By Gene Galin
Pittsboro, NC – The “3 Guys from Pittsboro” came to Chatham Marketplace for lunch with Chris Ehrenfeld and to have a conversation about his recent purchase of Chatham Mills. Before anyone asked about leases, we sorted out sandwiches, talked Northwood basketball and laughed over a locally made pepper sauce. Then, looking out toward the road, we got to a question every new visitor might ask: Why is it so easy to drive past this place without seeing it?
Ehrenfeld, owner and chief executive of BOLD Companies, told us he wants to trim the trees obscuring the historic mill, attend to deferred maintenance and bring businesses into its vacant rooms. He said talks with a prospective gym were far along and that he had encouraged Chatham Marketplace to consider outdoor music. At the time of our lunch, neither the gym nor a music program were a done deal.
Those updates matter to a property with its own place in Pittsboro’s daily life. People come here for groceries, meals, work, fitness, classes and events. Some visit once a month; others know the building as part of their weekly routine. Ehrenfeld wants more of them to see Chatham Mills as a place to linger. Our September 17 “3 guys from Pittsboro having lunch” conversation offered a glimpse of how the new owner thinks that could happen, and of the local relationships he will have to work with to make it happen.
The kind of conversation that happens here
We never set up a formal presentation at our lunches. One of us ordered a bánh mì, another chicken pesto, and a mix-up over a Reuben and a Cuban became a running joke. After we ate, the pickled beets on Eric’s Reuben sandwich generated their own debate. That may sound far removed from commercial real estate. At Chatham Marketplace, it was a fitting start: We were discussing the future of a place while taking part in its present life.
Northwood girls basketball came up before tree trimming. Greg Stafford recounted talking with Tommy Snipes about an incoming player he expected to be strong in the middle. Around this table, sports are part of the regular traffic of local news. A few minutes later, I was holding up a bottle of Cackalaky pepper sauce, made nearby, and we joked about whether an unscheduled mention counted as an endorsement.
The Chatham Marketplace itself helps create that setting. The cooperative opened on May 18, 2006, after years of local organizing and fundraising. Owned by community members, it supports local farmers and community engagement as part of its purpose. For many residents, it is their first reason to turn into the mill property.
A clearer view from Hillsboro Street
Chris said current tenants had pointed out that trees make the building hard to see from the road. People who have shopped at the co-op for years know where to turn. A first-time visitor may pass the property without realizing what is behind the greenery. We could see the issue from where we were sitting.
“When you’re driving by, it’s hard to see the building,” he said. His immediate plan is to trim and shape trees so drivers can see Chatham Mills and the marketplace more clearly. Amid some teasing about an unrelated tree-cutting story at the rear of the SoCo property at the Pittsboro traffic circle, he made a distinction: “We’re not actually taking down the trees. We’re going to limb them up.”
He hoped to start some of that work within roughly a week of our Sept. 17 conversation. Branches overhanging the building would require heavier equipment and could take longer. Ehrenfeld said an insurer had identified some limbs that needed to be cut back. Within a few days of our lunch Chris had the trim work done.
He also listed power washing, landscaping and other maintenance among early improvements. He acknowledged work had been deferred, but did not provide a complete timetable. Asked about signs, he said the existing ones would remain for now. He expects to consider more signage within Pittsboro’s rules.
For a longtime customer, washing a wall or cutting back a branch may seem less exciting than a new restaurant. For an existing tenant, the practical question is whether visitors can find the business and feel welcome approaching it.
How much of the mill is waiting for a use?
We asked Chris to walk through the available space. His rough accounting was about 77,000 square feet in the building: approximately 40,000 occupied, 27,000 vacant and another 10,000 used for storage.
About 7,000 square feet near the front is space that has been occupied before. Ehrenfeld said BOLD was in “final talks” with a gym for it and expressed strong confidence an agreement would be reached.
Around the table, the idea led quickly to a picture of everyday visits. An early gym class might bring someone to the property before the lunch rush. That person might discover the market or return for dinner another day. A gym member and a grocery shopper might become customers of each other’s favorite businesses. To us, the potential crossover makes sense.
“We definitely want to activate the place,” Chris said. He wants businesses that draw more people and help make the mill useful at different hours. It is an ambition that a gym could advance.
