotten helipad. Above photo courtesy of Cabins, Cottages & Bungalows. Other photos by Kirk Ross

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

HILLSBOROUGH — The façade still stands at the old Southern States building at 137 West Margaret Lane, as does the front door, although the dark red paint job is cracked and there’s a busted out pane or two.

For more than half a century, farmers and gardeners throughout the area crossed that threshold. To do so now would not be advised. The first step, as they say, is a doozy. Except for the graffiti on the walls, a couple of fuse boxes and the remains of a bathroom, not much is left to tell you the building even had a first floor.

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Since opening in March, GlassHalfFull has been a big draw. Photos by Kirk Ross

By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

If you’ve driven past the old Trading Post building on South Greensboro Street lately, you might notice that the resident antique shop is now somewhat smaller. What might draw you in, however, is the latest addition to Carrboro’s restaurant scene, now filling the building’s extra space.

GlassHalfFull, which opened in March, brings a little something different to the area, offering a tapas-style menu of small plates to complement the restaurant’s eclectic wine list.

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Dianne Reid, who has led Orange County’s economic development efforts since 1999, has agreed to take on the same role for Chatham County.

Reid will serve as executive director of the Chatham County Economic Development Corporation. She will begin work in mid-June.

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Town names economic development officer

Dwight Bassett, a former development manager for the City of Rock Hill, S.C., has been named Chapel Hill’s first economic development officer.

His professional background includes positions as Old Town redevelopment manager for Rock Hill and downtown manager for the Downtown Statesville Development Corp. in Statesville. He also has held business development positions for the cities of Concord, McCormick, S.C. and Hinesville, Ga. Bassett now lives in Parkers Lake, Ky. He is expected to start in Chapel Hill on June 4 with an annual salary of $78,000.
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