Greater Wilmington Business Journal - July 17 Issue

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July 17-August 6, 2020 Vol. 21, No. 14

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REWORKING COWORKING: Pivoting the spaces

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AL FRESCO: Downtown street dining

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HOUSING UPTICK: Bucking the trend

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35

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Economic Indicators .............................. 3 Technology ............................................. 4 Hospitality ..........................................6-7 Real Estate..........................................8-9 The List ................................................32 Business of Life.............................. 34-35

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| ECONOMIC INDICATORS | MAY AIRPORT PASSENGER TRAFFIC

MAY UNEMPLOYMENT NEW HANOVER MAY 2020:

PENDER MAY 2020:

BRUNSWICK MAY 2020:

UP FROM MAY 2019:

UP FROM MAY 2019:

UP FROM MAY 2019:

3.6%

3.9%

5%

2019 vs 2020 (MAY) WILMINGTON MSA CIVILIAN LABOR FORCE 200,000

14% 11.7% 15.6%

LABOR FORCE

150,000

141,817

MAY 2020 DEPARTURES

MAY 2020 ARRIVALS

6,894

7,454

DOWN FROM MAY 2019 DEPARTURES

DOWN FROM MAY 2019 ARRIVALS

49,773 Source: N.C. Department of Commerce

49,941

200 200

2018

$346,839

250K

$327,785

250 250

$317,923

300K

50K

50,000 UNEMPLOYED 19,260

5,777

0

Source: N.C. Department of Commerce

300 300

350K

100K

MAY

2020

MONTHLY BUILDING PERMITS (BRUNSWICK COUNTY)

(SINGLE-FAMILY, TRI-COUNTY AREA)

150K

MAY

2019

100,000

Source: Wilmington International Airport

JUNE AVERAGE HOME SALES PRICE

200K

154,880

2019

2020

(NEW HANOVER COUNTY)

Commercial

150 150 MAY 2020

100 100

5050 00

Source: Cape Fear Realtors

MAY ROOM OCCUPANCY TAX

Residential

5/19

519

6/19

619

7/19

719

8/19

819

9/19

919

10/19

11/19

1019

12/19

1119

1/20

1219

120

2/20

220

3/20

320

4/20

420

5/20

520

Source: Brunswick County Code Administration

COMMERCIAL BUILDING PERMIT VALUES BY COUNTY (Q1 2019 / Q1 2020)

0

$50M

$100M

$150M

$200M

$1,615,528

NEW HANOVER

2019 2019

2019

$951,314

$160,613,003

2020

$102,347,552

BRUNSWICK

2019

$12,662,672

2020

$138,622,165

PENDER

2019 2020 2020 Source: Wilmington CVB

2020

$1,314,649 $5,202,877

Source: The Market Edge, a building permit compilation service based in Tennessee. The company compiles data from 315 code enforcement offices in 158 counties.

AVERAGE PRICE PER GALLON FOR REGULAR UNLEADED IN WILMINGTON ON JULY 7, 2020:

$2.08 AVERAGE PRICE PER GALLON FOR WILMINGTON ON JULY 7, 2019:

$2.53 Source: AAA

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July 17 - August 6, 2020

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Greater Wilmington Business Journal

| TECHNOLOGY |

Fostering a startup ecosystem

A

study recently revealed that the startup ecosystem in Wilmington is growing, showing that the region’s entrepreneurs and support systems are gaining recognition on a global scale.

Startup Genome, a research and policy advisory organization, ranked Wilmington tied in the 90-100 spot in its “Top 100 Emerging EcoJOHANNA systems” study.

“As startup culture and entrepreneurship spreads across the world, different ecosystems are gaining relevance and impacting economies in a meaningful way,” the study stated. “The factor weights used to rank these ecosystems are slightly different from those used with top ecosystems to reflect their emerging status and emphasize the factors that influence more in ecosystems that are just beginning to grow.”

Other places in North Carolina also appeared in the ranking, with Research Triangle Park taking the 10th spot and Charlotte tied in the 31-40 spot.

The emerging ecosystem ranking was made using a weighted average of scores including performance, funding, market reach and experience and talent. Performance, which measures exits and startup growth, and funding, which measures early-stage funding volume and growth, weighed the most heavily in Startup Genome’s methodology.

On a scale from 1-10, Wilmington scored a 1 in performance, 4 in funding and market reach and 1 in talent and experience.

When it comes to the funding category, Shreesh Dubey, a business analyst Startup Genome, said Wilmington has over 60 early-stage fundings in the time period of 2017 to the first half of 2019.

Recent news from Wilmington companies have put the region on the map, those involved in the Wilmington startup ecosystem said.

Jim Roberts, founder of Network for Entrepreneurs in Wilmington and Wilmington Angels for Local Entrepreneurs, said the amount of capital raised by nCino, Apiture, Untappd and EasyVote Solutions helped Wilmington in the ranking.

CANO

“Think about Untappd going from a father-and-son team in 2013 to employing 125 people with a downtown headquarters. I believe they had over 80 individual angel investors and angel groups involved,” he said. “The numbers of people that Live Oak Bank, nCino and Apiture employ who are UNCW graduates is very impressive.”

Next Glass, the parent company of Untappd, announced in April that it had received an undisclosed investment from Boston-based equity firm Providence Strategic Growth that officials said will accelerate the company’s growth.

In 2019, nCino, a Wilmington banking software company, raised $80 million, for total funding of about $205 million since 2014.

Also, earlier this month, nCino announced it’s IPO plans.

Apiture, a company whose platforms support financial institutions’ digital banking services, raised $20 million this month to be used to support innovation.

Heather McWhorter, regional director of the University of North Carolina Wilmington SBTDC, said some notable companies in the region have been growing and receiving investment.

When it comes to funding, Roberts said the region has made progress in funding locally considering WALE investors have invested over $1 million since 2015, and IMAF (Inception Micro Angel Fund) Cape Fear has invested locally as well.

“We have opened the coastal corridor for investors from the Raleigh/Durham market,” Roberts said. “NEW has hosted over 60 investors from Raleigh and Durham since 2015. And some of those investors have written actual checks like IMAF RTP into Untappd and National Speed and Cofounders Capital into EasyVote Solutions.”

While funding has increased in the region, more is needed, McWhorter said.

“Entrepreneurs need more early-stage funding, and this will pay off in the long run with scalable companies and jobs,” McWhorter said.

For the Wilmington region to continue to grow its startup ecosystem, a focused approach on building and fostering investment and seed opportunities for businesses at different stages of development is needed, she said.

“I would also like to see even

more industry-academia partnerships between UNC Wilmington and regional businesses, as well as even more research activity that is turned into commercial businesses,” McWhorter said. “Both will contribute to the success of our region, as universities are hubs for innovation and entrepreneurship.”

Roberts said the region must continue to encourage more local potential investors to get involved.

“Mentors have to get more hands-on and involved to open doors for young, first-time entrepreneurs. We have had wealthy successful people retiring to Wilmington since I-40 opened in 1989,” he said.

“How can we get these retired executives to open doors for local entrepreneurs in bigger cities like Boston, New York so our entrepreneurs can sell their products in bigger markets and find additional investors?”

“This is required for our local companies to scale, hire and pay competitive wages to attract tech talent,” he added.

Investment boosts Genesis Block’s project Wilmington-based startup incubator tekMountain is investing $50,000 as part of a partnership with Genesis Block, a coworking and collaboration initiative that is developing a technology platform to promote Black entrepreneurs and small businesses.

According to a news release, the new platform will help identify Black-owned businesses regionally, provide collaborative resources and tools for entrepreneurs and provide index information for companies and organizations that want to collaborate with Black-owned businesses.

“The GDP purchasing power of Blacks in the United States is estimated at over 1.25 trillion dollars, but only 2% ($2.4 billion) is spent with Black businesses,” said Genesis Block co-founder Girard Newkirk in the release. “Genesis Block’s strategy is to focus on closing this gap through economic development, community collaboration and technology.”

Genesis Block is creating a mobile app to help individuals find local Black-owned businesses, and tekMountain’s investment will help Genesis Block build, launch and maintain the app.

-Cece Nunn

INFO J U N K I E Amy Grant Owner, Art in Bloom Gallery Grant has enjoyed interactive, 360-degree video tours of art galleries and museums during the COVID-19 pandemic, including Art in Bloom’s virtual tours at aibgallery.com, created by Steve Smith of Angle Pros of Wilmington.

She enjoys reading the Washington Post, New York Times as well as news and programming on WHQR, such as Around Town with Rhonda Bellamy.

“I enjoy reading local articles about the arts by John Staton in the StarNews and by Shea Carver and Gwenyfar Rohler in encore magazine,” Grant said.

Favorite websites include Art in Bloom’s “Studio Views” series as well as The Black on Black Project website.

“I regularly check the ‘Studio Views’ section to consider different perspectives and to cope with the isolation and mental fog of sheltering in place,” Grant said.

A favorite podcast is The Daily Show with Trevor Noah: Ears Edition and a favorite YouTube channel is Randy Rainbow Song Parodies.

Favorite movies include the Art in Bloom Gallery-produced short film “Elizabeth Darrow: Believing in the Process” as well as the documentary "Wilmington on Fire.”

“It is such a strange thing that truth is hidden in plain sight, and these documentaries have the potential to raise awareness and consciousness to contribute to real change,” she said.

Favorite apps are Zoom and GoToMeeting.

Find Grant at on Instagram @ artinbloomgallery and Facebook @ GalleryofArtInBloom

Greater Wilmington Business Journal

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July 17 - August 6, 2020

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IN THE NEWS

Coworking spaces adapt to virus shifts

BY CECE NUNN AND CHRISTINA HALEY O’NEAL

T

he COVID-19 pandemic has left offices empty as people work remotely, but operations and plans progress for some coworking spaces in the Wilmington area.

In downtown Wilmington, the creation of 22,000 square feet of coworking space continues in the historic Gaylord Building at 226 N. Front St. East West Partners, the developer of nearby mixed-use project River Place, announced plans in February for the Gaylord Building’s coworking endeavor, a partnership with Texas-based coworking firm Common Desk.

“We’re aiming for an early 2021 opening,” said Megan Kaye Marti, Common Desk’s head of marketing, in a recent email.

The construction hasn’t experienced much of a delay; December 2020 was the original target date for moving tenants in, said Lucien Ellison of East West Partners. Leasing outreach is expected to begin by

around September or October.

Ellison said that because Common Desk has existing coworking spaces in other cities, there’s an opportunity to identify what mitigation factors, building features and/or safety protocols work best to enhance sanitation, satisfy workers and ease the overall comfort and confidence in a shared working environment for the Gaylord Building.

“As a result, there is an opportunity to implement best practices here, based on what has worked elsewhere, as relates to the pandemic,” Ellison said in an email.

The University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship has remained open for startup tenants, with some limitations on activities, occupancy levels and services.

“Of course, tenants were encouraged to work from home and many have. A few returned in June, and we expect more will be returning over the coming weeks and months,” said Laura Brogdon-Primavera, manager of programs and operations for the

CIE. The facility’s staff members plan to return Aug. 1, with social distancing signs, protective screens, hand-sanitizing stations and masks for visitors in place. That’s also when the CIE is launching a $70 a month virtual tenancy option.

Wilmington coworking space and startup incubator tekMountain, 1844 Sir Tyler Drive, recently sent out a notice to members about transitioning to a virtual setting. Citing the recent surge in COVID-19 cases, tekMountain officials said the space will remain closed for the foreseeable future.

But the firm is partnering with Genesis Block, a coworking and collaboration space being developed in downtown Wilmington.

Genesis Block is still positioning to have a late summer or early fall opening, said Tracey Newkirk, who along with her husband, Girard, founded Genesis Block.

The Newkirks have leased the second floor of 5 S. Water St. for Genesis Block. The group involved

in Genesis Block is pushing its online content and platform on top of working on launching its coworking space, Tracey Newkirk said.

“Our model is more like an entrepreneur academy and collaboration space, so a lot of our platform is going to be providing online ... resources for entrepreneurial development and growth and to develop small businesses,” Girard Newkirk said.

Another coworking space, Coworx at 1608 Queen St. in Wilmington’s Cargo District, is open now to current members and is allowing new member rentals for closed-door private office space, said Ashley Arnold, Coworx’s community manager.

“We are also accepting day passes by appointment only. We have and will continue to follow all CDC guidelines by keeping social distance, using face masks when that is not an option and promoting frequent hand washing,” Arnold said. “Capacity has taken a dive for sure and while we would love to increase membership, keeping our community safe and healthy is the biggest priority.”

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HOSPITALITY

Sparking new life for city’s downtown

A

PHOTO C/O WDI

Room for more: Diners in downtown Wilmington use the extra room provided to restaurants by street closures.

BY LAURA MOORE

mid phase two following the COVID-19 shutdown, downtown Wilmington seems to be alive and well when it comes to outdoor dining, thanks to the Downtown Business Alliance initiative, Downtown Alive.

From Thursday through Sunday, pedestrians rule some city blocks that shut down to traffic as businesses take to the streets to expand occupancy and achieve compliance.

“It’s been even better than we anticipated,” said Terry Espy, president of the Downtown Business Alliance.

Even businesses beyond the pedestrian-only areas have noticed an uptick during the street closure times.

“Our goal has been to have enough foot traffic, faithfully, with social distancing and face masks a priority, so that employees are walking away from their unemployment checks. And that has been

our yard stick, our barometer, in which to measure the success of it.

And they are,” Espy said.

Organizers are still doing a little “tweaking” as they move forward, Espy admits, as it is still a work in progress, but the past few weekends have shown positive results.

“We were hoping numbers would be able to increase over that 50% capacity, but we are going way beyond that with some businesses beating numbers that they did at 100% capacity pre-COVID,” Espy said.

“Hostesses and staff are reaching out and saying to customers, ‘We really appreciate your support, and because of people like you, we are not just getting by, we are thriving,’” Espy added.

Many of the pedestrians are visitors from out of town who say the open-air business atmosphere adds to the character and charm of Wilmington, according to Espy.

Many of them have encouraged

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July 17 - August 6, 2020

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SPECIAL FOCUS: TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

HOSPITALITY

the businesses to make it permanent, but DBA is not “aggressively” pursuing that at present.

“What we have is business owners coming together who said, ‘We need help,’ and that’s what the DBA does.

And the city appreciated that the business owners thought it through and came up with a plan,” Espy said.

Business owners said they appreciate the chance to open while expanding their occupancy to serve more customers safely attempting to recoup some of what was lost during the shutdown.

“It has been great. It gives us the opportunity to safely expand seating,” said John Bradley, owner of the Front Street restaurant Rebellion NC. “It allows us to keep running and be on the good side of paying the bills.”

Bradley said expanding outdoors on a regular basis could be “absolutely marvelous for the restaurants once all this COVID is over, and it could be a part of the downtown lifestyle.”

The outdoor expansion is an exciting possibility for the future, but Bradley admitted, he is hesitant to invest too much in equipment if

there is any uncertainty whether this will become a permanent downtown fixture.

