In recent weeks, the sight of two cranes on Broad Street in Edenton extending to second-story windows where construction workers were busy remodeling has had many town residents taking notice.
The lofts above many shops along Broad Street, once spaces to store old furniture or extra stock, are increasingly being pressed into what amounts to a downtown gold rush to build apartments.
Apartments are being installed in what once was surplus square footage, with some spaces being converted to short-term rentals and others becoming full-time housing solutions for local renters.
Ches Chesson, director of Destination Downtown Edenton, keeps track of such things. His organization works to revitalize the downtown shopping district.
While many other small-town business districts are facing vacancy crises, Edenton’s downtown shop space is filling to capacity, and its upstairs spaces are now in demand.
Chesson said the two most critical vacant spaces along Broad Street are expected to be occupied soon. The vacant Gordman’s Building at 213 Broad Street is currently under contract. The town’s planning department is evaluating a developer’s plans to convert the building into commercial space featuring hospitality residential suites on the second floor.
Construction is also underway on the Sears building at 211 S. Broad Street. The first floor is being converted to mixed-use retail space. The property was never for sale but is being converted by its owners.
With shop space filling up and rent prices rising, Chesson said building owners are looking at the potential of upstairs space up and down Edenton’s business district for places to develop housing.
“I think it is natural, given the demand that we’re continuing to see as people are moving from the larger metropolitan areas and discovering Edenton. That’s just a natural evolution right now,” Chesson said.
He said Edenton has three commercial districts: the area near the Food Lion Grocery Store on Virginia Road, North Edenton along North Broad Street, and the Downtown district from Queen Street to the waterfront.
“We do the best we can to offer a strong retail mix that serves everybody, but the downtown is also going to be more geared toward your visitors and your tourists as well as the local population,” he said. “We continue to see more people moving to Edenton, so naturally, your downtown is going to be leaning a little bit toward your tourists and your visitors, providing some of the that might be a little more high-end or a little more boutique.”
That mix of restaurants, gourmet shops, boutiques, and a theater makes the downtown district a great place to live, either for short-term visits or longer-term residence.
Chesson said Edenton is fortunate to be able to attract new residents who want something other than what the urban centers they are leaving have to offer. As the internet gives many professionals new options, they are looking at small towns like Edenton with new interest, and retirees are cashing in their higher-priced urban and suburban houses for less expensive and nicer accommodations in quiet communities.
Chesson said Edenton has become a hot destination for such new residents because of its several advantages as a retirement or non-urban destination. Edenton and Chowan County offer several advantages, such as plentiful and relatively cheap land, lots of water and waterfront property, water sports like fishing and boating, hunting, and natural beauty.
“Edenton has a unique draw to visitors; the market will dictate where people come,” he said. “Business owners open what is sustainable for them. We’re just allowing the market to do what it does.”
Most of that translates into new housing developments on the outskirts of town, but less obvious is the interest in acquiring downtown business addresses as a natural extension of all that demand. Chesson said the kinds of people moving into upstairs lofts vary.
Housing comes in several kinds: subsidized, workforce housing, and upscale. Chesson said the lofts being developed are primarily upscale, with some affordable apartments available.
However, with rents rising with demand, many landlords see their upstairs spaces as high-end residences, short-term rentals serving visitors, or as temporary housing for people waiting for their new home to be built.
Chesson said Edenton and Chowan will have to balance the supply of affordable workforce housing, much of it multi-family housing like townhouses or apartments, against the more profitable high-end housing that new move-ins demand.
Those same challenges are more pronounced in big cities where the workers can’t live where the jobs are. As Edenton grows, Chesson wonders if the same challenge might arise here, but on a lesser scale.
“Edenton is not immune to that. We have a workforce that is commuting 30 minutes to come downtown,” he said of workers living in lower-cost housing farther out in the county.
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