uptown update - big time!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 10:33AM Update from Jake Householder with excerpts from Paul Risler:
February has been a particularly busy month for us in the progress of our Uptown Location at 29 Carpenter St., so we wanted to keep you abreast of all the many happenings going down as of late. The following entry is loosely transcribed from the update that Paul gave this past weekend, so if you missed out or just need a review, this is all crucial information to know as we continue into this exciting endeavor together. Apologies for the lack of brevity, but there’s a lot of information to convey, and many exciting developments to talk about!
;)
In general, things are moving along really well with Carpenter. You may hear us begin to refer to Carpenter as our “Uptown Location” and Central Avenue as our “West Side Location”. We want to be able to distinguish the two sites, but still communicate that we are one church, existing in multiple locations.
As you might guess, doing the budgeting for the remodeling of a 100-year-old warehouse is not quite an exact-science. We had a general budget going into this, but are now narrowing that down. As could be expected, getting hard numbers for the work that we have to do is sort of like nailing Jell-O to a wall.
Thankfully, some of the things are turning out to be cheaper than what we had thought originally; however other things are coming out more expensive. Right now, we’re narrowing bids down and working with contractors to get some hard estimates particularly for the upstairs apartments so that we can lease those spaces as soon as possible, thus eliminating some of the immediate financial need that this project has presented.
Most of what we have done at this point is a lot of basic planning and demolition. We are submitting for our work permits this week, at which point, we can start to realize some of the aesthetic vision behind this project, and get to putting things back together in both the apartments and the sanctuary space.
As for the downstairs retail space, we have been in the process of seeking potential tenants for a while. The hope was to get this space rented out quickly so that it would be income-producing and that we would be good stewards of the space and our resources – but that is not its only purpose. How we treat the retail space is also part of a larger vision to bring Central into the heart of the city of Athens, and to partner with our tenants in creating a thriving space where community happens.
We are very pleased to report that we have signed a one-year lease with local Athens business, Inhale Yoga. Michelle Stobart, owner of Inhale, is very excited about the opportunity that this move will provide to the business and its community of patrons, and we are excited about partnering with her and her staff in livening up our little piece of Athens together. Inhale is currently working on the painting and beautification of their space with a scheduled opening date of March 1st.
Just a word about this decision – we understand that, for many Christians, the practice of Yoga can be a bit of a grey area. Among Central’s staff and leadership we discussed this at length, and while there are folks who land on either side, we agreed that no matter what we felt about Yoga, we really wanted to use this space – both the retail and the warehouse – as a place to connect with the heart of this community. We wanted to break down barriers – to not be afraid to do life with people throughout this city, regardless of real or perceived differences in theology, creed, or lifestyle.
For us, Inhale fits this vision really well and we’re very excited to strike this partnership with them.
This move will prove to be a big switch for us as a body – something that we’ll all have to think a lot about in the months to come. We need to start seeing this Uptown Location as fundamentally different from our Westside Location on Central Avenue. The Carpenter property is a shared space with community, and so what we do there will be different from what we do on Central Avenue, and we just need to be aware of that as we continue down this path together.
On to a few more nuts & bolts type of things…
With the retail storefront taking up a large portion of the front-facing real estate of the building, there have been some questions raised as to whether people might be confused about where the entrance to the warehouse/sanctuary space is versus the Yoga studio. In the photo and blueprint below, you can see the storefront on the left, and a white garage door on the right. The garage door will become the entrance to the warehouse space.
;)
We will be putting in a beautiful glass garage door on which we can feature signage for Central, service times, etc. Just beyond the glass garage door threshold will be a small pseudo-outdoor seating area, followed by a proper set of swinging doors, which will be the ultimate entrance to the warehouse space when it is occupied.
So, that’s some of the basics of the retail and warehouse space and the work that we’ll be doing there in the months to come. Stay tuned for an update on the upstairs apartments and further information on the progress of our various demolitions and constructions.
And finally, if you’re interested in lending your hammer to this exciting project, we are having a workday at our Uptown Location (29 Carpenter St.) this Saturday, Feb. 26th, from 9:00am until mid-afternoon. If you have any experience in constructing stud walls or have any of the tools with which to do so, your presence could be particularly helpful this weekend.
Hope this finds you well and having a great middle of your week! We’ll look forward to seeing you soon – maybe even this Saturday at 9:00am!
Reader Comments (1)
I am so happy for you guys! Talk about breaking down barriers! Reminds me of what Jesus said to Peter, "...even the gates of Hell shall not be able to prevail against you!" (my paraphrase) Not that a warehouse is by any means a gate of Hell :-), but you are locating closer to the Campus Gate! (Maybe it's closer to a gate of Hell during Finals Week.) Anyway, congratulations on your new expansion! Central is bound for great things!