“In order to be viable at home, this will take time for people to learn about it and want to do this, but if this is only a one-shot deal, you can only do so much because I don’t want to be sitting on all this equipment that I can’t use,” Bradley said.

Not all city leaders are convinced that Downtown Alive should be an enduring takeaway from the pandemic recovery.

“It was really done as a temporary measure to help provide an outdoor space for those with limited occupancy inside,” said Ed Wolverton, president and CEO of Wilmington Downtown Inc. “It’s been a massive effort on behalf of many people, including those at the state level.”

Wolverton also emphasized that the measure only applies to a small area of downtown Wilmington, but it does assist all the businesses throughout the historic district.

“We need to use public space in a more creative way without closing streets, and that is a phase we are working on right now,” Wolverton said. “We are thinking of converting

parking spaces into usable spaces for businesses, in what they call a ‘parklet.’”

The idea stems from the successful event that WDI has sponsored for the past seven years as part of international Park(ING) Day, when organizations are encouraged to reimagine parking space use beyond parked cars.

“We can build on that existing work and convert parking spaces into essentially anything in a safe and visually interesting way,” Wolverton said. “It is very important to innovate and look at spaces in creative ways.”

Downtown business owners Mike and Allie Bryand, who own The Bryand Gallery, have been creative in their participation in Downtown Alive by using a tent to invite their 50 local artists to sell their products in front of their space at 20 S. Front St. As a “non-COVID event,” according to Bryand, it would become more developed and establish itself with more businesses taking part.

“Outdoors, with the music coming from the bars and restaurants, it’s just fun and adds some excitement,”

Bryand said. “It’s been really good.

It is not a minus for anyone, let’s put it that way.”

With many businesses expressing a desire to keep the initiative permanently, Mayor Bill Saffo said he is willing to consider it.

“It has gotten off to a good start to help small business owners hit hard by COVID-19,” Saffo said.

The Downtown Alive initiative fits in well with the existing Wilmington Vision 2020 plan, which has sought to add capacity to sidewalks along Front Street and enabled the city to “pivot due to the situation where it is impossible to do 100% inside capacity,” Saffo said.

“I am not a fan of closing streets permanently, but from time to time, on certain nights of the week or month. But it needs to be done strategically, and I’d be willing to take a look at it,” the mayor said.

For right now, Saffo said, “It’s been a roaring success, and it was the right thing to do.”

Downtown Alive runs Thursday and Friday evenings from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Sept. 7.

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SPECIAL FOCUS: TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

REAL ESTATE

Homebuilders navigate coronavirus H

BY CECE NUNN omebuilding continues in the Wilmington area at a rapid pace, having been able to work through the coronavirus pandemic by being deemed an essential industry from the beginning, a local industry leader said this month.

Wilmington and unincorporated New Hanover County permit numbers increased in April and slightly rose again in June for new residential construction. A lot of recent building activity in the city can be attributed to homes on the rise in Riverlights, said Cameron Moore, executive officer of the Wilmington-Cape Fear Home Builders Association.

Riverlights, a 1,400-acre master planned community off River Road in Wilmington that includes residential sites, commercial space and access to the Cape Fear River, is expected to include more than 2,200 homes at full build-out.

PHOTO BY CECE NUNN

Building momentum: The Riverlights community off River Road, which includes Del Webb at Riverlights, has been bustling with building activity.

Del Webb Wilmington, the builder for the parts of Riverlights set aside for buyers ages 55 and older, has released a new residential phase featuring homesites surrounded by woodlands and wetlands, along with special homebuyer incentives in July.

The first release includes 16 home-

sites in the new enclave, according to a news release. Ten home designs, beginning at $254,990 and ranging from two to five bedrooms and two to four bathrooms, are on offer in the gated community. Del Webb Wilmington is currently home to more than 400 residents.

“With extremely low levels of homes on the market and historically low interest rates, the demand for new homes continues to be strong,” said Jason Willard, Del Webb Wilmington’s general sales manager, in a recent email.

Another Riverlights builder, PBC Design + Build, has had similar experiences with some buyers.

“High-net-worth clients and retirees haven’t missed a beat,” said Dave Spetrino, founder of PBC Design + Build. “If anything, they are more interested in ‘living now’ than delaying their long-term plans or life goals with regard to location and lifestyle.

“Even with travel restrictions and social distancing, we continue to field inquiries from out-of-market buyers planning to relocate to the region. It’s taking a little longer to move them through the process, but in many cases our clients are glad to have the ability to focus – or distract

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July 17 - August 6, 2020

Page 9

SPECIAL FOCUS: TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

REAL ESTATE

PERMIT NUMBERS RESIDENTIAL BUILDING PERMIT NUMBERS FOR SINGLE-FAMILY HOMES AND TOWNHOMES IN WILMINGTON AND UNINCORPORATED NEW HANOVER COUNTY

2019

200

$60M $50M

2020

150

$40M 100

$30M $20M

50

$10M 0

3/19 3/20 4/19 4/20 5/19 5/20 6/19 6/20

0

3/19 3/20 4/19 4/20 5/19 5/20 6/19 6/20

Source: New Hanover County

– themselves from everything else that is going on around them.”

But homebuilding these days is not without its challenges.

“Our co-workers, vendors and subcontractors have been doing their best to remain productive while complying with the established guidelines.

With that said, it’s still very much a ‘day-by-day’ process with schedule coordination, delivery delays – in

addition to the normal challenges associated with the industry,” Spetrino said in an email.

He said his company’s finished inventory was down in June from where it was last year.

“We currently have one home for sale (townhome, Riverlights, $500K) vs. seven homes in the region June 2019,” Spetrino said.

One reason permit numbers were

up in some parts of the area was because of the last economic downturn, the Great Recession.

So builders might not have necessarily been ready to build at the outset of restrictions aimed at slowing the pandemic, Moore said, “but they wanted to go ahead and get everything they needed to have in place … Talking with our members and the builders, vendors and suppliers, everyone learned a lot through the recession, and what they learned was having a pipeline of work was very, very key.”

Another change for the WCFHBA this year has been a fully digital open house tour, the Showcase of New Homes.

The showcase allowed potential homebuyers to digitally view a variety of homes and builders throughout Pender, New Hanover and Brunswick counties that were supposed to be showcased in this year’s Parade of Homes.

Because of scheduling challenges presented by the novel coronavirus, the association worked with one of its member firms, Wilmington Design Co., to build and automate a

digital platform for the showcase.

“The spring buying season is traditionally, year after year, one of the busiest times in real estate,” said Craig Smith, 2020 WCFHBA president, in a news release in May. “However, this year, our industry has faced a lot of challenges brought on by the coronavirus in regard to in-person showings. This digital platform provides us the necessary means to capture much of the real estate market momentum that still very much exists right now.”

The homes featured include single-family and townhouses as well as custom homes with prices from the $200,000s to more than $1.6 million.

Since the showcase started in May, it has had more than 80,000 digital impressions and allowed for a targeted approach, Moore said.

“We know where the buyers are largely coming from. And we’ve placed that showcase, the Showcase of New Homes, essentially at those buyers’ fingertips,” Moore said.

“The digital perspective has really allowed us to branch out and reach the customer base where a lot of our builders are marketing to.”

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| ACHIEVERS | Send information about company hires, promotions or awards to editor@wilmingtonbiz.com

WBD board announces first female chair SABRINA SELLS, market president and senior vice president of North State Bank, was named the first female chair of the Wilmington Business Development Board of Directors, according to a news release.

Sells is chair for the 2020-21 fiscal Sells year. Other executive board members this fiscal year are: Celanese third-party services manager FRED SAMZ as vice chair; Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage President and owner TIM MILAM as treasurer; and WBD CEO SCOTT SATTERFIELD as the board secretary.

Mojotone CEO MICHAEL MCWHORTER and CastleBranch CFO LAUREN HENDERSON will each serve a second three-year term on the board.

Filling two vacant positions will be WILMA DANIELS, founder and CEO of Daniels Development LLC, and JEFF ROOKS, of Rooks Farm Service in Burgaw. The two will serve threeyear terms on the board.

Chestnut joins UNCW SBTDC as counselor JAMES CHESTNUT has joined the Small Business Technology and Development Center at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Chestnut is the UNCW SBTDC Procurement Technical Assistance Chestnut Center (PTAC) counselor. In his role, he will provide provides free and confidential assistance to small businesses to help them sell products and services to local, state and federal governments.

Chestnut served for 21 years as a senior contracting officer with the federal government. His most recent position was the director and senior contracting officer of the Acquisitions Division for the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Chestnut has a master's degree from the University of Maryland University College.

He is a retired commissioned officer (major) with 20 years of service with the N.C. Army National Guard in both an active and reserve capacity.

Manrique-Kiniry joins Dosher in Southport Dosher Medical-Women's Health has welcomed MARITZA MANRIQUE-KINIRY to the practice in Southport.

Manrique-Kiniry, a board-certified gynecologist, will work at Dosher’s women’s health practice alongside Brad Hilaman, CEO and chief Manrique-Kiniry medical officer at Dosher Memorial Hospital, as he plans to retire from gynecology in the coming months.

Before joining Dosher, Manrique-Kiniry worked as a women’s health physician at MUSC Health, in Lancaster, South Carolina, and at Mercy Hospital in Carthage, Missouri.

Manrique-Kiniry graduated from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and completed her residency at St. Luke’s Hospital in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Human Capital Solutions expands corporate team Wilmington-headquartered Human Capital Solutions Inc. has announced two promotions and a new hire.

EVAN RHODES has been promoted to vice president of operations and technology, and LAUREN MCGHEE has been promoted to vice president of client relationships and recruiting.

Rhodes is responsible for leading the team conducting extensive research across the health care, life sciences, industrial and technology sectors.

McGhee serves as a liaison between senior business development personnel and high-value targets, as well as supports the executive and career coaches.

The firm has also added SHEILA EVANS to the team as the new executive relationship manager for the CEO. In her new role with the firm, she is charged with assisting the CEO with communications. She brings to Human Captial Solutions a wide range of experience of helping others communicate effectively, officials said.

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Page 11

PRODUCED BY

Meet this year’s CEA winners W ho would you invest $100,000 in? That’s one of the pieces of advice we give our Coastal Entrepreneur Award judges each year when they’re faced with the task of making their picks. Who shows high-growth potential?

Who is making a name for themselves and cutting through the noise?

Who, out of these stacks and stacks of nominations, do you see as entrepreneurial?

This year in particular the judges considered the unprecedented conditions all businesses are operating under.

The coronavirus pandemic has made such an impact that we added an 11th CEA category this year – COVID Innovation.

(Spoiler alert: This year’s winner is a gin distillery that pivoted to hand sanitizing production when the stuff became as valuable and scarce as toilet paper. And if that’s not the most 2020 sentence I’ve ever written, I don’t know what is.)

Our panel of outside judges met (via Zoom) to deliberate and pick the 11 category winners in this year’s CEA process.

The nominations, submitted to the Greater Wilmington Business Journal from company employees, directors, clients and in some cases just outside admirers, represent a cross-section of the region’s business community.

The awards are a joint effort between the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) and the Business Journal to identify and recognize fast-growing organizations and businesses with the potential to make a significant impact on the region.

You can read more about the companies that rose to the top of their categories this year on the following pages.

One of them will be named the 2020 Coastal Entrepreneur of the Year. In years past we’d gather together for an awards ceremony at UNCW’s Burney Center to name that overall winner, but like in many areas, this is the year of adapting.

So, keep an eye out on our website (WilmingtonBiz.com) and social media channels for the announcement of this year’s overall winner.

One thing that hasn’t changed is the Stanley Cup of Southeastern North Carolina entrepreneurship – the CEA surfboard.

This year’s Coastal Entrepreneur of the Year adopts the wooden surfboard – custom made by local nonprofit and former category winner Kids Making It – to proudly display at its office (or home office) for the next year and passed down from a long line of successful companies that also have earned the title.

So jump in, find out this year’s category winners and send them a note of congrats.

If ever there was a year to celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit, 2020 is it.

Janowski

Vicky Janowski, editor Greater Wilmington Business Journal vjanowski@ WilmingtonBiz. com (910) 343-8600, ext. 208 On Twitter: @ vickyjanowski

JUDGING THE APPLICANTS The Coastal Entrepreneur Awards (CEA) is run by the Greater Wilmington Business Journal and the UNCW Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

CEA’s goal is to shine a spotlight on up-and-coming companies, helping them make connections in the community as well as showcase the region’s entrepreneurial activity.

The competition involves two rounds of judging in which the applicants are judged on two criteria: Is the organization entrepreneurial? Of those that are entrepreneurial, which organization is most likely to be financially successful? For nonprofits, the standard is which is likely to have the most impact.

First, all the applications are evaluated by representatives of area business groups and the competition’s sponsors to determine the category winners. During the second round of evaluations with more detailed information, the judges select the Coastal Entrepreneur of the Year.

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SUPPORTER SPONSORS

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July 17 - August 6, 2020

Greater Wilmington Business Journal

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Tapping synthetic CBD for pain relief

BY JENNY CALLISON arly-stage venture Isosceles Pharmaceuticals is working on developing non-opioid pain relief alternatives to opium-derived drugs such as Oxycodone. Working with a group of medical doctors and pharmaceutical Ph.D.s, the young company wants to formulate products that will be effective in treating post-operative acute pain safely, using synthetic cannabidiol manufactured under an FDA drug master file.

Patients would be administered the drug intravenously or through a skin patch.

“Our cannabidiol, or CBD, is created in a laboratory under lab conditions, so it’s synthetic and not hemp derived,” said founder and President Brett Lanier, a medicinal chemist with more than a decade of experience in the pharmaceutical industry.

“As a comparison, aspirin originally came from the bark of willow trees, but we no longer grow willow trees to make aspirin; we synthesize it.

There are too many impurities in an agricultural product; the FDA would not approve it.”

“Isosceles has a team of medical doctors and pharmaceutical Ph.D.s

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BIOTECH | ISOSCELES PHARMACEUTICALS INC. BRETT LANIER, PRESIDENT | YEAR FOUNDED: 2019 | EMPLOYEES: 7 PHOTO BY TERAH WILSON

with a proven track record of drug development and FDA approval for pain products and transdermal pain patches,” the company’s nomination form stated. “They have a combined 130 years of pharmaceutical experience and multiple FDA drug approvals. Isosceles is leveraging that experience to develop a completely new type of pain product through the clinical trial process.”

There is a large market for non-opioid drugs that address acute,

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post-operative pain, Lanier said.

If the venture is successful, its products would aim to reduce the amount of opioids prescribed after surgery, and, Lanier noted, could reduce pediatric exposure to opioids.

He believes that CBD’s strong endorsement from the FDA means that Isosceles’ products will be approved for use with children as well as adults.

“Research shows that children initially got exposed to opioids through

dental surgery, such as extraction of wisdom teeth,” he said.

