17 acres on which former Craftique Furniture manufacturing facility stands was sold on May 19 for $2.2 million.
ATM Storage, LLC, out of Semora, NC, bought the facility, located at 1257 West Center St., on Wednesday from WM Capital Partners, LCC, a New York City company.
The property is situated near the intersection of the new NC 119 Bypass, currently under construction, and US-70 West.
TexTrail, Inc., a trailer part distributor, currently leases roughly 30,000 square feet of the existing facility. However, plans for redevelopment are in progress for the reminder of the property.
Craftique Furniture, started in 1946, specialized in mahogany furniture. The business shut down in 2012.
There is no word on what the redevelopment plans entail.
The sale was handled by Massey Commercial Real Estate, a large commercial real estate brokerage firm in Burlington established in 1962.
Mebane’s downtown restaurant scene recently has been grabbing headlines on an almost weekly basis, and this week is no different as the Wooden Nickel’s long-awaited opening has finally happened. Late last week, the popular Hillsborough restaurant that has for years coaxed Mebane residents to travel about 15 minutes east, stealthily opened for lunch Friday, and operated full business hours through the weekend.
“Our whole team is ecstatic to finally open the pub in Mebane,” said Matt Fox, one of the owners and operators of the Wooden Nickel, and the owner of Wooden Nickel Farms that supplies the restaurants. “So many of us already live and play here and it feels great to become a part of the business community and be invested in such a great town.”
In fall 2021, Fox confirmed to the Mebane Enterprise that ownership had been considering the former Dick & Jane’s Tapas & Martini Bar location as a site for a second Wooden Nickel restaurant. At that time, with much of the country mired in Covid-19 restrictions, staff shortages and pandemic-related supply chain issues, Fox said he was in no real hurry to expand.
Nearly a year later, the Wooden Nickel owners, which includes Fox, Dean James and Chef John Horn, announced official plans to open in Mebane. And now, after more than a year of delays and an almost daily barrage of “when are you gonna open in Mebane?” inquiries, the Nickel’s culture and mouth-watering meals are now available in Mebane.
“It’s been a long ride to get to our opening day Friday, but I feel like we needed to take our time for several reasons,” Fox said. “One, to not lose focus on our guests and team at our Hillsborough location. Since Covid, we’ve been fortunate to have kept a pretty busy restaurant and we needed to make sure that the pub and our farm were being taken care of. Second, we wanted to make sure we got the infrastructure and feel of the space as right as we could from Day 1.”
The interior received a complete overhaul and an enclosed outside dining area was added. But it’s not unusual for the anticipated openings for restaurants and other retailers to encounter lengthy delays, especially when the project involves a historic buildings, where repairing one need can unearth other, previously unknown issues.
“We certainly have some tweaks to work through,” Fox added, “but our contractor, Angie Bartis, and his team have set us up with a space that feels great and functions like we need it to. Everyone with the town and county was great to work with as well. Our delays in opening were strictly a result of us trying our best to get everything right for the long run.”
The Wooden Nickel’s opening adds to an arsenal of quality dining options in Mebane’s downtown, including Junction On 70, Crafted, Bright Penny Brewing and 2 Twelve Seasonal Kitchen + Bar. Three weeks ago, Junction On 70 owner Steve Krans officially closed the deal on the purchase of Martinho’s Bakery and Deli.
On the downside, just outside of downtown, Huey’s Restaurant and Oyster Bar recently announced it would be closing its doors in December. That site has been sold to another restaurant group.
But as the holidays descend on Mebane, and celebratory events fill nearly each weekend for the next month or so, local residents will be showing appreciation for its newest dining option.
“From the beginning,” Fox said, “we’ve looked at this project as a marathon, not a sprint. We hope to be serving Mebane for many years to come.”
The Wooden Nickel is at 109 W. Clay St. in Mebane.
On Monday, November 13, elected officials from the City of Mebane, the City of Graham, and the Alamance County Board of Commissioners attended the Alamance Chamber’s groundbreaking ceremony for Crow Holdings Development’s new 248,000 square foot warehouse and 156,000 square foot warehouse in Mebane’s North Carolina Commerce Park.
“The City of Mebane is delighted to have Crow Holdings Development become a partner and support the city's economic growth,” read a statement on the City of Mebane’s Facebook page.
Mebane leaders approved in December 2022 a proposal from Crow Holdings Development to rezone a 78-acre tract of land in the N.C. Commerce Park in order to construct three warehouses along Sen. Ralph Scott Parkway.
The November 13 groundbreaking ceremony celebrated the start of construction on two warehouses.
A third warehouse, proposed to be approximately 279,000 square feet, was anticipated to be constructed at a later date, but the project was scaled back to two warehouses totaling approximately 404,000 square feet and 79 truck bays.
The third warehouse that was scrapped would have required two entrances, including a special cars-only entrance for employees adjacent to the I-40/I-85 freeway corridor, as well as a tractor-trailer entrance that would have been adjacent to a new intersection when Lowe’s Boulevard ultimately extends down to Trollingwood-Hawfields Road.
The site of the proposed third warehouse is now expected to be developed into a Buc’ee’s Travel Plaza. That project will likely come before the Mebane Planning Board and Mebane City Council at some point in 2024.
“Congratulations to Crow Holdings Development and the entire team for breaking ground on two distribution buildings in North Carolina Commerce Park,” read a statement from Choate Construction Company.
“Together these state-of-the-art, cross-dock facilities feature 79 truck bays and more than 400,000 SF of space within the 1,200-acre property. Located where two major interstates converge, this industrial park is a collective effort by the cities of Mebane and Graham, and Alamance County to continue bolstering the local economy and serving the region's logistics needs.”
Some of the speakers at the groundbreaking ceremony included Mebane Mayor Ed Hooks, Graham Mayor Jennifer Talley, Alamance County Commissioners Chair John Paisley, Alamance Chamber President and CEO Reagan Gural, Crow Holdings Development Managing Director Matt Cochrane, as well as representatives from Hager Smith Design and Fred Smith Company, who are consulting on the project.
Crow Holdings Development, a Texas-based real estate development company specializing in multifamily, industrial, and office development opportunities, has established more than 285,000 multifamily units since 1977. The foundation of CHD’s firm is industrial development, with more than 68 million square feet of industrial space established since 2013, helping to support e-commerce and minimize supply chain disruptions.
Crow Holdings has been developing aggressively in North Carolina in recent years, as the company also broke ground in 2021 on a 2-million square foot warehouse industrial park complex in Lincoln County.
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