Biz Briefs & Forecasting

BIZBRIEFS

sponsorship from Grubb Properties to build its 300th home in the historic Northside neighborhood in Chapel Hill, in partnership with the Northside Neighborhood Initiative. (Each year, Grubb Properties asks clients and industry peers to raise funds and recruit volunteers to build a Habitat home for a local family through the Grubb Giving Project.) Construction began on Oct. 2, with limited volunteers and increased safety protocols due to the pandemic. Some members of Zaw Moe’s family, who will live in the home, helped build during the day (pictured above) alongside employees from Grubb Properties and BB+M Architecture. Compiled by Anna Southwell

NEW ON THE SCENE

M.A. Salon opened on July 8 at 121 N. Scottswood Blvd. in Hillsborough and is owned by

ACQUISITIONS + PARTNERSHIPS Habitat for Humanity of Orange

County received an $85,000 Martha Perez and Andres Perez.

Re-Invintaged Home Decor

& More opened on July 31 at 120 S. Churton St. in downtown Hillsborough. The home furnishings boutique specializes in farmhouse decor and speciality items from local artisans. Owner Wendi Puckett used to sell her wreaths at MishMosh, a rustic, farmhouse decor shop in Reidsville, North Carolina, and was inspired by the store’s concept where local artisans can rent space. “We have incredibly talented vendors whose passions for what they do really show in their work,” Puckett said. While Puckett had to delay the boutique’s opening due to the pandemic, she said the store will host special holiday events this fall.

Carrie Williamson and Meredith Fitch opened Chapel Hill’s Card My Yard, a full-service yard sign rental company, in June. Card My Yard has more than 200 other franchise locations across the country. So far this year, the company has helped with about 200 greetings, including celebrations of several milestone birthdays, 50th wedding anniversaries and retirements.

SPENGA, a fitness studio franchise with 307 locations, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its new location in Elliott Square on Oct. 8. The owners of the Chapel Hill location are UNC alumni, sisters Hutter Black and Suejette Black. SPENGA’s 60-minute classes combine spin, strength training and yoga for a workout designed to improve members’ endurance, strength and flexibility.

The Graduate Chapel Hill celebrated its grand opening on West Franklin Street with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Aug. 3. The Chamber for a Greater Chapel Hill-Carrboro staff, along with Graduate Hotels President David Rochefort (pictured left) and Graduate Chapel Hill General Manager Wes Rowe (pictured right), participated in the ceremony. The hotel has a mix of modern and classic designs and features Tar Heel icons such as the Old Well and Michael Jordan.

Graduate Hotels expects to have 34 locations across the country by next summer.

UNC sophomores Harshul Makwana, Kush Jain and Alekhya Majety founded the startup QUVI and created a device that can sanitize the interior, exterior and water inside of any reusable water bottle by using UV-C light. Their survey found that, out of 250 people, 95% of them have reusable water bottles, but 65% do not clean their bottles regularly. As a result, they created a solution by using powerful UV-C technology to disinfect a reusable water bottle in 90 seconds, eliminating harmful pathogens and viruses such as COVID-19. The team participated in the 2019 Carolina Challenge Pitch Party, joined the two-week UNC Makeathon competition that accelerates ideas into prototypes and joined Launch Chapel Hill’s summer cohort, propelling the startup’s success. They hope to place a QUVI next to every water fountain across campus, from gyms to dorms, to keep students safe. They also envision a business-to-business model to sell sanitization kiosks

in bulk to large institutions such as colleges and airports.

Carraway Village and Glen Lennox lead the trend in bringing new mixed-use communities to town. These developments incorporate residential space – whether it be apartments, townhouses or single-family homes – and also office space and retail options. The completion dates for these two projects are still to be determined.

Located in northern Chapel Hill just off Interstate 40, Carraway Village entered its third phase of development this fall. It recently gained a Starbucks and a Chick-fil-A. Upon completion, it will also feature a hotel.