Isosceles Pharmaceuticals has received some early-stage funding, according to Lanier. In May, the company was the winner of the inaugural NC BIONEER Venture Challenge, a competition aimed at enhancing life sciences and biotechnology business ventures in the region.

Its award consisted of a $20,000 investment and a one-year tenancy at the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

“Isosceles Pharmaceuticals is fortunate to have the crucial mix of a great idea that meets an existing market need, a strong team headed by an exceptional entrepreneurial leader, an impressive rollout and growth plan and attractiveness for raising equity capital,” said Randall Johnson, executive director of the N.C. Biotechnology Center Southeastern Office in Wilmington. “Brett Lanier possesses a flexible, go-getter attitude and unceasing drive that bode well for the success of the venture and were on full display when he recently participated in and won the NC BIONEER Venture Challenge.”

Greater Wilmington Business Journal

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July 17 - August 6, 2020

Page 13

Nonprofit sees drive in demand

BY CHRISTINA HALEY O’NEAL

N

ourishNC aims to raise about $1.5 million to renovate and outfit its future office and warehouse space in Wilmington.

The award-winning local nonprofit organization purchased the building and the 2 acres it sits on off Market Street late last year for $700,000, NourishNC Executive Director Steve McCrossan said.

Although the organization waited until mid-July to launch its capital campaign for the project, the building has already been put to good use.

It’s been the setting for NourishNC’s no-contact drive-thru, serving children and families with healthy food during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused school closures.

Just days after New Hanover County Schools closed in March, NourishNC opened the location for the drive-thru, he said.

The nonprofit agency, which has a mission to provide nutritious food to hungry and food-insecure children in New Hanover County, has seen an increase in the number of children it serves because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

NONPROFIT | NOURISHNC | STEVE McCROSSAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR YEAR FOUNDED: 2008 | EMPLOYEES: 3 full time, 1 part time PHOTO BY MEGAN DEITZ

“Our numbers have been soaring.

Our backpack programs have seen an easy 40% increase in children.

But we’re also sending food out with partners,” McCrossan said. “For us, one of our key values is the ability to adapt quickly and be limber.”

McCrossan joined the nonprofit organization as executive director five years ago.

NourishNC began in 2008 when some concerned parents heard that children at Carolina Beach Elementary School were struggling to eat over

the weekends and over long school breaks, when school lunch wasn’t available, he said.

Weekend food bags started being packed for the children, an effort that became NourishNC’s backpack program, he said.

From that one school and 15 kids, NourishNC has grown into multiple programs.

That backpack program has built up to about 12,000 students prepandemic and today, due to the pandemic impact on school closures,

has grown to about 17,000 children, McCrossan said.

NourishNC launched the Farmers MarKID, a program in which the organization takes fresh food to highneed neighborhoods, food deserts, parks and playgrounds, and lets children shop for their own fresh food.

The Food Farmacy program reaches children inside pediatric offices, and Toddler Tummies delivers food directly to homes with 1- to 4-year-old children in need.

Now, the organization is in planning mode for the uncertain future needs of children in the county.

“We have been planning for weeks for a resurgence of COVID-19 in the fall and a couple of hurricanes,” McCrossan said. “As much as I hate to put those two words together, it’s our responsibility to be ready for that possibility.”

That means purchasing and stockpiling food, as well as splitting food between multiple locations in the event of a lost building, to be ready for children and families.

“I think the beautiful thing about us being a small agency is we can turn the ship very quickly,” McCrossan said.

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July 17 - August 6, 2020

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Growing firm makes electronic connections

BY KYLE HANLIN o, you want a 70-inch TV streaming the latest content with theater-quality sound, music should be able to play in every room and the lights turn on when you disarm your security system and off when you leave the house. And everything should work by speaking into the air.

And NO WIRES. No one wants to see wires.

Weekend warrior, in the interest of domestic tranquility, please step aside. Let’s let the pros handle this.

Enter Chris Hudson and his team at Connected Home Inc., specialists in home automation equipment and installation.

“I’ve always been a tinkerer,” said Hudson. “When I was a kid, I liked to take things apart and put them back together, and I’ve always liked sound. I’m a musician, so I like the audio side of things.

“I went to UNCW, so when I moved here for college, I got a job working at Circuit City. I started out in the movie section but quickly moved over to the home audio section. I spent two years there and then went to work for a company doing custom installs. I worked there for

S

INTERNET-RELATED | CONNECTED HOME INC. CHRIS HUDSON, OWNER & PRESIDENT | YEAR FOUNDED: 2010 | EMPLOYEES: 10 PHOTO BY MICHAEL CLINE SPENCER

five years and then decided to do it on my own.”

After two years with sole proprietorship, Hudson incorporated in December 2010, when the workload and client base demanded that he hire an employee. Soon followed a storefront at Leland’s Village Shoppes at Waterford, as well as a 5,000-square-foot warehouse for the company’s inventory and offices.

The business has been growing steadily in the past decade and now

boasts 10 employees, including five CEDIA-certified technicians. CEDIA (pronounced SEE-dee-yah) is the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association that sets the standard for professionalism in the industry.

“CEDIA is the closest thing we have to a governing body, and they certify that people do things the right way,” Hudson said. “So I decided to make sure all of our techs are CEDIA certified. When we hire them,

we put them through the training courses so they can take the exams and pass the courses. Then we base our technician levels off of the CEDIA certifications as they move up the ranks. They have to have certain certifications to move up.”

Hudson works with a wide range of clients, both commercial and residential, but finds much of his client base in new-build custom homes.

“When it comes to quality around the house, I lean toward as simple as possible,” Hudson said. “Still have good-quality equipment and good-quality sound, but ease of operation has to be forefront. Most of our customers are retirees moving down here, so most are of that age that they just want it as simple as it can be.”

And while many businesses have been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic and had to lay off employees, the opposite has been true for Connected Home Inc. Hudson is looking for new employees.

“We’ve actually been slammed,” Hudson said. “I guess everybody’s stuck at home now, so everybody’s looking to upgrade their stuff. We’ve been pretty busy.”

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PROFESSIONAL SERVICES | COASTAL PET HOSPICE & HOME EUTHANASIA MOBILE PRACTICE

JENNIFER ANDERSON & MEGHAN TAYLOE, CO-FOUNDERS YEAR FOUNDED: 2017| EMPLOYEES: 2

-Amol Mehendale, Class of 2020

PHOTO BY MICHAEL CLINE SPENCER

Hospice service focuses on pets

BY TERESA MCLAMB

“B

eing able to spend the last moments with your beloved animal at home is important, not just for the owner, but more importantly the pets. It avoids the natural anxiety of a hospital for the pets and allows everyone to go through a very emotional and sad experience in the most comfortable setting.”

So begins the Coastal Entrepreneur Award nomination of doctors Jennifer Anderson and Meghan Tayloe, co-founders of Coastal Pet Hospice & Home Euthanasia Mobile Practice.

“We’ve both been practicing in day practice for a long time and saw the need for in-home, end-of-life care for pets,” said Tayloe of their decision to start the mobile service.

Following a two-year accreditation process, they opened the practice in 2017 while continuing to keep regular business hours at Highsmith Animal Hospital.

“These decisions require lengthy in-depth discussions with clients, something that’s often a challenge for busy veterinarians and their clients,” Tayloe continued. “It makes a huge difference to be able to provide that service in the comfort of someone’s home.”

After going through the deaths of their own elderly dogs, the doctors knew their clients must have the same questions and need for support as themselves.

“We both had to let our dogs go at home and felt like we were really lucky to be able to do that and wanted to be able to provide that service for others,” Tayloe said.

The hospice side of their business provides pain management, nutritional support, mobility and hygiene

options along with education and support for the difficult decisions that come with advanced illness and aging, according to the nomination.

“We do provide the complete hospice package for those people that need that service,” Anderson added.

“We’re supporting them through endof-life until the decision is made for humane euthanasia.”

Anderson and Tayloe work opposite schedules at their day practice, so their mobile service is available seven days a week within 60 miles of Wilmington. Often, they’ll see a client during lunch or after their fullday schedule, Anderson said.

As their business has expanded, they receive calls from people who are not their regular clients. “We may have never met them or their pet, so we spend a pretty good amount of time on the phone with them getting to know them and their pet,” Tayloe said.

“Most of the time they’ve already made the decision when they call us, and they want it done at home,” Anderson said.

With each client, they carefully explain the procedure of euthanasia, preparing the client for what is ahead.

“We take every step to ensure that the pet and the family are as comfortable as we can make them,” she said.

CHP also coordinates with four cremation services that can pick up the pet at home and deliver its ashes back to the family.

“Sometimes they just want to talk through it. They’ve talked to their veterinarian; maybe their vet has referred them to us. People want to do the right thing and know that they’re supported through that time,” Tayloe said. “They want it to be a peaceful experience for them and their pet.”

Page 15

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July 17 - August 6, 2020

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A pipeline to software growth

BY LORI WILSON hen Mark Pool was 13 years old, he and his brother decided to build a log cabin, even assembling a rainwater collection system connected to an indoor faucet.

Fast forward to his adult years, and now Pool is celebrating his 35th year in the plumbing industry. But, more than that, he celebrates being an innovator.

In 2005, after two decades of operating his company, Eastern Plumbing Co. of Wilmington Inc., Pool launched Epiphany Software Corp., the creators of QuickPlumb, a software application that creates diagrams and 3D views of new construction and renovation plumbing project plans.

“It was obvious to me that there was a need for a software production that would streamline our plumbing process,” he said.

In addition to expertise in plumbing, Pool also has a background in software programming, dating back to his high school days – an unusual, but evidently useful, pairing. With the help of software advisers, he quickly launched the first version of

W

TECHNOLOGY | EPIPHANY SOFTWARE CORP. MARK POOL, OWNER & FOUNDER| YEAR FOUNDED: 2005 | EMPLOYEES: 3 PHOTO BY MICHAEL CLINE SPENCER

QuickPlumb, all while still operating Eastern Plumbing Co., the first company to give the software a test run.

“From that, we’ve just built on and added on to it,” Pool said.

QuickPlumb also creates materials lists, pipe cut lists and financial estimates based on the project diagram.

As a seasoned industry professional, Pool is both a client and creator of the software.

“One of the biggest issues with plumbing is getting the pipe size cor-

rect for the building,” he explained.

“But now we have an automatic sizing feature.”

With QuickPlumb’s pipe-routing feature, users can “place” fixtures within their design, and the software will automatically route the pipe placement. The software also has the ability to retrieve fixture coordinates on a job site, to help position where plumbing should be placed under concrete slab constructions.

With these improved technological

insights, QuickPlumb has received 6,000-7,000 downloads, some from international customers. As usership increased, Epiphany created a free information exchange database, where customers can find additional resources from each other.

The majority of customers are plumbing contractors, but users also include engineers, plumbing inspectors, as well as technological colleges, including Cape Fear Community College, where Pool has served on the plumbing program’s advisory board for five years. “[CFCC] immediately saw the benefits of QuickPlumb in training,” Pool said. “Mike [Smith, plumbing program director] said ‘Anything that allows the students to see the piping in place is a big benefit.’ You can explain different things about what it’s going to look like, but it’s hard to visualize without the pictures.”

Pool plans to market QuickPlumb to plumbing supply houses.

“I’m going to allow them to import their product lists in the software,” he said. “So when they enlist their customers, most of whom are plumbers, their product inventory questions will already be answered.”

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July 17 - August 6, 2020

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Checking in to retain talent

BY JOHANNA CANO s someone with 15 years of experience in human resources, both as a leader and consultant, Lisa Leath realized the importance of employer and employee communication as a way to build rapport and discuss goals.

But every Human Resource Information System platform, which uses software to complete human resource tasks, that she tried out throughout her career was overcomplicated and overpriced.

“Managers want to talk to their employees to understand who they are, how they’re doing and if they enjoy working at the company, but rarely have the time to sit down and have a solid one on one,” Leath said.

To find a solution, Leath, president and owner of Leath HR Group, a Wilmington firm that provides human resources services for companies, developed a platform that helps employers better engage with employees.

WorkTok is an app that provides curated conversations, mobile and through the web, that can be used for employee check-ins.

Through the app, managers can

nine months,” she said.

The app, which Leath said was not meant to replace face-to-face conversations, launched in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Launching WorkTok during COVID-19 was a coincidence, but it has opened people’s eyes to how hard it can be to feel connected when you’re not physically around people,” she said. “Research says employees stay when they feel valued. What’s the easiest way to do that? Check-in on them regularly and ask them if they do actually feel valued.

“Anyone in business knows that, even before the lockdown, it was very difficult to find qualified, committed employees. That really emphasizes how important it is to keep the talent you have. If you want to retain your talent, you need to talk to them, individually and often,” she added.

As an emerging startup, Leath hopes to acquire funding that can help grow the company.

“We have big plans to really differentiate WorkTok from other more expensive, cumbersome employee engagement platforms over the coming year,” Leath said. “We’re looking for investors.”

A

EMERGING COMPANY| WORKTOK LISA LEATH, FOUNDER | YEAR FOUNDED: 2019 | EMPLOYEES: 2 PHOTO BY TERAH WILSON

conduct quick, scheduled two-way communications.

“This tool is unique because it’s so easy to use and quickly engage employees. Most of the employee engagement tools that are on the market are complex and expensive,” Leath said. “Administrators are required to pour weeks of time into loading big, elusive goals and objectives into the tool. … At the end of the day, the most important reason for having an employee engagement

tool is to engage your most expensive asset, your people.”

WorkTok is provided as a monthly subscription.

To develop the app, Leath partnered with Wayne Hippo of PS Solutions. They met in July 2019 to brainstorm ideas.

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Page 19

On a roll logging lab data

BY JOHANNA CANO s a core lab manager at New Hanover Regional Medical Center, Jeremy Sikorski was overwhelmed by the use of paper logs in laboratories.

The logs are used every day to track maintenance and quality control tests. And often, many laboratories got cited for missing logs and incomplete data.

Sikeroski wanted to find a better way to log lab data, so he approached Daniel Summers, a software engineer, to see if he could standardize the data and create a solution for his lab.

“It quickly became apparent that there was a real business opportunity at hand,” Summers said.

Soon after, Sikeroski and Summers partnered to start Electronic Lab Logs, a Wilmington startup with a cloud-based platform for laboratory maintenance, replacing the use of paper logs.

Electronic Lab Logs employs a software platform that notifies users of maintenance schedules and tracks tasks for laboratory equipment. Users can review and sign-off electronic checks and generate custom reports, among other tasks.

While the company started soft-

A

HEALTH CARE | ELECTRONIC LAB LOGS | DANIEL SUMMERS, CEO & FOUNDING PARTNER YEAR FOUNDED: 2018 | EMPLOYEES: 4 PARTNERS, 7 CONTRACT EMPLOYEES PHOTO BY TERAH WILSON

ware development in 2017, it has already caught the attention of the local and state startup ecosystem.

