Greensboro stonemason Len Malave visited South End a
few months ago to work with a client at the Design Center of the
Carolinas.
Now, Malave is opening The Stone Library, an
educational center for designers, builders and consumers incorporating
what he believes will be the world's largest collection of natural stone.
The two-story library, housed in a former boiler
room, is one more building block in what South End developer Tony Pressley
of MECA Properties calls "a vertical economy" focused on
design-related and home furnishings businesses.
Pressley began pushing the concept about five years
ago -- attending national trade shows, staging events and mailing
brochures -- but he didn't learn until recently how effective the effort
has been.
A door-by-door survey of South End, conducted over
the summer by UNC Charlotte architectural intern Mike Harvey, turned up
125 design-related businesses, including home accessories suppliers,
interior designers, architects, showrooms and art galleries.
"The degree of success was fascinating,"
Pressley said. "Without anybody looking, without any chamber
recruiting, we have built this vertical economy in a relatively short
period of time."
The businesses are scattered throughout South End --
South Boulevard, Hawkins Street, Tryon Street, Camden Road, etc. -- but
the "epicenter" is The Design Center of the Carolinas, he said.
That's a 200,000-square-foot complex that covers a
block of Worthington Avenue and includes the old Nebel Knitting Mill
(former home of the Spaghetti Warehouse) and two other industrial
buildings.
Growth seems to be snowballing, Pressley said, as
design-related companies arrive in South End and begin doing business with
one another.
That's what happened with The Stone Library and
Malave, president of Greensboro-based Granite & Marble by Malave.
SouthEast Appliances, which leased 4,126 square feet
in the Design Center, brought him to Charlotte to help with installation
of stone countertops and backsplashes for its showroom appliances.
Another South End tenant, Ferguson Bath Kitchen and
Lighting Gallery, distributes his stone products, and local architects and
interior designers are now tapping into his family's three generations of
experience.
The library, which will display more than 3,000
types of stone, will conduct educational seminars showing "what it
takes to get the stone from the ground to the house," Malave said.
Consumers run into problems, he said, when they buy
stone for color without understanding composition and durability.
Manager Laura Thompson is showing products and
taking orders at the library and showroom, 101 W. Worthington Ave., but
construction workers are still finishing the interior.
Malave said the official opening likely will be in
November.
The company's arrival gives MECA Properties leverage
to use in recruiting more design-related firms to South End's renovated
mill buildings and warehouses.
"When someone comes in, we ask them, `Who else
would you like to see here?' " Pressley said. "And then we go
out and contact those companies and see if they are interested."
To spur more communication among businesses and
facilitate referrals within South End, MECA Properties is printing the
entire list of design center merchants pinpointed by the survey and
showing their locations on a map.
Pressley plans to begin distributing 10,000 copies
to South End merchants next week. (Contact MECA Properties,
