As demolition continues at University Place mall, developers say they’re excited about the future of the property – but in the meantime, the changes are affecting some of the mall’s current tenants, who find themselves having to look for new spaces.
That includes the FRANK Art Gallery, which is closing its doors at the mall on Thursday, March 16, ahead of a relocation to Carrboro – the gallery’s second relocation since its founding back in 2010.
The gallery will not be closed for long: it’s slated to reopen in downtown Carrboro on March 28. Before the move, though, 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck spoke with gallery manager Natalie Knox.
Click here to listen to their conversation.
Natalie Knox (right) spoke with Aaron Keck ahead of Frank Gallery’s move to Carrboro.
Aaron Keck: Where are you moving to?
Natalie Knox: We’re going to be where Cameron’s used to be, next to Iza Whiskey & Eats and Hickory Tavern.
Keck: And Cameron’s also used to be in U-Mall.
Knox: Yeah, we’re basically just following in their footsteps.
Keck: What makes the new space great?
Knox: We’re going to have a storefront. We’ve been really fortunate here in our time at University Place… (but) we’re just excited to have a storefront again, be in the liveliness of Carrboro. There’s a lot of great things in Carrboro already and a lot of wonderful things coming – the new ArtsCenter building, the new library. We’re going to be next to WomanCraft and Peel, which are awesome galleries too. So we’re just really excited about the arts district that we feel like we’re adding to in that area…
And I’m excited because I’m in the gallery almost every day – so I’m excited to be able to see the sun again, and have a storefront, and have people recognize us when they’re driving or walking by. And I’m personally glad to be able to grab a cup of coffee at Gray Squirrel anytime.
Keck: When did you start looking?
Knox: We started looking probably about six months ago.
Keck: Are you keeping the shrine in the back? You should keep the shrine in the back.
Knox: I think that’s a really great idea – a nod to the Cameron’s shrine. We’ll see. There’s a lot of exciting things in store.
Keck: For people who don’t know the FRANK gallery and the work that you do, tell us about it?
Knox: We’re a very unique organization: we’re also a nonprofit as well as a fine art contemporary art gallery. So we do a lot of outreach programming, we do artist talks and opening receptions, and every Sunday some of the artists (on) our outreach committee work with a Karen youth art group, teaching them how to do art. We’ve had a lot of graduates of that group that have since gone off to college with art degrees.
Keck: So FRANK is one of several businesses moving out of University Place – and there are lots of other examples, where older buildings are getting taken down and redeveloped and businesses have to suddenly look for new locations. What are your thoughts about (having) just gone through this?
Knox: You know, it’s not ideal. When we first moved into this space, we thought we were going to be here for a longer time. The space that we’re in is really beautiful, it’s designed by Phil Szostak, who also designed DPAC, so it’s a really nice space. And we’ve been fortunate in our time here. But yeah, it wasn’t something that we initially thought was going to happen, and it is a bit of a disappointment that we can’t stay in this space – because it’s eventually going to be taken down, so we’re just getting ahead of it. We’d probably be able to (stay) a little bit longer, but with all the construction and the (eventual) forced relocation – we had this opportunity to move into this wonderful space, so we decided to go for it.
Keck: Is there anything that the town or county can do to help out businesses and organizations like FRANK that are in this situation?
Knox: We’ve been really fortunate that Carrboro and Chapel Hill have been wonderful to us. We’re part of the Chamber, which is a wonderful organization too, and they’ve been really helpful. Just having the support from everybody has been really essential – (so) just visiting these places and being patrons, coming to events, purchasing, making your first stop a local business to make your purchases – I think all of that makes a big difference.
Editor’s Note: Chapel Hill Media Group is a tenant of University Place, having first moved there in 2016.
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