In May, Electronic Lab Logs was one of the recipients of a grant through the NC IDEA SEED program. The company was awarded $50,000 which Summers said the company would use to grow in adjacent markets.

Electronic Lab Logs was one of six companies in the state chosen after

a three-month selection process that collected 142 applications.

Also in May, the startup received the third-place award in the inaugural NC BIONEER Venture Challenge, aimed at boosting regional life science innovation, commercialization, entrepreneurs and companies.

“I entered for a couple reasons.

I wanted help refining our business processes and fundraising goals, and I also wanted to expand my network

and take advantage of the resources and mentors they provided,” Summers said. “Both exceeded my expectations.”

Summers said the support they have received from the Wilmington community has been amazing.

“I wanted to specifically mention UNCW’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. It’s a shame it’s taken me this long to get connected with such a great organization. In fact, both of the grants we won came directly from events they sponsored, so I’m certainly very grateful for the work they’re doing to connect our community, especially through our recent challenging times.”

The co-founders hope to grow the company and expand its product roadmap to include software that will service radiology, pharmacy and other adjacent markets, Summers said.

“We believe there’s no reason any paper logs should be used for tracking compliance,” he said. “We’re working with hospital and private labs now to replace all their logs, but we also will be offering future versions of our product that will be priced competitively enough to even attract the physician’s offices and smaller facilities as well.”

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Distilling a COVID-19 necessity

BY JESSICA MAURER ust a few months in to operating their distillery in downtown Wilmington, End of Days Distillery founders Shane and Beth Faulkner found themselves producing an unexpected product: hand sanitizer.

The rapid spread of the coronavirus had people around the world scrambling to stock up on cleaning supplies, soap and sanitizer, and before long it was a commodity no longer easily found in stores or online.

“We realized that we had the resources to make it ourselves,” Shane Faulkner said. “So why not? But in a million years I never thought I’d be making sanitizer in a distillery.”

Production of the sanitizer began in March, and by mid-April, the company had already made the decision that it was here to stay. It’s now a part of the permanent product lineup.

End of Days received requests from retailers both locally and across the country wishing to carry the product in their stores. The distillery responded with eight clever new labels, each with a bit of humor and wit, designed for the retail market.

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COVID INNOVATION | END OF DAYS DISTILLERY BETH & SHANE FAULKNER, CO-FOUNDERS| YEAR FOUNDED: 2020 | EMPLOYEES: 10 PHOTO BY MEGAN DEITZ

End of Days’ sanitizer contains vodka at 70% ABV (vodka produced for consumption is 40% ABV), with the addition of tea tree oil, an essential oil with antibacterial properties.

It’s available in 4-ounce spray bottles, and half-gallon, gallon and two-anda-half-gallon bottles. The distillery also recently began distribution of wall-mount stations.

“The wall mounts are something that have really been a great resource for local businesses as they have

reopened in phase two,” co-founder Beth Faulkner said.

The distillery has donated thousands of bottles of sanitizer locally and to rural communities that have had trouble accessing it.

“While sanitizer is more readily available now than it was at the start of the pandemic, it’s likely that we could face another shortage in the future,” Beth Faulkner said. “So we’ve made a personal investment in making sure that we’re well stocked

with the materials needed to quickly ramp up production and distribution to the community.”

While opening their Castle Street tasting room just weeks before a global pandemic certainly was not ideal, Shane Faulkner said he is glad to have found a way to make a positive contribution, and is proud to have been able to remain fully staffed. While they were forced to close the tasting room in mid-March, End of Days kept its bartenders working on sanitizer production, bottling, labeling and shipping. They also used the time to expand the bar and construct a rickhouse in the production area of distillery that will house about 140 barrels of aging spirits.

Throughout the pandemic customer, have been able to order spirits and to-go cocktail kits as well as hand sanitizer from the distillery’s website for curbside pickup. After all, sanitizer is not the only essential item End of Days produces.

“We feel privileged to have been able to provide an essential need to our local community and far beyond during this unprecedented time,” Beth Faulkner said.

Lighting the way to film success

BY CECE NUNN big break in the journey of Lighthouse Films came when the owners went to summer camp. Actually, several summer camps.

The film production company, headquartered in downtown Wilmington, is owned by Brad Walker, a director and cinematographer, and Andrea Walker, who has a background in education.

These days, their camp work is only 15% of their business, which includes films, commercials and stock footage.

Andrea Walker had worked as a counselor at a summer camp in Maine while she was in college, and as a result of that connection, the Walkers ended up creating a promotional video in 1997 that told the camp’s story.

That led to producing a video for another camp and then another, Brad Walker said.

“And so, pretty soon, we were booked three years in advance,” he said.

The couple moved to Wilmington in 2001 and has grown Lighthouse Films to 10 employees. They’ve worked on commercials for J.P.

A

FILM | LIGHTHOUSE FILMS ANDREA & BRAD WALKER, OWNERS | YEAR FOUNDED: 2001 | EMPLOYEES: 10 PHOTO BY MEGAN DEITZ

Morgan, among other clients, found success selling stock footage online through Getty Images and also rented equipment out to other productions.

Lighthouse Films moved to 926 N. Fourth St. in the Brooklyn Arts District last summer.

“For a long time, we didn’t really have a presence in Wilmington. A lot of our clients were not in the city,” Brad Walker said. “And so now, a lot of our clients are in this city, and we felt like it would serve the community better to be downtown.”

Another step in the company’s

journey included purchasing an ARRI ALEXA digital camera in 2011, when the camera was limited in availability to rental houses. Renting the new camera out, along with the equipment rental business they had already built, boosted their firm’s profits.

“It was the first digital camera that basically kind of took over film,” Brad Walker said, “and so it was very expensive.”

That expense ended up paying off.

“It literally put us on the map as a rental house in Wilmington,” Brad

Walker said.

Another strategic move was building a relationship with Getty Images, a stock footage and photo site. In 1998, the Walkers started producing content for Corbis Images, whose images eventually went to Getty to manage, and they signed with Getty in 2016.

Getty Images is a company focus now.

“It’s really hard to create your own commercial production right now. Crew sizes need to be 10 or less, people are still social distancing, different states have different rules,” Andrea Walker said. “So people are producing their commercials by going onto places like Getty Images and finding stock footage.

“We actually think this is a trend that’s going to stay around for a while,” she said. Because they see that it’s budget-friendly and easy.”

The Walkers said their employees are also focusing on the company’s Getty Images work and developing new skills, efforts that the Walkers support.

“Lighthouse’s success is absolutely not because of myself or Andrea,” Brad Walker said. “It’s because of the team that we built.”

Greater Wilmington Business Journal

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Firm teas up in Wilmington

BY CHRISTINA HALEY O’NEAL

W

hen Tama Tea started about five years ago, the firm’s three co-founders didn’t foresee getting into the mass tea-brewing business.

Tama Tea started as a cafe at 1127 Military Cutoff Road in Wilmington, founded by Rocco Quaranto and Wells Struble – two former local university track teammates – and also Struble’s wife, Kelly.

“We were in the cafe working on new drinks and recipes, while we’re drinking our sparkling water and our tea and … we had this idea that if we carbonated some of our tea, what would that taste like? And so we did, and it was pretty good,” Quaranto said.

The trio then looked around for makers of carbonated tea products so that they could sell them on the shelves of Tama Tea cafe, he said.

“And we couldn’t find anybody,” Quaranto said. “There was just nothing out there – that was 2017.”

The founders got the ball rolling on packaging, sales and distribution of its sparkling tea that year, he said.

The brewing side of the business has slowly grown to three different

MANUFACTURING & DISTRIBUTION | TAMA TEA ROCCO QUARANTO, WELLS STRUBLE & KELLY STRUBLE, CO-FOUNDERS YEAR FOUNDED: 2015 | EMPLOYEES: 10 PHOTO BY KEVIN KLEITCHES

sparkling tea flavors.

“We have recipes lined up. Right now, all three of our flavors of the sparkling tea are green-tea based,” Quaranto said, adding that the idea is to expand with other tea varieties.

Tama Tea aims to continue research and development of new flavors in Wilmington, brew new batches and build an even greater product line for the firm.

The co-founders, however, this year have been growing their online

retail side of the Tama Tea business – selling on their website and on Amazon – a big focus since the COVID-19 pandemic started.

The company had opened a second cafe location in Raleigh but decided to permanently close it in May due to circumstances and economic impacts of the pandemic.

There are two aspects of the business now: the Wilmington cafe and the sparking tea business.

The sparkling tea business, while

still blossoming, is something Tama Tea has been working on for close to three years.

“It takes a long time to get this cruise liner up to speed, so to speak, from [the] idea of brewing and carbonating some of our tea in a keg in our cafe to brewing it at Wrightsville Beach Brewery to now we’re brewing … at Abita Brewery [just outside] New Orleans.”

Each batch, he said, is a truckload, which is about 20 pallets of tea.

Quaranto said the firm, while using the larger brewer in Covington, Louisiana, still does some brewing at Wrightsville Beach Brewery in Wilmington.

Since 2019, Tama Tea has picked up three distributors. The sparkling tea is carried in about 200 locations, including health food stores, along the East Coast.

But the company aims to grow.

“Everything has kind of been put on hold right now for them bringing on new brands, but we see it starting to open back up,” Quaranto said.

“There’s no reason we shouldn’t see our cans at every major retailer on the East Coast in the next year or two.”

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Greater Wilmington Business Journal

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Customers, staff boost brewery

BY CECE NUNN xpanding remains a part of the plan for Wrightsville Beach Brewery’s future.

The establishment, which includes a 9,650-square-foot brewery and a beer garden at 6201 Oleander Drive in Wilmington, began coming to life with a groundbreaking in 2016, and the doors opened in January 2017.

Brewery founder and owner Jud Watkins said he hopes to open a second location in the Leland area in Brunswick County, but that’s several months down the road – probably more than a year – because of how the coronavirus pandemic has affected everyday life including construction, employment and even permitting.

He said the brewery is back up at about 80-90% of its normal volume of business after a closure and restrictions because of efforts to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

“We’ve had a lot of great support during the about two-month period that we were mandated to have our taproom doors closed,” Watkins said.

“We had a grocery program going; we had a drive-thru. It was interesting. We did a lot of the contact-free

E

RETAIL & HOSPITALITY | WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH BREWERY JUD WATKINS, FOUNDER | YEAR FOUNDED: 2017 | EMPLOYEES: 60

PHOTO BY MICHAEL CLINE SPENCER

curbside pick-up, and it was really awesome to see people coming through the drive-thru line with [the] regularity that would normally be the customers we’d have in the taproom having a pint, having a pizza.” he said. “But they still supported us and helped us get through some hard times.”

In addition to a grocery delivery service and a drive-thru for the brewery’s customers, Wrightsville Beach Brewery also hosted a drive-thru farmers market, which has since end-

ed, that became almost too popular because of Oleander Drive traffic concerns, Watkins said.

At the start of the slowdown caused by the pandemic, the brewery was able to retain about two-thirds of its staff while furloughing the remaining employees. The brewery has been able to rehire employees and work with others on their hours.

“We have a tremendous staff. I think that’s always worth mentioning first and foremost. We’ve just got such an awesome team here,” Wat-

kins said. “We really pride ourselves in that and just making sure we hire friendly people first.”

For the brewery’s success, the staff probably serves the most credit, Watkins said.

“Beyond that,” he said, “it’s just being a welcoming environment that puts out a quality product both in our beer and our food. I like to think we have a pretty cool vibe inside and out in the beer garden.”

When Jud Watkins envisioned Wrightsville Beach Brewery, along with his father and grandfather, he imagined a place that customers would enjoy but that would also give back to the community.

Watkins said the brewery and restaurant donated more than 3,000 hot meals over the past three months by working with the nonprofit organizations Brigade Boys & Girls Club, Community Boys & Girls Club of Wilmington, NourishNC and DREAMS of Wilmington.

“Our big thing is just being part of the community. … Particularly in these adverse times, we’re encouraging everybody to give back,” Watkins said. “In good times and bad times, it’s something we really value.”

Greater Wilmington Business Journal COASTAL ENTREPRENEUR AWARDS

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2020

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE WINNERS

A

s part of the Coastal Entrepreneur Awards program, area chambers of commerce also share their top business and organization picks.

BURGAW AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: Local restaurant MeMa’s Chick’n’ & Ribs, owned

by Myra McDuffie, has racked up awards for its barbecue and was ranked the eighth-best barbecue restaurant in North Carolina by USA Today readers.

“Our business of the year award is given to a business that is not only accomplished but also provides community outreach, service and dependability within the community and the Chamber,” wrote the chamber’s executive director, Arwyn Smith.

“This was a hard choice as there were several businesses that fit these qualifications, but one place stood out among the rest.”

GREATER TOPSAIL AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: Pender County native Jeff Jones opened the Southern Roots Grille restaurant in Holly Ridge in 2018 and launched its food truck the following year.

“Soon after, Hurricane Florence devastated the Topsail community, and Jeff jumped right in and began preparing food at the restaurant for those who had no power or suffered damage to their home and were unable to cook in their own kitchen,” chamber officials said.

His community ties are strong, collaborating with Out of the Darkness fundraisers in Surf City and distributing lunches to children in need when COVID-19 prompted schools to close and left many families without access to school meals.

NORTH BRUNSWICK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: Leland-based Connected Home Inc. specializes in smart home technology, integrated security systems and audiovisual services. The company is a statelicensed and insured home security company and low-voltage electrical contractor. It designs and builds fully integrated smart homes, including custom-home networking solutions; lighting controls; smart thermostats; security cameras and sensors; multi-room and multi-zone home audio and video; and health sensors for pets, seniors and people with disabilities. (Connected Home

July 17 - August 6, 2020

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also was chosen as a CEA winner. For more, go to page 14.)

PLEASURE ISLAND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: Carolina Beach’s Good Hops Brewing was the Pleasure Island Chamber of Commerce’s pick for Entrepreneur of the Year 2020.

“For almost six years, Good Hops Brewing has proudly continued to maintain an environment in which visitors from all over are welcomed with the same open arms that make the locals feel at home at our brewery,” the chamber’s nomination stated.

“Owners Richard and Patricia Jones have implemented their focused entrepreneurial spirit from the very beginning,” the nomination continued, pointing to the brewery’s 17% yearly growth rate since opening in 2014.

SOUTHPORT-OAK ISLAND AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: Fulford Heating & Cooling, which has its main location on Holden Beach Road in Supply, also has an office in Wilmington on Market Street.

“From their energy-efficient product lines, to their certified technicians, they have proudly served Brunswick County since 1974,” according to the chamber. “Their economic impact is evident, their diverse staff is respectful, community involvement is phenomenal and even though running a small business in a rural community can have its struggles, Fulford Heating & Cooling does it well while giving back to its community.”

WILMINGTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: The Wilmington Chamber of Commerce’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award went to John Canning, president of Economy Exterminators.

Canning and his brother Joe started Economy Exterminators in Cary, later moving to a larger location in Apex. The family business now has more than 75 employees.

