Claire Haslam, who had returned to North Carolina from Australia and was in sports medicine, and Doug Williams, who is a steel and crane industry executive, were living in a loft in the lower mill and heard that Jordan was planning to develop the rest of the upper mill with commercial space and condominiums. “Living in the apartments, we knew what a great environment we lived in. The windows are big and look out on the river and there is this really genuine interaction with nature and people,” Haslam explains. “Mac’s goal was to build a community; we saw this by living there and wanted to be part of it.” Not only did Haslam and Williams decide to purchase a condo in the upper mill, but they also offered to develop what would become The Eddy Pub, a warm, family-friendly space that is reminiscent of traditional English pubs.
Haslam and Williams partnered with Jeff Barney, a local butcher and food artisan, and Cameron Ratliff, a local teacher turned baker, on The Eddy Pub and Saxapahaw General Store. Barney acts as The Eddy Pub’s chef, creating traditional pub fare. The store and pub are dedicated to serving unique entrees utilizing local ingredients.
Although the enthusiastic ownership team had great expectations for the redevelopment of the mill, there was a lot of confusion in the beginning. “We would hold meetings and walk through the mill and become really frustrated trying to be architects,” Williams recalls. “When we chose the architectural firm, which was Alphin Design Build [Raleigh, N.C.], and Will Alphin brought in Clearscapes [Raleigh]
because of the size of the project, they brought formality to the programming of the space. Everybody could breathe.”
Fred Belledin, AIA, principal of Clearscapes, says the ownership team was extraordinary in its vision and commitment to development of the upper mill. He explains: “We’re used to clients who want to build a bar, event center or hotel, but this group said they wanted to build a village. They had their own desires for their individual spaces, but they put the broader success of the group before their individual needs. Most of the owners hadn’t done anything like this before, so we dealt with various skillsets and life experiences that came together around this common idea of making a community— a place that mattered.”
Charlie Wilson, project manager with CT Wilson Construction, Durham, N.C., adds: “Different people aren’t always going to have the same opinion. There was a lot of time and effort on decisions, so everybody felt like it was fair for the group and project as a whole. Obviously, there was a lot of compromise involved, but I think it worked well. They started this project as friends, and they’re all still friends.”
Design and Construction
The design began with a number of informal meetings. Alphin; Belledin; and Chris Johnson, project architect for Clearscapes, would meet the ownership team at the upper mill and discuss ideas. Each team member was involved in choosing where his and/or her business would take shape inside the expansive, empty mill space. In fact, some businesses were better suited to certain areas of the mill than others.
“The upper mill was a collection of mid-century buildings that had been expanded over time. It was built with, frankly, whatever material was least costly at the time,” Belledin notes. “The upside is because each building was built differently, each space has its own personality. The pub, which was designed to be warm and cozy, is in a space with a lot of wood as opposed to the Haw River Ballroom, which is more like a warehouse and is in a space with a lot of steel trusses. Because all the spaces are of generally the same vintage, the patina of time has a way of softening the differences and tying them all together.”