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New school, restaurant are likely to draw attention to Seventh Street, Arts District
Journal Photo by David Rolfe
This residence at 807 N. Trade St. is on the block where development will include a Breakfast of Course, Mary’s Too restaurant.
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Published: November 30, 2009
Updated: 11/30/2009 01:20 am
Winston-Salem's arts district is growing.
Mary Haglund, the owner of the popular restaurant Mary's of Course on Brookstown Avenue, is opening a second restaurant on Trade Street between Seventh Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. The restaurant will be the second big investment on that block -- Elliott's Revue, a nightclub and music venue, opened in January 2006 at the corner of Seventh and Trade streets.
The Downtown Elementary School also is expanding its campus, with a greenhouse and new middle school that will stretch from Cherry to Trade streets.
Janet Atkinson, the principal of the Downtown Elementary School, said that Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools also plans to open a store on the campus, at the corner of Seventh and Trade, to sell artwork created by students in the school system.
The new school is planned to serve students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades, Atkinson said.
Haglund's new restaurant, Breakfast of Course, Mary's Too, will serve meals built around breakfast and brunch, she said. She plans to open the restaurant about 7 a.m. daily, and be open until 3:30 a.m. on the weekends.
"We love that location, because it's sort of looking at the Trade Street arts district," Haglund said. "I love the spot."
Haglund said she hopes to open Breakfast of Course in February or March. The building that will house the restaurant is undergoing a complete renovation in preparation for the opening, she said, and permits and construction could cause delays.
Haglund's landlord on Trade Street is a company backed by developer Hank Perkins, who owns most of the block surrounded by Trade, Martin Luther King, Liberty and Seventh Street.
Perkins did not return calls for this article, but city inspections permits show plans to construct a deck behind the building at 722 N. Liberty St., which backs up to Haglund's new restaurant. Haglund said that the restaurant would have a 110-space parking lot, accessible from Liberty Street, as well as a covered patio and outdoor seating.
The restaurant will be the first new business on the 700 block of Trade Street since Elliott's Revue opened. Trade Street business owners said they were encouraged.
"Hopefully it will bring more people down here," said Gena Knighten, who owns Chelsee's Coffee Shop on Trade Street and who manages several apartments for rent in the arts district. "Mary's is a great fit because it's kind of an artsy place … the arts district is just a cool neighborhood and it's the artists who bring that flair."
And, downtown advocates say, the changes in the arts district could kick off more expansion in the 700 block of Trade Street, ultimately, on Liberty Street, which has long been heralded as the key that could unlock downtown revitalization.
"Redevelopment like that, it follows a path," said Ralph Womble, who owns Trade Street Partners, a business that owns several buildings in the arts district. "You have a natural progression now to jump Seventh Street because, pretty much, (Trade Street) is full."
Restaurants and shops on Liberty Street would link the Arts District with nearby loft projects, various projects undertaken by the Goler Community Development Corp. and the Piedmont Triad Research Park.
"The thing we just need is for something to happen on Liberty," Womble said. "All of these things are stamps of sterling on silver that kind of solidify things. Mary's is a great anchor -- she's got the quality and the reputation that people will come … it'll move over to Liberty. And it would move faster if the economy would start back up."
lgraff@wsjournal.com
727-7279
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