“Since 1976 Economy Exterminators has provided quality, industry-leading pest control services not only to the Triangle area, but in the greater Wilmington and greater Charlotte markets as well,” said the company, which expanded to Wilmington in 1998. “As the Wilmington market has grown over the last 20+ years, we are also growing our Wilmington branch.”

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Wilmington, NC Based | 910.777.1141 | RedEarthMarketing.com

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PRE-PLANNING DECISIONS AND BENEFITS

JASON CLAMME Engagement Manager Lower Cape LifeCare

KARA GANSMANN Attorney and Partner Cranfill Sumner & Hartzog, LLP

DUSTIN OSBORNE General Manager, Coble Funeral & Cremation Service at Greenlawn Memorial Park

JOHN B. ZACHARY CFP® Wealth Advisor, Pathfinder Wealth Consulting

D

iscussing end of life arrangements for yourself or your loved ones can be difficult. While challenging emotions can arise from the thought of our last days, ensuring an end of life plan is in place can guarantee that your final wishes are carried out as planned and, maybe more importantly, help alleviate stress from the loved ones who will manage your estate. We asked a panel of local experts to share their knowledge of pre-planning and its associated benefits.

What are you talking with your clients about more in this new world with Covid-19?

KARA GANSMANN: With estate planning, clients are always looking for peace of mind with the right estate planning tools like wills or trusts, durable powers of attorney, and health care proxies. However, in this

era of Covid-19, clients are focusing more on healthcare powers of attorney and advance directives. Having these in place before an illness like Covid-19 strikes ensures your health wishes are thoughtfully planned.

We are also speaking with clients about how to execute legal documents either with minimal contact or no contact. Covid-19 has created challenges for ensuring legal documents are validly executed while maintaining safe social distance with notaries and witnesses to the documents. Whether our clients are in nursing homes or able to meet at a safe social distance, we are following

the law for these signings and offering peace of mind to our clients.

JASON CLAMME: From a business perspective, we are telling those interested in services about the protocol we go through to keep them safe from the virus as they receive the care they need. We strongly encourage isolation for the patient and family caregiver(s). For palliative care patients, we are offering a TeleCare alternative for communicating with their nurse practitioner. We have also put in place visitation restrictions at our care cen-

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Getting your legal affairs “ in order will give you peace of

mind and alleviate the burden on your loved ones.

”

Many people revisit “ their decisions and revise

these documents during major changes in their lives.

”

JOHN B. ZACHARY CFP® Wealth Advisor, Pathfinder Wealth Consulting

ters, screening measures, and mask usage requirements. Many team members who work at our administration building have been working remotely and those who need to be in the building are practicing safety measures and social distancing. As far as advance care planning, we have always discussed this with patients and family members as they come on to our services. We encourage all patients to have an advance healthcare plan in place. During COVID-19, people have become more aware of advance care planning and how it may impact them if they should become positive for the virus and be hospitalized. We are certainly answering those questions for them and helping them document their plan so they know their wishes will be honored.

DUSTIN OSBORNE: We have been doing a lot of virtual pre-planning of cremation and funeral arrangements with families since Covid-19 began. We have an exceptional digital presentation that shows all of our funeral and cremation merchandise and service offerings.

By sharing our computer screen online with a family, they are able to make selections from the convenience of their own home. Virtual planning is available through Coble Funeral & Cremation Service at Greenlawn Memorial Park, Greenlawn Memorial Park, and Oleander Memorial Gardens.

JOHN ZACHARY: Fortunately, we are just reminding clients that they should have their affairs in order. We discuss pre-planning with all new clients and help them put together plans for both wanted and unwanted outcomes.

Covid-19 has given us the opportunity to remind folks the importance of doing so for those that did not want to pre-plan previously. It has been a wake-up call for those refusing to ask,

JASON CLAMME Engagement Manager, Lower Cape Fear LifeCare

“What happens if….” We guide our clients through tough conversations and help them discuss decisions with their family members and other important relationships. We have had two different clients lose a parent to Covid-19 this year which hits home for us. However, in 2020, we have had clients lose more family members to other factors than to Covid-19 which is why pre-planning is always a part of our new client onboarding process.

The thought of preplanning can seem overwhelming. What is a good first step to get the process started and when should that happen?

OSBORNE: If pre-planning seems overwhelming, please remember that it is a lot easier to plan now than to wait until after a death occurs. Many families tell us how relieved they feel after they preplan with us. One common statement that the families who pre-plan tell us is, “You made the process so easy.”

CLAMME: We recommend starting a conversation about your advance healthcare plan with loved ones using something that spurs a discussion: a movie, TV show, recent illness or death of a family friend, or something that is in the news – like COVID-19. It’s easier sometimes if you share your thoughts and feelings first and then ask the other person what they think or what they want for themselves. It may be a little uncomfortable to have such a discussion, but it is much more uncomfortable

for a loved one to suddenly be put in the position to make these decisions without having a clue as to what their family member would want. This can add additional stress and even cause family discord during an already overwhelming situation. We believe that planning should take place as early as possible and even speak to many college-age adults about putting a plan in place in the event something should happen. As we say, it’s better to be ten years too early than ten minutes too late. Certainly, anyone with a serious illness or chronic condition should consider having a plan and discussing that plan with their loved ones to ensure they receive only the medical interventions they wish for and that meet their goals for care should they become unable to communicate for themselves.

GANSMANN: Think first about your goals or needs for pre-planning. Are you concerned with protecting a spouse or other loved ones during your incapacity or illness or after your death? Are you concerned with ensuring your wishes are carried out precisely? Do you worry about family conflict? Taxes? Probate or simplicity? Do you have out-of-state documents or documents that no longer met your loved ones’ needs? Knowing your goal for an estate plan can help your attorney make personalized recommendations that fit your needs, your assets, and your loved ones.

ZACHARY: We typically have three scenario conversations with new clients that may not have done any pre-planning before. The first is if something happens to them today, an immediate death, and we walk them through what they do already have in place such as beneficiaries, registrations on assets, legal documents, etc. We explain the process

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their family members will go through on their behalf. Death is usually easier to discuss than full incapacity which is the second scenario we discuss. This involves a longer-term scenario where they may be a financial and physical burden on their loved ones. The third scenario is if something happens to a loved one.

Whether a spouse, child, parent, or a sibling. It can be unpleasant, but we have experience and we can share real life stories that make the conversation about education instead of overwhelming emotion.

What do pre-planned arrangements typically encompass and how can they alleviate some of the stress of responding to the passing of a loved one?

GANSMANN: For estate plans, a will or trust will determine how your estate passes to your loved ones on your death.

These pre-planning legal documents should specify in general terms who inherits your estate, how much a person can inherit, and when that person can inherit. Your attorney should speak with you about your specific assets to ensure that your estate can direct those assets in the manner that makes sense for your needs. Pre-planning includes a regular review of your existing estate plan with an attorney to ensure that it still meets your needs and remains valid. After a person passes away, one of the biggest hurdles our probate clients encounter is

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trying to locate all of their loved ones’ assets. We recommend that our clients keep a list of their assets with their estate planning documents to alleviate this stress during a time of grief. We also advise our clients to share aspects of their estate plans with trusted people so they will know where to locate your legal documents. These simple steps offer ease to administering an estate in a time of grief.

CLAMME: Each state has its own forms to document your advance directive. We generally use the NC combined Healthcare Power of Attorney and Living Will form in our workshops, but you can get separate documents as well. The Healthcare Power of Attorney portion allows you to designate an advocate to speak for you in the event you are in an accident or suddenly become ill and cannot speak for yourself. The Living Will portion of the form allows you to stipulate the medical interventions you want and do not want – again given the scenario you are unable to speak for yourself.

These forms require two witnesses and must be signed in the presence of a notary and be notarized to make them legal. Another form is the Medical Order for Scope of Treatment, or MOST, form. This is a form that you can fill out with your physician and again stipulate which medical intervention you would want or not want. This form is signed by your doctor and becomes part of your medical record. People should keep in mind that these forms can be changed as your wishes change. You simply fill out the forms again and go through the witness and notarization process to make the changes. Many people revisit their decisions and revise these documents during major changes in their lives.

OSBORNE: Pre-planning involves two parts. The first part is where we gather the information that we will need for an obituary and death certificate. We also discuss all of the service options that we have and ask families open ended questions regarding their wishes. We focus on personalizing each service, whether it’s burial or cremation. The second part is pre-payment. Pre-paying has many benefits to the consumer including an inflation proof contract that protects families from future price increases. Families have the option of pre-paying in one lump sum or making payments over three, five, ten, or fifteen years. Pre-planning is also available for

cemetery plots, markers, mausoleums, cremation memorialization, and opening and closing of plots.

your legal affairs in order will give you peace of mind and alleviate the burden on your loved ones.

GANSMANN: Meet with an attorney to ensure that any existing estate plan remains valid and continues to meet your goals. If you don’t have an estate plan, an attorney will make legal recommendations for your specific assets, needs, and goals for your loved ones.

At a minimum, your estate plan should include essentials like a will, a durable power of attorney, a healthcare power of attorney, and advance directives. These documents are intended to cover your needs during any period of incapacity as well as end of life. There are times when an attorney may recommend trusts or other planning tools for ...in this era of Covid-19,

ZACHARY: Pre-planned arrangements should first include a comprehensive look at your situation, including assets, income, insurance, legal, and taxes.

Once you have a baseline of what the future looks like in an ideal scenario, then you can test the unexpected.

There’s no better way to relieve the stress that comes from a losing a loved one than to run through the scenario ahead of time and create a game plan. It’s a

“

clients are focusing more on health care powers of attorney and advance directives.

”

KARA GANSMANN Attorney and Partner, Cranfill Sumner & Hartzog, LLP

difficult conversation, but the peace of mind that it will give to your survivors is unsurpassed – and knowing that your survivors will continue to be able to reach their goals will allow you to enjoy life more today.

How can my family and I be legally prepared for the end of life?

ZACHARY: For the legal aspect, we recommend that our clients work with a qualified estate planning attorney to make sure their documents are in order and drafted in accordance with their wishes. This is a conversation that we start with every one of our clients, and it begins with reviewing their goals. We will then recommend which documents might be appropriate based on a clients’ financial situation and coordinate with their legal professionals to have those documents drafted. The legal process of settling an estate can be daunting, even more so after losing a loved one. Getting

asset protection depending on your specific circumstances. And because estate planning is not the only aspect of endof-life planning, your attorney will also want to involve other trusted professionals in your life to weigh in on certain aspects of your plan. These professionals, like financial advisors, insurance agents, and CPAs, will offer opinions on how to meet all of your end-of-life plans.

CLAMME: Certainly, people should have a will to document their financial wishes. Although we encourage patients to have a will in place as knowing they have one can reduce stress and anxiety, this is not our area of expertise. As far as an advance directive, the bare minimum would be to have a Healthcare Power of Attorney to designate your healthcare advocate. Of course, you will need to be sure to choose someone who will truly advocate for your wishes. Due to the emotions connected to making such decisions, sometimes a family member may not be the best person to choose for your advocate.

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OSBORNE: Pre-arrangements through Coble Funeral & Cremation Service at Greenlawn Memorial Park are done on a contract that is legally regulated by the North Carolina Board of Funeral Service. Families that choose cremation are also able to sign a self-authorization for cremation which is legally durable beyond death. This makes it very clear and legally binding that the desired type of service for the person who pre-arranged was cremation.

What is an advance directive and how can it help me?

CLAMME: An advance directive is the same as an advance healthcare plan. It is a way to document your wishes in the event you are unable to speak for yourself due to an accident or sudden illness. How it helps is that it ensures your wishes for medical interventions are honored and your goals for care are met. A good example of how it helps is seen in the case of Terri Schiavo. Terri’s husband believed Terri did not want to be kept alive in a constant vegetative state with no chance for recovery. However, her parents believed the opposite and fought for years to keep her alive.

Had she had an advance directive, Terri’s wishes would have been honored and she would have had the end of life she wanted. So, ultimately, an advance directive lets you determine the ending of your own story. You determine what type of death you want.

ZACHARY: An advance directive is something that lays out your wishes if you’re unable to communicate those wishes on your own. They are very important documents, and we have seen firsthand how impactful they can be.

Without these directives, it can leave an unintended burden on your loved ones, who could be forced to make decisions about your care without knowing whether it is something you truly want.

This painful decision-making process can be easily eliminated with the proper drafting of these documents.

GANSMANN: An advance directive is a legal document designed to outline your health care choices for life-sustaining health care when you become so ill you are unable to make or communicate your health decisions. In this document,

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you can make specific instructions for prolonging your life if you become terminally ill, permanently unconscious, or suffer from severe, unrecoverable cognitive loss. Life prolonging measures could include artificial hydration or nutrition, mechanical ventilation, dialysis, and other forms of health care that sustain your life. In the age of Covid-19, many clients are carefully calculating their choices under an advance directive. An advance directive is helpful in identifying your wishes for end-of-life care. It outlines your directions so that your loved ones do not have to guess at making the “right” decision for your needs.

How can I financially prepare for the end of life to prevent a financial burden on my family?

ZACHARY: The first step is understanding, as soon as possible, what potential costs could be in the future and how they might affect your long-term financial plan. You can then start to make adjustments now to accommodate those expenses should they arise. Using analytical tools and sensitivity analysis, we review our client’s household financial information and test a handful of scenarios. The result is an illustration of the financial impact of each scenario.

From there, we talk about client preferences for funding any shortfalls and solutions for addressing the concern.

For example, one of the largest potential costs that we cover in pre-planning is long-term care expenses. With the average cost of a private nursing home room at $91,980 in the Wilmington area (source: Genworth’s 2019 Cost of Care Study), the costs can be enough to cause a heavy financial burden on any household. To mitigate, you could purchase long-term care insurance or earmark an asset, such as real estate or investments.

Risk management is an integral part of financial planning. As we all know, life can change quickly and things don’t always go exactly to plan. Looking at these scenarios ahead of time and being proactive will avoid you having to go into crises mode when you get hit with the unexpected.

CLAMME: We do not advise our

patients or families on how to financially prepare for the end of life. We do sometimes help them find current resources, if needed, to assist them with needs due to their illness that could lead to additional financial burdens. If they have such concerns, we suggest they contact a lawyer or financial advisor as they are better equipped to answer such questions.

OSBORNE: We offer convenient monthly payments to those who pre-plan both funeral and cremation services. We meet with families and give them a funeral or cremation estimate that includes a single payment option and payment plans.

What financial documents are most important when preplanning?

What challenges can be avoided by having an end of life plan?

