Moving Day
by Carla N. Archie
If you have ever purchased a home, you know how hectic it is to prepare for the move, but also how very exciting it is. There is the purging (theoretically) and packing that happens beforehand. There are the tasks of coordinating school transfers, utility connections, and postal address updates. There is cleaning, and painting, and furniture and appliance delivery, and all the devilish, little details in between.
If you have ever built a home from the ground up, you know, perhaps better than most, about devilish, little details. There are countless choices to be made about flooring and lighting, and windows and doors, and appliances and hardware. Will the cabinets that are on back-order arrive before the countertops? Are the electrical outlets in the right place, and do all the light switches work?
Then moving day finally arrives. You were likely up late the night before, and up early the morning of, filled with nervous excitement about whether your plans would unfold smoothly. Throughout moving day, there is usually at least one glitch, but given the laundry list of accomplishments it took to bring about the move, the glitches pale in comparison.
By the time you read the October newsletter, MCB will be preparing for moving day. We are excited to move into a bright, functional, spacious new facility that MCB will call home for many, many years to come. The new Bar & Foundation Center is located in the Greenway Business Park on Zebulon Avenue. It is conveniently located just 7 minutes from the center city intersection of Trade and Tryon Streets. It provides easy access to both I-77 and I-85, and is nestled in a beautiful, shaded area of the business park with ample parking.
Like our own personal moves, we hope our MCB family will enjoy all the new Bar & Foundation Center has to offer. It has rooms that can accommodate small committee meetings and large CLEs or social functions. It has a mock courtroom for training, practice, and simulation purposes. It also has an attorney lounge where members can gather to network, collaborate, and exchange ideas. We look forward to hosting a more formal welcome reception before the calendar year ends. In the meantime, we invite you to drop by and tour the space.
We also are excited to meet our new neighbors and eager to invite friends over to share in the enjoyment of our new home. The new Bar & Foundation Center sits in the Smallwood community, part of Charlotte’s burgeoning northwest corridor. Our neighbors in Smallwood, as well as those at Johnson C. Smith University less than a mile away, previously welcomed us at the groundbreaking ceremony on December 5, 2013. It will be our turn to extend a warm welcome, as we become active, engaged corporate citizens of our new neighborhood.
Like other moves, there are likely to be a few minor glitches as we settle in, but it has been a labor of love, watching this building come to fruition. We are especially grateful for the work of the Future Bar & Foundation Center Committee, a group led by Pender McElroy (James, McElroy & Diehl) and Bill McMullen (Cranford, Buckley, Schultze, et al.) that has worked tirelessly for many years to survey the Charlotte market, help identify a viable location, negotiate the sale of our old home on Queens Road, and solidify the purchase of our new home. We also commend our Executive Director, Nancy Roberson, and the Bar staff, who have dedicated countless hours attending to the devilish details.
Once we are settled, we look forward to a Bar & Foundation Center that is teeming with activity --- one that is a valued resource for our members and a meaningful example of our investment in the community we serve and about which we care so deeply.
I look forward to seeing you at a future Bar event in our new Bar home!