A few miles away, at the intersection of Raleigh Road and Fordham Boulevard, the Glen Lennox development originally started as an apartment complex in the 1950s, opening up adjacent shopping centers and more residential space over time. After years of discussions among Grubb Properties, the Town of Chapel Hill and community residents, a 20-year development agreement was eventually reached to include more businesses. Transportation infrastructure is also being adjusted to make the community more accessible, including adding bike lanes.

Pilates studio FlowCORPS opened in the Village Plaza shopping center in early September and now offers classes to the public with COVID-19 precautions in place. Owner and founder Nicole Cannon opened the original studio in Raleigh in October 2018. Carolina Donor Services, North Carolina’s largest organ and tissue donation organization, announced its plans to move from its current location in Durham to a larger, new facility in Chapel Hill. The 50,000-square-foot site at 7000 Millhouse Rd. will house 70 of its 130 employees, is easily accessible from Interstate 40 and is centrally located among four transplant centers. The purpose of the relocation is to better accommodate the needs of donors, increase meeting spaces and provide additional surgical suites to save and heal more people.

ON THE MOVE

Realtor Carly

Hemminger

joined the

Triangle Real Estate Services

team in August after running a small local business, GoKart Kids, in Cary. An alumna of UNC KenanFlagler Business School, Hemminger brings experience in business management, marketing and technology to her new career in real estate.

The Burlington Shoes store in University Place permanently closed in August. Elsewhere in the mall, Night Gallery/ Branching Out opened that same month with a renovated exterior storefront beside William Travis Jewelry. In August, Monarch Brow & Facial Studio moved to a location on the second floor of its current building on West Weaver Street in Carrboro. The space, owned by Angela Hugghins, includes a new retail lounge and waiting area.

Club Nova, which supports people who have serious mental illnesses, plans to begin construction in early 2021 on a larger, updated facility at its current location at 103 W. Main St. in Carrboro. Club Nova is using Chapel Hill’s Historic Town Hall in order to operate as construction continues during the remaining months of 2020. It continues to maintain intensive outreach, home visits and a “virtual clubhouse” with a full schedule of working groups and socials. The organization’s retail store, Club Nova Thrift Shop, permanently closed in August because many members were in the high-risk category for COVID-19.

Gentlemen’s Corner, which opened in Chapel Hill in 2013, permanently closed its West Franklin Street store in June and moved to MacGregor Village in Cary. Owner Harrison Sasser said the rent on Franklin Street was too high, especially during the pandemic. There are three other locations of the men’s shop in Pinehurst, Wilmington and Palm Beach, Florida.

IN OTHER NEWS

Tanjo, an award-winning machine learning company with headquarters based in Carrboro, will help power North Carolina’s COVID-19 reopening plan through its artificial intelligence technology platform. Tanjo entered into a formal strategic partnership with the Digital Health Institute for Transformation, which was given a grant as part of the North Carolina General Assembly’s 2020 COVID-19 Recovery Act to research, validate and build a simulation platform and decision engine for North Carolina businesses and community leaders as they navigate reopening. Tanjo will support the platform through its machine learning and advanced analytics to process national and regional data, including health and epidemiological data, consumer behavior and attitudinal data, and environmental data. In collaboration with the UNC Institute for Convergent Science, Innovate Carolina and the NC Chamber Foundation, this project also intends to give business owners and community members the ability to predict population health risks as well as simulate the effects of implementing evidence-based recommendations, allowing them to make more informed decisions.

FORECASTING SCORE Chapel Hill Durham

offers various virtual business webinars, both live and prerecorded, throughout the fall. On Nov. 17, tune in for the live webinar, “Google Analytics 101 – Improve Your Online Business by Understanding Essential Data,” which will guide participants through the steps of setting up Google Analytics in order to gather data from their business’s website. Mo Hossain, the founder and owner of Data Up, will lead the webinar. CHM