GANSMANN: First, without a plan in place, you lose control over decisions relating to your care, your preferred housing, and your finances. If you cannot make these decisions for yourself, someone else may be making these decisions on your behalf. It may not be the person you would trust to make the decisions. Worse still, the decisions may not be the same decisions you would have made. Second, without a plan, you may be failing to provide for your loved ones or dependents. If you are incapacitated during life, your failure to plan could devastatingly and financially impact your spouse. You don’t want to impoverish your spouse with expensive care needs by failing to pre-plan. Further, without a plan, on your death, your assets may not be distributed to the people you want or in the same way you would want them to inherit from you. Third, without a plan, you could experience a financially devastating loss of property

ZACHARY: There are some very important legal documents, such as Will, Living Will and Healthcare Power of Attorney, but the Durable/General Power of Attorney is what is most used when it comes to your financial affairs. We also believe your beneficiary forms and regisIf pre-planning seems trations/titling on assets and accounts overwhelming, please remember is just as importthat it is a lot easier to plan now

“

than to wait until after a death occurs.

”

DUSTIN OSBORNE General Manager, Coble Funeral & Cremation Service at Greenlawn Memorial Park

ant. Getting a power of attorney is one piece of a complex puzzle and will allow someone to act on your behalf, but we have seen more headache around beneficiary forms and not titling accounts properly. Don’t underestimate the financial forms themselves which carry a significant legal weight. These can all be handled individually with the financial institution, such as bank or investment accounts, or with the county if it is real property titling.

or assets during your life. Most people do not want to see their life savings spent on end-of-life care. Pre-planning offers an element of asset protection while ensuring that any potential care is covered. Many times, without a plan or even the most foundational legal documents like a Durable Power of Attorney, a person’s only remaining option could be an expensive guardianship.

OSBORNE: Pre-planning makes it very clear to your loved ones as to the type of service you want and whether you

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want burial or cremation. We also gather vital information that will be needed for social security, a North Carolina Death Certificate, Veteran’s organizations, etc. during the pre-planning process so families won’t be faced with gathering all the information after death occurs.

CLAMME: Family conflicts and feelings of guilt and anguish can be avoided if people have an advance healthcare directive because their wishes will be known, and no one has to guess what they would want as far as medical interventions. People would have the type of death they want instead of the one someone else feels they should have.

People should ask themselves, “What do I consider to be a good quality of life?”

Then put a plan in place to ensure that’s what they get and are not left to live in a situation that does not meet that standard. Realistically, an advance healthcare plan can also reduce financial liabilities for extensive medical interventions the patient did not want and that would not meet their standard for a good quality of life.

ZACHARY: The biggest is the emotional burden on your family. People don’t want to talk about the ugliness of death and incapacity, so the conversations are avoided. However, there is no greater peace of mind than knowing you are doing exactly what that person wanted in some of the most difficult moments in life. If you are forced to make a decision, such as deciding to discontinue life-prolonging measures for a parent, it is much easier if you knew that is what they wanted and you have a document that shows it. Do not underestimate the weight of making these tough decisions.

Doctors will typically turn to the family regardless of what the estate documents say. With a little pre-planning, your family can review the documents to guide their decisions.

How can people without a spouse feel supported during their pre-planning process?

CLAMME: They can rely on a family member or friend to support them through their pre-planning process – someone they feel has their best interests

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at heart. If they feel more confident with a professional, such as an attorney, he or she can help them complete the needed forms for documenting an advance healthcare plan. They can also rely on their doctor if they choose to complete a MOST form. Medicare now pays for such consultations with physicians to encourage these types of conversations.

Your physician can walk you through the different types of medical interventions and also discuss your goals for quality of life as they relate to these interventions.

OSBORNE: Many people who are single pre-plan. Once someone goes through the death of a loved one and it isn’t preplanned, they realize on a deeper level the need to pre-plan and remove the burden from their loved ones. Many people who pre-plan bring a close trusted friend or other family member with them.

ZACHARY: We tell folks that you maintain your independence by being proactive with pre-planning decisions.

We have many clients that do not have a spouse or children and they struggle with pre-planning because they do not have the typical folks to list on legal documents. Therefore, it is even more important for these folks to pre-plan.

Without naming people or companies of your choice, you may find your toughest moments in life being handled by case workers, attorneys, and/or other folks that are complete strangers and never had a conversation with you.

Build a relationship with your financial planner and/or estate planning attorney and they can guide you through options and give you control over the process before it becomes a crisis.

GANSMANN: Plan early and build a network of trusted people and professionals who can help you in times of illness, incapacity, and after your death.

These people could include relatives, trusted friends or colleagues, attorneys, financial advisors, tax planners, religious leaders, insurance agents, and funeral or cremation organizations. The professionals will guide you through the relevant aspects of end-of-life planning as

relevant to that field or industry. These professionals have resources available that will ensure your end-of-life needs can be carried out with dignity and in the manner you intend.

What special considerations should business owners take if they want their business to continue after their passing?

ZACHARY: Business owners need to take special consideration to make sure proper arrangements are made, especially in a closely held business. There are employees and often clients that rely on your services and, without a proper plan, the business could simply disappear if the owner or a key employee dies or becomes disabled. There are strategies using life insurance, such as buy/ sell agreements, which will allow other owners or key employees to buy out a surviving spouse’s business interest, to avoid the risk of a fire sale. Key person insurance is a way to protect the business from the death of a key employee, or business overhead expense (BOE) insurance can help cover business overhead expenses if an owner or key employee becomes disabled.

Are there special challenges associated with crisis planning vs. long-term end of life planning?

GANSMANN: Plan early with help or get help if you didn’t plan ahead. First, for pre-planning: arm yourself with a strong Durable Power of Attorney that allows you to appoint a trusted person to make financial transactions on your behalf if you are unable to make those transactions for yourself. This document is the foundation for any kind of long-

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term care planning. With the right provisions in this document, you can plan for long-term care needs and transfer or manage your assets according to those needs. Without this document, planning becomes challenging at any phase.

In working with pre-planning clients, I help people preserve and manage assets.

For example, we can ensure that a person receives the kind of long-term care they need in a care setting they choose.

We will plan for a spouse’s ability to remain in the marital home while providing for the other spouse’s care needs.

We can protect assets to ensure they are not lost or spent down to pay for care. An added benefit to pre-planning allows clients to provide a legacy gift to their children or grandchildren. With pre-planning, I always ask, “How much do you want to protect?” and “How soon do you want to start protecting it?” In the crisis-planning context, I help families preserve at least some of their assets, but I cannot always help them preserve all of their assets. Crisis planning allows some clients to preserve at least some of the assets to provide for a loved one’s needs while still eventually qualifying long-term care benefits. If given the choice, all of my clients would have opted for pre-planning in lieu of the stress, financial devastation, and emotional heartache of crisis planning.

helpful in end-of-life planning?

ZACHARY: Start with your trusted professionals such as financial advisors, estate planning & business attorneys, and tax professionals. At Pathfinder, we bring all of those professionals together to help our clients plan for the future and make sure that if something goes wrong, there’s a backup plan in place to protect interested parties, such as family, business partners, and customers.

CLAMME: From a healthcare provider perspective, especially one that provides hospice care for those with a life expectancy of six months or less, we can only recommend that people have an advance healthcare plan in place and that plan be communicated with loved ones. Any planning that someone can do to ensure they live their life to the very end based on their beliefs, goals, and ideals is a good thing to have in place.

CLAMME: We are hoping that sometime soon we will be able to resume our monthly workshops at our Wilmington office and hospice care center in Bolivia. For now, we are willing to work with groups who would like to set up a virtual workshop via Zoom or other online conferencing platform. Once we do resume our workshops, we’d love to see people there. They can access the schedule on our website or find it listed on our Facebook page. At that time, groups and churches will again be able to request a free workshop for one of their meetings. People can also look for information on our website, LifeCare. org or go to LifeCareResponds.org, which has information we put together to help people feel supported during the uncertain times of COVID-19. The site has a short video on advance care planning to answer people’s questions as to what it takes to put a plan in place.

While there, they can download a copy of the combined NC Healthcare Power of Attorney/Living Will form so they can legally document their wishes. They can also request a copy of our workbook that will help people discuss advance care wishes with loved ones, document wishes, and also write down other important information for loved ones.

Where can people find additional resources or planning tools

OSBORNE: We offer free funeral and cremation planning price estimates. We also offer a Personal Planning Guide that is very detailed and a great place to document your funeral or cremation wishes and many other details.

OSBORNE: It is much easier on loved ones when planning is done in advance instead of after death occurs.

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SEPTEMBER 4, 2020

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| BIZ LEADS | Reader’s Guide BizLeads is a collection of information gathered from greater Wilmington courthouses, state government offices and informational websites. These listings are intended to help the business community find new customers and stay on top of happenings with current customers, vendors and competitors.

New Corporations lists firms that were recently incorporated in the state of North Carolina. All information is gathered from the North Carolina Secretary of State website. Addresses listed may not be the actual address of the business.

NEW CORPS June 6 - 26 1136 VERANDA LLC 6012 Lettered Olive Place Wilmington 28412 Agent: Victoria Lisinksi 1ST DUE SERVICES LLC 106 Woodcroft Ln Rocky Point 28457 Agent: Shannon Bennett 1ST PLACE AUTOMOTIVE LLC 8528 Market St

Wilmington 28411 Agent: Brandon Phillips 989 DBL LLC 4620 Cedar Ave Suite 118 Wilmington 28403 Agent: Kevin Smith A. D. GODWIN AND ASSOCIATES LLC 5439 Sun Coast Dr Wilmington 28411 Agent: Anthony Doran Godwin A4MI MENTOR LLC 1440 Forest Hill Drive

Navassa 28451 Agent: Kerym Grant Vickers ACCESS 9 LLC 2419 Market St Wilmington 28403 Agent: Geoffrey A. Losee ADC TRANSPORTATION INC. 3517 Sylvester Road Castle Hayne 28429 Agent: Ashton Clark ALL IS WELL PROPERTIES LLC 516 North Lord Street Southport 28461 Agent: Curtis Gerald Frink ALLIE WEAVER PRODUCTIONS LLC 4520 Still Meadow Dr. Apt. 108 Wilmington 28412 Agent: Aljuane Weaver ALLUSIONZ HAIRCARE LLC 4718 Port Loop Rd Southport 28461 Agent: Penny Delts ALMA MASSAGE & WELLNESS INC. 4701 Wrightsville Avenue Wilmington 28403 Agent: Angela Tracie Wallace AMP GLOBAL SERVICES

LLC 4134 Druids Glen Drive Leland 28451 Agent: Alfonso Pettenato

5700 Oleander Drive Wilmington 28403 Agent: Kevin T. May

ANDALUCIA PROPERTIES 514 LLC 209 N Crestwood Drive Wilmington 28405 Agent: Jason Tierney

ATLANTIC CAROLINA ENTERPRISES LLC 1413 Heron Run Drive Wilmington 28403 Agent: William J. Batuyios

ANTHONYS BARBERSHOPE LLC 127 Coppers Trail Wilmington 28411 Agent: Anthony Gonzalez

ATLANTIC TRAVEL AND CRUISE LLC 1783 Oakfield Court Ocean Isle Beach 28469 Agent: Denise D Burns

AQUOTIC MARINE LLC 1901 Market Street Wilmington 28403 Agent: Deseree Muraglia

AVA LYNN CHARTERS LLC 6402 Strawfield Dr Wilmington 28405 Agent: David M Gelet Jr

ARAGON HERNANDEZ CONSTRUCTION LLC 5140 Carolina Beach Trl 112 Wilmington 28412 Agent: Everardo Aragon Hernandez

AVILAS AUTO SALES AND REPAIR LLC 1624 Castle Hayne Rd Wilmington 28401 Agent: Alma Avila Espitia

ARC THERAPEUTICS LLC 319 North Thrid Street Suite 301 Wilmington 28401 Agent: Fredric N Eshelman AROHA LLC 2315 Oleander Dr Wilmington 28403 Agent: Donna Putnam ASCENDOR ACCOUNTING LLC

B’JOY CONSTRUCTION LLC 5140 Carolina Beach Rd Lot 24 Wilmington 28412 Agent: Suly Yadira Buelto Moreira BASICO LANDSCAPING LLC 104 Turtle Cay Unit 5 Wilmington 28412 Agent: Felipe Diaz Vasquez BB CFO AND

BOOKKEEPING SERVICES LLC 510 Orange Street Wilmington 28401 Agent: Mats Bruin BB55 REPLICA RESTORATION 2250 Curly Maple Wynd Leland 28451 Agent: Bill Olvany BE UNIQUE ARTISTRY L.L.C 233 Westchester Rd Wilmington 28409 Agent: LaTifah T Simmons BEACHSIDE HOME IMPROVEMENTS INC 4022 Old Bridge Road SE Ste C Southport 28461 Agent: Barbara M Williams BEASLEY HOLDINGS LLC 1 Stone St Wrightsville Beach 28480 Agent: Luke Waddell BEE TRADE LLC 458 Racine Dr Unit C302A Wilmington 284038826 Agent: James R. Wind BELVEDERE HOLDINGS LLC 3819 Park Avenue Wilmington 28403

Agent: GM Entity Services Inc. BETTER BAR SYSTEMS INC 1004 Callawasse Island Dr Wilmington 28411 Agent: Cameron Sechrist BEVVY MART LLC 2270 Allens Lane Wilmington 28403 Agent: Kelly Barnes BHI DELIVERY LLC 423 S. Bald Head Wynd Bald Head Island 28461 Agent: Nicolas Gustav Haglund BIG BRUSH QUALITY PAINTING LLC 8983 Heritage Dr SW Sunset Beach 28468 Agent: Ose Olalde BIG HOUSE PAGE TURNERS LLC 8956 Hawks Bill Dr NE Leland 28451-4030 Agent: Tiye Cheatham BLACK CAT MARKETING CORP. 107 Chestnut Street Wilmington 28401 Agent: Brian Hoss BLUE CROSS DRYWALL LLC 5140 Carolina Beach

Rd. Trailer #8 Wilmington 28412 Agent: Wenceslao Pacheco-Martinez BLUE MOON INVESTIGATIONS LLC 864 Holden Beach Road Shallotte 28470 Agent: Patti L. Hewett BOTANAS LOCAS LA COMADRE 4606 Maple Ave Wilmington 28403 Agent: Crisatos Mendoza BRAUKORPS LLC 13241 NC Hwy 53 E Maple Hill 28454 Agent: Kimberley Battersby BRUNSWICK BREWING CO. 2017 Woodwind Drive Leland 28451 Agent: Mark Sameeh Said BRYANT CONSORTIUM INC. 4445 Northwest Road Leland 28451 Agent: Wayne Bryant BRYANT GLOBAL LOGISTICS INC. 4445 Northwest Road Leland 28451 Agent: Wayne Bryant BUTTA LUVV COLLECTIVE LLC

THE CIE NURTURES EMERGING VENTURES AND CONNECTS ENTREPRENEURS TO A WORLD OF STARTUP SUPPORT SERVICES. WHETHER YOU’RE FROM THE COMMUNITY OR UNCW FACULTY, STAFF, STUDENT, OR ALUMNI, WE’RE HERE TO ACCELERATE THE LAUNCH AND GROWTH OF YOUR BUSINESS. THE CIE IS OPEN AND ACTIVELY ASSISTING ENTREPRENEURS WITH: · Virtual networking and education programs · Private offices, conference rooms, co-working space, and virtual tenancy · Team-based mentoring · Investor readiness programs · Guidance on grants and other funding · Online Givitas network for giving advice · High school entrepreneurship programs

GROW YOUR NEW VENTURE HERE

Want to help early stage ventures? The CIE welcomes mentors with startup expertise and those with specific industry knowledge and general business experience.

