Restored Vineville/Pierce house repurposed as executive suites

The years, at least the empty ones, were catching up to the house at Vineville and Pierce avenues.

Paint peeled from its sides. Weeds and grass grew tall in the yard. Decay ate at the porch bannisters and other woodwork, crafted by hand more than a century ago.

“Every day when I’d leave home, I’d see this house,” said Wendy Cassidy. “I couldn’t stand this. ... I’d think, ‘It’s a beautiful old building. I wish somebody would buy it and do something with it.’ It just sat for six years.”

Cassidy, who lives across the street in the Stanislaus neighborhood, bought 2607 Vineville Ave. three months ago. She’s giving the historic home new life, while recycling pieces of its past, by turning it into executive office suites called Stanislaus Commons.

“It seems to be an idea that, with the economy, is catching on,” she said.

Executive suites are not that common in Macon, said Realtor Art Barry, who sold the home to Cassidy.

“In the downsizing of America, it’s a popular concept in some of the larger cities,” Barry said. “It’s not normally a product you see in an older residential building, but because it’s such an amazingly visible location ... I think that’s the third-busiest intersection in the city of Macon.”

Even as renovations continue, the office suites already have two tenants. Ed Vance, a certified financial planner, went independent in August and was looking for office space. He moved into the only room with an adjoining bathroom.

Vance said he was looking for a visible location, plus he liked the idea supporting the restoration.

“If you’re from Middle Georgia, you know where Pierce and Vineville is,” Vance said. “I wanted a place that was easy to find.”

Business with all the bells and whistles

The executive suites concept allows a small business, usually a sole proprietorship, to rent a room or two with access to shared conference and break rooms, common parking, information technology and other services. The rent normally includes janitorial services, utilities, grounds maintenance and common area maintenance, said Barry.

“It’s an all-inclusive, frilly lease that includes literally everything,” he said. “That person or persons who has one of the suites in there essentially has access to all the bells and whistles that an ordinary business would offer a tenant. But they don’t have to go out and rent 3,000 square feet in order to have the benefits and use of conference and break rooms and all that.”

With companies working on smaller budgets, Barry said, the concept will only get more popular.

“Corporate America is sending their leading sales people and their leading marketing people home,” he said. “What’s happened with a lot of folks is they go home and try to work from home and realize they have kids at home and dogs at home and distractions at home, and they don’t have conference rooms at home nor do they have name recognition, a little bit of visibility for their businesses.”

Depending upon the size of the room, rent at Stanislaus Commons ranges from $300 to $600 a month.

“It’s not as high priced as in north Macon,” Cassidy said, “and it has a lot more character.’

This old house

Believed to have been built in 1879, the Vineville home had most recently been a dentist’s office, with apartments upstairs. Most of the large, original windows remain. When the restoration began, Cassidy found original doors stored beneath the home. She also found what was believed to have once been the back porch.

“It was kind of an archaeological dig,” she said. “The layers that come down — you can tell how the tastes have changed over the years.”

The original pine floors were restored, including a section that includes a thin, oak overlay, which Cassidy said was a indication of affluence in that time.

The upstairs is pretty much untouched, but Cassidy said it will be renovated as well.

The 5,000-square-foot home features 14-foot ceilings and marble fireplaces. The porte-cochere hanging over a side entrance was knocked down, and a large bathroom was torn out and turned into an office.

Old boxwoods were transplanted to the front yard to make way for pea-gravel parking. Cassidy has tried to reuse as much as possible and keep the project “very green.”

The home sold for just under $300,000.

Barry said the restoration was no easy task but Cassidy has “taken the bull by the horns.”

“It was in need of significant overhaul, from electrical wiring, exterior, interior, but there’s a lot of fine architectural features from when it was built,” he said.

The work drew a lot of interest from the community.

“We’ve had a steady stream of people checking in,” Cassidy said. “They’ll walk in and say, ‘How’s it going?’ ’’

Attorney Leigh Geeslin was the first tenant, settling into a large front room well-lit by about a half-dozen, 33-by-84-inch windows.

“Leigh came in and said ‘I want that office,’ and wrote a check,” Cassidy said.

The property had been on the market with two or three other commercial real estate companies before it sold.

“It was on the market forever. We finally found somebody who had a willing heart and a creative bone,” said Barry.

“It was just a matter of finding the right person at the right time with the right idea.”

To contact writer Rodney Manley, call 744-4623.

This story was originally published November 14, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Restored Vineville/Pierce house repurposed as executive suites."