Two larger spaces, each roughly 10,000 square feet, make up about 20,000 square feet of the area Chris called vacant. He said those rooms have never been occupied in their present commercial configuration. No prospective tenant was named for either. Preparing such large rooms for a particular business could involve more than putting a sign on a door; access, interior work and building systems will depend on what a future tenant proposes.
Chris described a separate level between the upper and lower floors that is used for storage. Once it is cleared and cleaned, he believes roughly 10,000 square feet could serve businesses needing overflow space.
Making room to stay after the shopping is done
Ehrenfeld said he had met with the Chatham Marketplace board the night before our lunch. He encouraged the board to consider live music outdoors on Friday or Saturday evenings and said members would look into it. The co-op would have to determine whether, when and how such events fit its operation.
“Make us a nice third place where we can hang out,” Chris said. By that he meant somewhere to spend time outside home and work, rather than a destination for one quick errand. We imagined a day that could include a morning workout, grocery shopping, a meal and an evening gathering.
Existing tenants already give the property varied rhythms. Along with Chatham Marketplace, there’s The Sycamore restaurant, 39 West Catering, Forest Hall, Deep Water Jujitsu, Magnolia Roots Luxury Salon Suites, Chatham Social Dance and Xyzagen. Their customers do not all arrive at the same hour or for the same reason. A new use that complements them could bring introductions across the property.
More visits also require practical coordination. Shoppers, diners, workers, event guests and gym members would need access and parking. Outdoor music could raise questions of timing and shared space.
From woven labels to a local destination
Chatham Mills began as a woven-label factory in the 1920s and operated until 1997. The Chatham County Historical Association says the operation eventually used 180 Jacquard narrow-fabric shuttle looms. Its photograph of workers at the machines brings the old industrial building back into focus as a workplace, not merely an attractive setting for lunch.
After manufacturing ended, Tom Roberts acquired the property and converted the buildings to the mix of commerce and gathering uses familiar today. Chris now inherits both the appeal of the historic structure and the obligations that come with an aging building.
He told us he had admired the property for years. Growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he had seen warehouses adapted for new uses. Their character stayed with him. As his involvement in commercial real estate grew in North Carolina, Chatham Mills appealed to him as both a building and an investment.
Ehrenfeld said he had let Roberts know over the past couple of years that he would be interested if the mill were ever for sale. Roberts initially declined, according to Chris. Then, roughly six months before our lunch at the Chatham Marketplace, Roberts called to say he was thinking about selling. Ehrenfeld described the deal as a way for Roberts to retire while passing the property to someone ready to improve it.
The new owner said he bought the property “as is” and knew there was maintenance to address. He also spoke with appreciation for Roberts’ long work there. He recalled bringing his mother through the building’s less visible areas; the high ceilings and wood beams impressed her. She called the place “incredible,” Chris said.
Our conversation moved into stories about difficulties on other building projects. Greg and Eric recounted an experience involving underground tanks under Justic Motors. We also speculated briefly about how the old factory was powered without settling the question.
What is plain from visiting is that the mill’s old construction remains part of its draw. The rooms and beams give new businesses a setting they could not easily duplicate in a modern storefront.
The local network around the deal
Our lunch eventually turned to Chris’ real-estate brokerage. He said BOLD Real Estate had received a Best of Chatham award from Chatham Magazine, a recognition he valued because referrals from local residents are important to his business. He mentioned that the brokerage has about 15 full-time real-estate professionals, most of them Chatham County residents. His mother is among the agents, he said, and we talked about what it is like for family members to work together.
Then the discussion circled to my own publishing history. We remembered the print Chatham Journal, its advertising and the effect of the 2008 downturn. I mentioned that the Chatham Chatlist listserv has about 6,400 subscribers and was going out to Chatlist members Monday through Saturday. I even revisited the decision to put classifieds on Fridays because Chatlist readers wanted to plan Saturday purchases.
In an earlier conversation I had with Chris, he described a longer horizon for the 32-acre site: Fill the mill’s vacant rooms and develop a plan for the surrounding property over several years.
Chris wants drivers to see the mill, tenants to have a better-maintained property and vacant rooms to find uses. The gym conversation sounded promising to him, but it was still a conversation. Music outdoors was an idea he had put to the marketplace board, not an event we could put on a calendar.
An old factory found a second life because people made room in it for everyday Pittsboro. Our lunch was one small example of that life. The measure of Chris’ next chapter will be whether more people can discover it, spend time there and still recognize what made Chatham Mills a local gathering place in the first place.