TAP INTO THIS COMMUNITY OF SUPPORT BY JOINING THE CIE TODAY.

www.uncw.edu/cie cie@uncw.edu | 910-962-2206.

UNCW is an EEO/AA institution.

Page 30

July 17 - August 6, 2020

Greater Wilmington Business Journal

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| BIZ LEADS | 219 Station Road, Suite 202 Wilmington, NC 28405 (910) 343-8600 Fax: (910) 343-8660 wilmingtonbiz.com PUBLISHER Rob Kaiser rkaiser@wilmingtonbiz.com PRESIDENT Robert Preville rpreville@wilmingtonbiz.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Judy Budd jbudd@wilmingtonbiz.com EDITOR Vicky Janowski vjanowski@wilmingtonbiz.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Cece Nunn cnunn@wilmingtonbiz.com REPORTERS Johanna Cano jcano@wilmingtonbiz.com Christina Haley O’Neal chaley@wilmingtonbiz.com SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Craig Snow csnow@wilmingtonbiz.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Ali Buckley abuckley@wilmingtonbiz.com OFFICE & AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Sandy Johnson sjohnson@wilmingtonbiz.com KEN

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CONTENT MARKETING COORDINATOR Morgan Mattox mmattox@wilmingtonbiz.com EVENTS DIRECTOR Maggi Apel mapel@wilmingtonbiz.com EVENTS/DIGITAL ASSISTANT Elizabeth Stelzenmuller events@wilmingtonbiz.com CONTRIBUTING DESIGNER Suzi Drake art@wilmingtonbiz.com DESIGN/MEDIA COORDINATOR Molly Jacques production@wilmingtonbiz.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Jenny Callison, David Frederiksen, Kyle Hanlin, Jessica Maurer, Laura Moore FOUNDER Joy Allen SUBSCRIPTIONS To subscribe to the Greater Wilmington Business Journal, call (910) 343-8600 x201 or visit wilmingtonbiz.com.

Subscriptions cost $9.95 per month or $95 per year.

REPRINTS For article reprints, plaques and more, contact Jennifer Martin of Wright’s Reprints at (877) 652-5295.

ADVERTISING For advertising information and rates, call (910) 343-8600 x204 © Copyright 2020 SAJ Media LLC

4811 Vernon Rd NE Leland 28451 Agent: Danielle Knox BUY TO RENT LLC 3811 Peachtree Ave. #200 Wilmington 28403 Agent: Tony Stroud CPA C.A. DAVIS TRANSPORTATION & LOGISTICS LLC 1136 Delaware St Southport 28461 Agent: Chris A. Davis CANTABRIA PROPERTIES 2734 LLC 209 N Crestwood Drive Wilmington 28405 Agent: Jason Tierney CAPE FEAR DIMENSIONS INC. 4439 Jamey Court Wilmington 28405 Agent: Adam E Abrams CAPE FEAR REFILL MARKET L.L.C. 1101 Twin Lakes Drive Southport 28461 Agent: Karen Perkins CAPONE & ASSOCIATES LLC 5102 Clear Run Dr Wilmington 28403 Agent: Christopher Capone CAROLINA COAST ESTATE SALES L.L.C.

1209 Ash Little River Rd NW Ash 28420 Agent: Jennifer Watkins

LLC 1844 Sir Tyler Drive Wilmington 28405 Agent: Doug Maners

CAROLINA STORAGE MANAGEMENT LLC 3819 Park Avenue Wilmington 28403 Agent: GM Entity Services Inc.

COASTAL BIN & SITE LLC 4631 Main Street Shallotte 28470 Agent: Tonia Trest Twigg

CHAVEZ LANDSCAPING AND MORE LLC 266 Interstate Loop Rocky Point 28457 Agent: Emiliano Chavez Cruz

COASTAL BRANDS LLC 780 Loblolly Rd SW Shallotte 28470 Agent: Timothy Spivey

COMMUNITY CONTENT LLC 217 Keaton Avenue Wilmington 28403 Agent: William Cooper COMPLETE DENTAL ASSISTING AND STAFFING ACADEMY LLC 1215 W. Gate Drive Leland 28451 Agent: Joshua Bennett

COASTAL FBA LLC 780 Loblolly Drive SW Shallotte 28470 Agent: Timothy Spivey

COMPLETE DISINFECT SOLUTIONS INC 3347 Stone Chimney Rd SW Supply 28462 Agent: Cody Allen Pyatte

COASTAL PHARMACY AND COMPOUNDING INC. 1401 Johns Creek Rd Wilmington 28409 Agent: Roy P Martin IV

COMPLETE DRAINAGE SOLUTIONS INC. 3347 Stone Chimney Rd SW Supply 28462 Agent: Cody Allen Pyatte

CITY TOBACCO AND VAPE VIP INC 3111 Market St Ste A Wilmington 28403 Agent: Najib Al Qutaini

COASTAL RAYS LACROSSE 505 Bayfield Dr Wilmington 28411 Agent: Janet Cronemiller

CK KITT GARNER LLC 111 Princess Street Wilmington 28401 Agent: Cary Luskin

COCOCHINE OF NC LLC 105 Grace Street Suite 101 Wilmington 28401 Agent: Andrew R. Jones

CORTES IR ENTERPRISES LLC 515 Bricklanding Rd SW Shallotte 28470 Agent: Ramon Cortes Diaz

CHONTOS CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT INC. 2830 Worth Drive Wilmington 28412 Agent: Benjamin J. Chontos

CLOUDWORKS LLC 135 River Oaks Drive Wilmington 28412 Agent: Joseph McLeod COAST SOLAR ENERGY

COLBROOKE HOLDINGS LLC 5254 Windlass Rd Southport 28461 Agent: Lisa Stettner

COUTURE LASH STUDIO LLC 700 Middle Sound Loop Road Wilmington 28411 Agent: Lea Esplana CROSSING WATERS LLC 4602 Manchester Drive Wilmington 28405

Agent: Cynthia Fitzsimmons CRYOSCULPT LLC 541 Camway Drive Wilmington 28403 Agent: Jurley Pomeroytorian CUSTOM SPACES LLC 5001 OQuinn Blvd. SE Unit J Southport 28461 Agent: Carolyn Gherardi CWPG HOLDINGS LLC 2 a Merchants Row Bald Head Island 28461 Agent: Fred L McWhorter D & T SERVICE LLC 4909 Blue Clay Rd. Castle Hayne 28429 Agent: Dennis Hayes D&S LAWN MAINTENANCE LLC 9309 Straightway Dr NE Leland 28451 Agent: Steve Urias DC HOSPITALITY LLC 2816 Harborside Way Southport 28461 Agent: David Chance DEELA ENTERPRISE INC. 3131 Reminisce Rd Castle Hayne 28429 Agent: Laura El-Amin DESTINATION HOME INTERIORS LLC. 112 NE 23rd St. Oak Island 28465 Agent: Donna Eldredge DLG27 LLC 309 Buckner Dr Wilmington 28412 Agent: Damon W Bartolo DRIFT ENTERPRISES LLC 2081 Shelmore Way Leland 28451 Agent: Karen Biffany DUB’S PARTY DETAILS LLC 520 Bay Cove Lane Wilmington 28411 Agent: Carolyn Gustavson EAST COAST PREMIER DRYWALL & PAINTING LLC 398 9 Mile Rd Maple Hill 28454 Agent: Salvador Gonzalez

Unit 105 Wilmington 28405 Agent: Argenis Rojo ENVY NAILS SALON 1 LLC 6877 Monument Dr Wilmington 28405 Agent: Thi Chanh Nguyen EPHPHATHA HOLDINGS LLC 45 HL Smith Road Wilmington 28411 Agent: Philip Negroni ERWIN SMITHFIELD HOLDINGS LLC 301 N. Front St. Suite 4 140 Wilmington 28401 Agent: Allan Casavant Jr EXECUTIVE CLEANING SERVICES LLC 5074 Ballast Road Southport 28461 Agent: Nicole Wilcox FAITH OVER FEAR LLC 13480 Us Hwy 50 Surf City 28445 Agent: Jeffrey Scott Wheeler FARMER CLEANING SOLUTIONS LLC 3195 Row Road N.E. Leland 28451 Agent: Alexis Christine Farmer FAYAD ENTERPRISES LLC 112 NE 33rd Street Oak Island 28465 Agent: Hani Hares Fayad FL COASTAL CAROLINAS LLC 709 N 4th St #305 Wilmington 28401 Agent: John Dowden FLYING CROWE INVESTMENTS LLC 4758 Tupelo Dr Wilmington 28411 Agent: Ross A Howe FRALEY HOLDINGS LLC 5813 Harbor Breeze Dr Wilmington 28409 Agent: Morgan Delyn Fritz FUNKY MONKEY CREATIONS LLC 208 Bountiful lane Castle Hayne 28429 Agent: Dawn McClain

EATS SHOOTS & LEAVES NURSERY LLC 2212 Harbor Ridge Dr Bolivia 28422 Agent: Christina Oliver

GALICIA PROPERTIES 209 LLC 209 N Crestwood Drive Wilmington 28405 Agent: Jason Tierney

ECP PAINTING LLC 4910 Bridger Rd Unit 15 Shallotte 28470 Agent: Laura Baez

GALLAGHER ANIMAL SERVICES PLLC 2898 Holden Beach Road SW Supply 28462 Agent: Lauren Gallagher

EDENS LANE LLC 60 Gregory Rd Ste 1 Belville 28451 Agent: D I Logan EMINENT EMPIRE LLC 9121 Doras Way SE Winnabow 28479-5015 Agent: Andranica Morant EMT SOLUTIONS LLC 126 Cardinal Dr Ext

GEORGE WHITE MEN’S LUXURY LLC 7106 Carolina Beach Rd Wilmington 28412 Agent: Arshola Brown GEOSENSE LLC 132 Summerset Lndg Hampstead 28443 Agent: Christopher Samuel Hendren

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Wilmington B iz M A G A Z I N E

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To mark the Business Journal’s 20th Anniversary, we’re exploring our business

community’s growth in the past 20 years and what we want it to become in the next 20 years.

The culmination of this 2020 In Biz project will be a keepsake edition of WilmingtonBiz Magazine in September that captures the people, companies and trends that built our region. It will also be available at WilmingtonBizMagazine.com as a digital flipbook.

IN BIZ

Feature your company’s growth and history in the Cape Fear Region, whether it is your 2nd, 20th or 102nd year in business!

CELEBRATING 20 YEARS

PUBLICATION RELEASE: SEPTEMBER 2020 ADVERTISING DEADLINE: JULY 24, 2020

Wilmington B iz

P RO F I L E S i N B U S I N E S S : S p o n s o r e d C o n t e n t

JA M E S E . M O O R E

INSURING BUSINESS SUCCESS

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POTENTIAL

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P RO F I L E S i N B U S I N E S S : S p o n s o r e d C o n t e n t

Jay Wileman Julie Wilsey MIKE ASHCRAFT Carter

Mebane Boyd

Michele Holbrook

Ben David

Chris Boney

Ryan Legg

TIM MILAM Rusty

Chris Coudriet Ken Dull Jeff Earp

Brian Eckel JOHN ELLIOTT

CHANGES THE LANDSCAPE

John Monteith

Shane Fernando Huntley Garriott JIM WALLACE Donna Girardot

Rhonda

Bellamy Bobby Harrelson Randall Johnson Lauren Henderson Dick Jones

Mark Maynard

Chad Paul Chris Reid

Burrows Smith

Swinny Bill Vassar Gwen Whitley Ed Wolverton

Yousry Sayed Jason

SHELBOURN STEVENS Ash

Aziz Tom Clifford Chris Cox Diane Durance Judy Girard

Jeremy Tomlinson

Duane Hixon Jeff James Richard Johnson Michael McWhorter

Carson

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Fred Meyers Dave Nathans Pete Peterson Karl Ricanek Michael

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JENNIFER MCCALL Gus Simmons Dave Spetrino Dave Sweyer

George Taylor Jennifer Turnage Neil Underwood Amy Wright John

FINTECH’S POWER DUO

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INFO BOX VALABEM ETIAM cla nesseni hillem eo, quius condam morio, que ocultorum, cerniqua cio VALABEM ETIAM cla nesseni hillem eo, quius condam morio, que ocultorum, cerniqua cio VALABEM ETIAM cla nesseni hillem eo, quius condam morio, que ocultorum, cerniqua cio VALABEM ETIAM cla nesseni hillem eo, quius condam morio, que ocultorum, cerniqua cio

WHAT’S IN STORE FOR WILMINGTON AS THE RETAIL INDUSTRY CONTINUES TO EVOLVE?

LELAND LOOKS TO REINVENT ITSELF

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KEN DULL, FROM THE GROUND UP

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REDEFINING

Battleship North Carolina recently completed repairs at its visitor center, which was gutted after Hurricane Florence in September. With a new roof, windows, floor and drywall, the center was repaired with spare time before Memorial Day, said Stacie Hidek, marketing director at the World War II battleship attraction, which draws about 300,000 visitors a year.

Meanwhile, repairs to the cofferdam – part of a multiyear project – also have wrapped up, and work to repair the ship’s aging hull is expected to be finished next year.

“We’ve reached our goals for phases one and two of the Generations Campaign to fund the cofferdam and hull repairs,” Hidek said. “We’ve launched phase three, Living with Water, to address recurrent flooding at the battleship site by reintroducing wetlands and living shoreline, and to provide educational opportunities around the natural environment that surrounds the ship.”

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Valabem etiam cla nesseni hillem eo, quius condam morio, que ocultorum, cerniqua cio uscer ut L. Nondite quam paris. muntricipti, comne inatque consus crei ia? inum publicoerum in isqui sentratus re iac opublium se adem. An ducis? Et; hostius, con ti, nostam, que qua const in vilisul vidiens consupero, qua popordi sesta noven viderratus liam inve, et ad fui scitam et L. Habemquons ce conequod conosta tatus virti, vignatu ssimus vivis. Si inatus, et; C. Edit, ut orecultus conloct atiquam virmant.

