loleniacz@heraldsun.com; 419-6636
DURHAM -- Sandwiched in by a major interstate, a bustling boulevard and a cluster of shopping centers, the Straw Valley development has a unique architectural feature that developer Scott Bednaz doesn't want see go to waste.
Bednaz said he fell in love with a home, a former artists' residence, that's hidden from view of the cars going to-and-fro on U.S. 15-501 near the New Hope Commons shopping center.
The home is located behind two contemporary commercial buildings off 15-501, or Durham Chapel Hill Boulevard, that make up Straw Valley. The buildings there were built before the development that now surrounds them, and were once an art destination.
Bednaz said his development plans for the property are stalled, and he doesn't want to see the home deteriorate.
So he said he's moving forward with renovation work -- paid for out of his own pocket -- of a bay at one of the two commercial buildings on the site to open the Straw Valley Café and Wine shop there. He plans to open part of the former artists' residence that's located behind that building as extra seating for the café.
Bednaz is the owner of the Raleigh-based development company Tallus Investment Group. The company bought property at 5420 Durham Chapel Hill Blvd. in Straw Valley for $1.5 million about four years ago.
The building is now home to the furniture consignment shop Once & Again, a shop owned by Bednaz's parents, who moved the store from a location in the South Square area to Straw Valley.
Another company Bednaz owns, 5420 Investment Group, took steps to buy the neighboring property at 5504 Durham Chapel Hill Blvd. He said the company has the building under contract.
The buildings at that 5504 address are leased to a farm-to-table restaurant Pomegranate Kitchen, a hair salon, fitness business, and a latin club.
Bednaz said the original plan was to partner with a hotel developer to build a boutique hotel on a nearby property at the intersection of I-40 and 15-501. He said he also planned to renovate the existing buildings into office, restaurant and retail space, and the home into a banquet and wedding facility.
Bednaz said a combination of the economic downturn and difficulties with access to construction loans stalled those plans. He said in the interim, there have been break-ins and damage to the home and its interior -- all of which he said led to his plan to open the café there in July, selling chocolates bakery products, coffee, and serving wine and beer.
"We have two options on this: We could let it sit here and rot, or I could inject my own money into it and bring it up, so at least we're using it and it's not rotting," he said.
In the home, Bednaz said he has plans to feature contemporary furniture from Once & Again that would be for-sale, as well as artwork. Bednaz said he wants to showcase the art as a tribute to the property's history.
The residence was home to two artists, Robert Black and J. Ormond Sanderson, according to previous reports in The Herald-Sun, that was on land in the Sanderson family once used as a dairy farm. Bednaz said the family owned a large chunk of land at one time that was divided up by the road construction, and later sold off to developers.
Black and Sanderson, who started out leasing on the property and became owners, built the building at 5420 Durham Chapel Hill Blvd. in 1968, according to the reports, and the neighboring building was built in 1972. The two buildings housed art galleries and art-related businesses, including the architecture firm Cogswell-Hausler, that designed the two buildings that make up the 5504 address.
Chapel Hill architect Dail Dixon said he worked with that firm. He said the firm occupied the back portion, while the front was housed an interior designer and a gallery. He said the building that housed the firm is "beautifully lit" with windows on the second floor that wrap around three sides.
Dixon said he hopes to see the buildings and the Straw Valley complex well-preserved, but he said he does believe there are access issues with the property.
Jan Gregg said she was one of the original partners in what was the Straw Valley Craft House who said the site worked well for her shop.
"When we started this was just the beginning of the studio craft movement," she said. "We needed a place to sell our work. That's why we started the business. And so, this was a beautiful place for us to exhibit what we were doing."
Bob Ashley, executive director of Preservation Durham, said the property is an important link to a different time and place 40 years ago.
"It's an iconic little cluster of buildings off of the edge of the highway, and it's great to see it being adapted and reused and preserved," he said.
