Belk-Gallant building reopens as apartment complex in downtown Dalton

Published 5:00 pm Saturday, January 22, 2022

Young people want to live downtown, said Bob Caperton, president and managing partner of Dalton’s Barrett Properties.

That’s what attracted him to the building at 307 S. Hamilton St. that for decades was the home of the Belk-Gallant department store.

“It’s an ideal location for apartments,” he said. “From here you can walk to Burr Park, to Cherokee (Brewing and Pizza), to Dalton Brewing, to Crescent City Tavern. When we set out five years ago we were looking at young people, say ages 22 to 28, maybe 30.”

Barrett Properties recently opened the building as an 18-unit apartment building, and tenants are moving in.

“Shaw Industries is leasing the entire property except for the commercial space (on the first floor),” said Caperton.

Shaw will be using it at first as housing for trainees.

“All the units are fully furnished,” Caperton said. “They are small units. The one-bedroom units are 550-square-feet. The two-bedroom units are 800-square-feet. But we think we compensate with high ceilings. We think the young people we are targeting won’t mind the small units, will even find them more efficient.”

Each apartment has unique furnishings.

Caperton said he is proud they were able to maintain much of the original flooring.

“Our flooring guy was here for months,” he said. “Our goal was to preserve the floors where we could, to infill where we had to, and to keep the original look.”

He said they also put a lot of care into reproducing the original Belk-Gallant Co. sign in front of the building “to the t.”

“It’s the same size, same design,” he said. “It’s a $40,000 sign. We had to get a variance for it through the planning and zoning office. They were very supportive. It took a lot of work, but we think it was worth it.”

Barrett Properties Vice President Liz Caperton said they can’t reveal the name of the tenant yet for the commercial space on the first floor.

Local business leaders said they are excited to see the building reopen.

“The renovated historic Belk-Gallant building not only adds additional housing options for our community but this project adds vibrancy and excitement to downtown Dalton,” said Phyllis Stephens, interim president and CEO/chief operating officer of the Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce. “I’m sure the young professionals occupying the apartments will enjoy the walkability of our downtown and the many amenities it has to offer for dining, shopping, and the welcoming community of Greater Dalton.”

“We at the Downtown Dalton Development Authority are excited that the Belk-Gallant building is restored and will be housing Shaw’s young professionals,” said DDDA Executive Director Candace Eaton. “It is a sign that downtown is alive and thriving. Barrett Properties did a fantastic job with the restoration of the building and we are grateful to their commitment to the downtown area.”

“As with the Shaw Living Lab, which opened to residents in mid-2021, the Belk-Gallant building allows us to attract top talent,” said Lucia Cook, director of Talent Acquisition for Shaw Industries. “The property delivers an experience on par with what young professionals and prospective associates expect in larger markets and is a component of our expansive talent acquisition efforts.

“The first residents are Shaw trainees, and Shaw’s long-term lease allows us to meet our varied associate housing needs now and into the future.”

The 20,000-square-foot building opened in 1941. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and most recently housed the offices of state probation.

“What made this project work was (state and federal historic preservation) tax credits,” said Bob Caperton.

But the historic nature of the building and the use of those tax credits also slowed down the project, he said.

“We were dealing with multiple agencies that had to sign off, and if one required changes we had to take it back to all of the others,” he said. “There was a lot of paperwork. You had to document things, take photos, and send it to an agency and wait for them to get back to you. The local historic commission was very easy to deal with. The state agency we had to deal with was backlogged, and it took them about a year to get their initial response back to us.”