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HAL KITCHIN Charlie Mattox PAUL COZZA Sandy & Ronnie Mcneill Jeff Morvil

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The Port of Wilmington makes a run to compete at the next level

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THE PUSH TO REBUILD A DIVERSE BUSINESS COMMUNITY

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Greater Wilmington Business Journal

wilmingtonbiz.com

| THE LIST |

Chambers of Commerce

Ranked by number of members RANK

CHAMBER ADDRESS

1

Wilmington Chamber of Commerce One Estell Lee Place Wilmington, NC 28401

2

PHONE EMAIL WEBSITE 762-2611 info@wilmingtonchamber.org www.wilmingtonchamber.org

MEMBERS 2020/ NO. OF BOARD MEMBERS/ MEMBERS 2019 BASE ANNUAL DUES NO. OF EMPLOYEES

BOARD HEAD

TOP ADMINISTRATOR

YEAR FOUNDED

964 982

$500

24 5

Tee Nunnelee Chair

Natalie English President and CEO

1853

754-6644 Brunswick County Chamber of Commerce communications@brunswickcountychamber.org 112 Pine St. www.brunswickcountychamber.org Shallotte, NC 28459

561 550

$295

20 2

Matt Gerrald Chair

Susan Freeman Executive Director

1976

3

Southport-Oak Island Area Chamber of Commerce 4433 Long Beach Road, SE Southport, NC 28461

457-6964 info@southport-oakisland.com www.southport-oakisland.com

525 N/A

$283

15 6

Kim Felts Chair

Karen Sphar Executive Vice President

1978

4

Pleasure Island Chamber of Commerce 1121 North Lake Park Blvd.

Carolina Beach, NC 28428

458-8434 greg@pleasureislandnc.org www.pleasureislandnc.org

400 400

$240

16 2

Lynn Halterman Chair

Greg Reynolds President

1938

5

North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce 497 Olde Waterford Way, Suite 202 Leland, NC 28451

383-0553 nbchamber@nbchamber.net www.nbchamberofcommerce.com

350 350

$225-$600

15 2

Susan Cruse Board President

Dana Fisher Executive Director

2002

6

Greater Topsail Area Chamber of Commerce & Tourism 13775 Hwy. 50, Suite 101 Surf City, NC 28445

329-4446 info@topsailchamber.org www.topsailchamber.org

324 328

$250

12 1

Allicyn Bryan Chair

7

Burgaw Area Chamber of Commerce PO Box 1096/115 S. Dickerson St. Burgaw, NC 28425

259-9817 info@burgawchamber.com www.burgawchamber.com

147 125

$100

11 1

Jimmy Smith President

8

Wrightsville Beach Chamber of Commerce PO Box 466 Wrightsville Beach, NC 28480

256-8116/619-2026 (seasonal) Wrightsvillebeachchamber@gmail.com www.wrightsvillechamber.org

45 72

$175-$425, depending on number of employees

7 0

Susan K. Bulluck Chairwoman

List is based on voluntary responses to a Business Journal survey.

1995

Arwyn Smith Executive Director

1982

1972

Greater Wilmington Business Journal

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July 17 - August 6, 2020

Page 33

Sponsors’ Content

COVID-19 AND THE HOME BUILDING INDUSTRY

[ Discussion Moderator ] S C OT T BY E R S President and CEO Majestic Kitchen & Bath Creations

C R ESS B E LL President Bell Custom Homes

What affect has the COVID-19 pandemic had on homes currently under construction?

SCOTT BYERS: It is a challenging time. Building or renovating a home is a complex process with teams of building professionals. Over the last several months, we have seen delays in materials and products in all aspects of the home.

Initially, the challenge was specific states and the country had work restrictions that created delays in product, along with the challenge of ensuring COVID-19 guidelines are followed during the building process. Guidelines include how many people can be working in the house, cleaning common surfaces, etc. Those challenges have primarily been worked through to a great degree.

We have a Ready Work program that helps to ensure a safe environment, but that puts stress on production and installation teams. Each day you don’t know who is going to be available to work — and they might not be able to work for 14 days. This creates complexity to the already complex process of home building, but our team is really stepping up CRESS BELL: That’s an interesting question.

In short, it has not affected us as much as we expected. We are fortunate to have our industry deemed ‘essential,’ which has allowed us to continue to build homes that we already have started as well as start homes during the pandemic. We have abided by the suggestions in regard to no

C E E E DWA R D S President Markraft Cabinets

human contact and social distancing on all of our job sites. We have also posted these protocols on site as a reminder. We have been limiting the amount of personnel on active jobsites and even more so when the house is dried, and our guys are working in closer proximity to each other.

Honestly, not overlapping crews on projects has probably been the largest adjustment. With a shortage of available homes in our market we haven’t seen any adjustments to costs either. Mostly business as usual. Building at a more custom luxury level, we haven’t seen much of a decrease in the amount of calls or interest for new projects, which is surprising. There is definitely more hesitation and direct conversations about the current market and COVID, but we have found those that were looking to build prior to the pandemic are still motivated to get their dream home going.

We seem to have an added reason for people to move down here into warmer weather and less dense populations now that COVID has become a new reality. I think most see the economic drops as temporary, so they are still optimistic of the future. If COVID continues to swell up as we are seeing, things may slow down in reaction to continued economic issues though. We have always managed our company to minimize debt and control cost, so we feel like we are ready for anything, but hoping for the best!

CEE EDWARDS: During these uncertain times, ensuring that our customers and team members stay safe has been top-of-mind. Our showrooms and design studios have remained open by appointment only in an effort to limit contact

A S H L EY KE NT President Kent Homes

between multiple individuals. Our supply chains have been slightly impacted and we are continuing to fulfill and install our customer orders. Custom design orders and new home installations are still occurring according to schedule as people take advantage of this time to invest in their homes. We’re hopeful that our industry will continue to thrive during this time as well as post-pandemic.

ASHLEY KENT: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kent Homes has seen the following effects on homes under construction: increased difficulty in scheduling trades, minor supply chain issues, some increased difficulty in scheduling closings with our clients moving from another state and some minor delays in build times. Considering the severity of COVID-19, we are asking our project managers to be vigilant by scheduling one trade on a job site at a time, to wear masks and encourage our trade partners to wear masks when social distancing is not possible, sanitize often, etc. Considering we will only allow one trade on the jobsite at a time, if one trade doesn’t hit their scheduled date, it can cause delays and frustration to other trade partners. So, it’s been critical for us to over communicate with trades and our clients to keep them in the loop as we adapt to our new environment. To date, supply chain issues have been relatively minor, but there have been some issues with appliances and light fixtures. Going forward, I expect the supply chain issues to get worse based on conversations we have had with suppliers.

SPONSORS’ CONTENT BROUGHT TO YOU BY MAJESTIC KITCHEN & BATH CREATIONS (910) 762-2225 | www.GoMa jestic.com | 3317 Kitty Hawk Rd #300, Wilmington, NC 28405

Page 34

July 17 - August 6, 2020

Greater Wilmington Business Journal

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RESTAURANT ROUNDUP

BUSINESS OF LIFE

This is a sampling of stories from the Business Journal’s weekly Restaurant Roundup email.

Subscribe at wilmingtonbiz.com.

Editor’s Note: Because of potential changes in restrictions put in place as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, some of the information below might have changed after press time.

Catch reopens as new eatery comes to fruition

Thinking about Selling Your Business?

Contact us for a Confidential Conversation!

REGINA FISHER | BUSINESS BROKER Selling a business is a big decision for a business owner, both financially and emotionally.

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Chef Keith Rhodes has reopened his signature dining destination, Catch, 6623 Market St., to indoor dining.

Despite having been closed for dine-in service since the start of the state’s mandated carryout-only restrictions in mid-March, Rhodes said he and his staff have been hard at work.

The restaurant reopened for dinein service on July 3, having completed a renovation that Rhodes said carried out his wife Angela’s vision for the restaurant.

In other news, Keith Rhodes has leased kitchen space from a popular Market Street bar, Seven Mile Post, for a new venture: Tackle Box Kitchen.

As part of the Tackle Box concept, Keith Rhodes developed an app that allows guests to order and pay from their phones. The Tackle Box menu features burgers made with local shrimp or F1 Wagyu ground beef shipped from a Texas ranch, as well as a signature fried chicken sandwich. Other items include calamari, firecracker shrimp, fried Brussels sprouts and black bean fritters.

Tackle Box Kitchen at Seven Mile Post is a precursor to a brick-andmortar Tackle Box location coming soon to 11 Market St. Keith Rhodes said he is putting the finishing touches on that location.

Molly Pitcher’s welcomes diners on Wrightsville Ave. Chris Graham, former co-owner of Chops Deli, is currently working as a consultant on the newly opened Molly Pitcher’s American Grill, located at 4001 Wrightsville Ave. For 40 years, the space was home to Salt Works II, which closed in 2015, and most recently housed The Roadhouse.

Graham said Molly Pitcher’s is a neighborhood bar and grill featuring a melting pot of American classics.

Guests will find comforting dishes of

meatloaf and fried chicken, burgers, sandwiches and fresh seafood.

Molly Pitcher’s also serves brunch on the weekends, putting a twist on classic dishes such as crab benedict, chicken and waffles, biscuits and gravy and a fried chicken biscuit with homemade pickles.

Molly Pitcher’s has been open for lunch and dinner Wednesday through Friday, starting at 11 a.m., and open for brunch, lunch and dinner on Saturday starting at 11 a.m. Brunch has been served on Sunday until 3 p.m.

The restaurant is closed Monday and Tuesday.

Owners of Smoke House open location in Leland Owners of Southport Smoke House opened a second location in Leland at the end of June.

Like its sister restaurant, the Leland Smoke House serves woodsmoked barbecue and brisket along with a homemade sides and desserts.

The restaurant is currently serving at 50% capacity for dine-in meals, and is also offering online ordering, pick-up, large order delivery and catering.

“One of the things that makes our restaurant unique is that we serve all our meat with a dry rub,” the company’s website states. “We want you to taste the smoky, moist flavor of the meat.”

The Leland Smoke House is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week and is located at 503 Olde Waterford Way, Suite 100. Southport Smoke House is located at 1102 N. Howe St. in Southport.

Couple brings sandwich shop to South 17th Street Potbelly Sandwich Shop franchisees Brent and Michele Brouse opened their Port City location at 2515 S. 17th St., Unit A on July 6.

Potbelly specializes in toasted sandwiches, signature salads, soups, macaroni and cheese and handdipped shakes, all customizable. The Wilmington location has indoor and outdoor seating.

“Now more than ever, individuals in the area are looking to venture to different places and try new restaurants – safely, of course,” Brent Brouse said.

The Potbelly Wilmington location is part of a multi-unit franchise agreement for the development of 13 new shops across North and South Carolina.

-Jessica Maurer

Greater Wilmington Business Journal

wilmingtonbiz.com

July 17 - August 6, 2020

Page 35

SPECIAL FOCUS: TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

BUSINESS OF LIFE

Owners face mask rule reactions

BY JENNY CALLISON or some local small businesses, Gov. Roy Cooper’s mask mandate meant business as usual.

The Transplanted Garden in downtown Wilmington, for example, had been requiring customers to wear both masks and gloves ever since the nursery reopened in midApril.

“We shut down for two weeks at the end of March because I wanted to know how bad and how fast this thing was going to get,” co-owner Tom Ericson said of the novel coronavirus. “Then things seemed to level out, and I emailed my doctor, asking, ‘If we say staff and customers have to wear masks and gloves, would that be okay?’ He said, ‘You should be fine.’”

Ericson’s desire for a gloves rule resulted from his concern about how long the virus reportedly can live on plastic surfaces. So when the Transplanted Garden reopened, it required customers to wear both masks and gloves, and to make shopping appointments. But that proved unwieldy.

“April’s numbers were dismal, and I was spending too much time setting appointments and emailing customers,” he said. “So we gave up on that and just started limiting the number of people on the property at any one time to between 15 and 20.”

The “no mask, no gloves, no service” policy continued until recently and was largely well received, according to Ericson. His sales in May were nearly normal for that month.

In June, he compiled the many positive and thankful messages he had received from customers and shared the feedback with his staff of seven.

Not that there haven’t been complaints. There was a woman who didn’t bring gloves and was asked to leave. She kicked over some plastic plant trays on her way out.

“Most of our customers are thanking us for what we’re doing,” Ericson said.

Earlier this month, however, Ericson decided to rescind the gloves requirement at the request of his staff.

“They are really getting harassed by customers,” Ericson said in an email July 9. “So, as of tomorrow, we will no longer be requiring gloves.”

When the governor’s mask man-

F

PHOTO BY MICHAEL CLINE SPENCER

No mask, no service: Michael Swindal (left) helps The Transplanted Garden customer Stephanie Garrett with her purchase. The business asked customers to wear a mask before it became a statewide requirement for retailers last month.

date went into effect June 26, Peggy Mahan didn’t know quite what to expect. Mahan, owner of paper goods store Occasions … Just Write in downtown Wilmington, posted a notice on the door of her Cotton Exchange establishment and stocked up on disposable paper masks.

“I have not had any issues,” she reported. “One woman came in without mask. I offered her a mask, but she was not inclined to wear one, so she left.”

There is a sign on the door of Soif de Vin, a wine merchant in Monkey Junction, that says masks are required.

“Most people have been pretty reasonable,” said Shawn Underwood, husband of owner Amy Siler. “The majority of people have come in with their own mask. If they don’t, we have a stack by the front door and give them one. I think a lot of people are already used to the concept. A lot were already wearing one before the governor mandated masks. We wish he had mandated them earlier but are glad he finally did. We have not had any fights.”

Siler corrected him: “I did have one fight, when a woman called and

said, ‘Such-and-such wine bar is open, why aren’t you?’”

Although Soif de Vin is a wine bar, it is not pouring wine for consumption on the premises, Siler said, explaining that her business is selling sealed bottles only, and its wine tastings are done via Zoom. The store provides walk-in, curbside and delivery services only, “until the [COVID] numbers change,” Siler added.

When the New Hanover County Health Department offered a COVID-19 online informational course, Siler took it and then passed a test that certified her as knowledgeable about the pandemic-related regulations and committed to following them. Her certificate is affixed to the front door at Soif de Vin. When phase two of North Carolina’s reopening process allowed Capelli Salon in Leland to serve clients again, it – like salons everywhere in the state – had very specific requirements to follow in addition to a mask requirement for all employees and customers.

“The regulations allow you to have 12 people for every 1,000 square feet of space,” said co-owner Denise Brugnone. “We are allowed to

have as many as 24, but we keep it to about 20, which is one client per stylist and two people up front.”

Before entering the shop, clients have their temperature taken and logged. Brugnone said that precaution is not required by the state, but she believes it improves safety. Her staff schedule appointments to allow time for sanitizing surfaces between clients. And there’s a large hand sanitizer station as people come in the door.

“You wouldn’t believe how many people just walk around it,” she said with a laugh. “We have to ask them to go back and sanitize.”

Mask-wearing has posed one challenge for Capelli Salon stylists.

“We’re visual people; we want to look at the client’s face, the shape, the eye color, because we take all of that into consideration when we style, especially if it’s a new look for them,” Brugnone said. “The mask hides part of that. But now it’s like second nature for us.”

In general, clients have been “very compliant and happy,” according to Brugnone. “Only one gentleman refused to wear a mask and I refused to let him in.”

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