DURHAM, NC – Wendy Clark has re-christened the former hosiery mill, farmer’s cooperative and now non-profit and entrepreneurial business community, The John O’Daniel Exchange (www.BelovedCommunityNC.com). Small-business owner Wendy Clark have transformed a 92-year-old building near the Cleveland-Holloway neighborhood into a busy small business and nonprofit center, home to burgeoning ventures and a host of workshops enriching the local entrepreneurial community.
"We have created a space that for entrepreneurs just starting out or non profits that serve the community and need an affordable, accessible place to do business,” Clark said. "We feel like it's a good opportunity for businesses and local people to either start up something or something that would serve the community and thereby reinvest in that area."
In September of 2008, Clark purchased the 14,500-square-foot building at 801 Gilbert St. for $275,000. As Lewis & Clark Community Developers LLC, she has put an additional one million into the renovations. Lewis & Clark was able to secure a commercial revitalization grant of $177,000 from the city of Durham and secure the rest of the financing from BB&T. Their first tenants moved in May, 2009 and the Exchange is now home to six for-profit businesses including Carpe Diem and six non-profit, such as Durham Cares and World Relief. There is office space for five more tenants and six more single users in the center’s co-working spaces.
To celebrate the Exchange’s opening, Clark is throwing a party for the tenants, the community and business leaders on Saturday, November 21 from 3 to 5 o’clock. Attendees can tour the building, meet the tenants, enjoy a back-country barbecue, while listening to the sounds of Louis Mays and children at play on a host of activities and games planned for the event.
Clark, 35, comes into the project with ample knowledge of the difficulties of starting a small business and keeping it alive. She founded her business, Carpe Diem Cleaning Inc. with just $100 and three clients when she was only 20 years old. Steadily, she has grown it to what it is today, with 25 employees and a client roster of 400 homes and businesses.
For the past nine years, she has also lived in Northeast Central Durham and made combating poverty a priority in her life. "I thought about how I could support other people in business," she said. "The more a dollar passes through a community, the wealthier a community is."
Rents will be kept low. Co-working space starts at $175 per month. Office rents range from $295 to $595 a month for 180-430 square feet, which includes wireless access, work center, conference rooms, and rental storage and multipurpose rooms, including a meeting space with 90-person capacity.