WILMINGTON — One downtown business owner is experiencing déjà vu a decade after having to move her bookstore because the city condemned the former building she operated in.
Gwenyfar Rohler is facing similar issues during phase two of the same construction plan, Front Street Streetscape. A failing retaining wall shuttered Old Books on Front Street 12 years ago during the first phase of the project, and Rohler relocated two blocks up to continue serving the community.
“What is it with me and this project?” she asked. “That I’m having the same, bizarre discussion with the city is ironic.”
This time Rohler is taking legal action.
While working on a ceiling repair earlier in the year, she said she noticed a leaning retaining wall 19 feet from the back of her property line.
Rohler approached the city in late January about the nearly 80-year-old wall; it runs behind two other properties on both sides and raised the question: Who does the wall belong to?
According to the bookstore owner, the city engineering department said it would send out a survey crew to confirm.
Rohler said she went back and forth with the city a few months about whether a survey was done and what the results determined. By early summer, five months after her first inquiry, she received a registered letter from city code enforcement, noting the wall compromised the property foundation.
“It said it was dangerous to have people in the building,” Rohler explained.
She was given 30 days to provide a plan for correcting the structure or the city threatened to begin the condemnation process.
Rohler and her partner, Jock Brandis, spoke to code enforcement the next day asking again about a survey.
Without an adequate response on how to proceed, Rohler took matters into her own hands. She hired Cape Fear Surveying Services for $1,700 to inspect the boundary lines. The company surveyed the wall Aug. 5 and reported it was the city’s responsibility.
The bill was larger than anticipated, Rohler explained, since the crew had to reconstruct survey markers not present.
“So did they ever send out a city crew?” Rohler asked, to which the city confirmed it did not.
City spokesperson Dylan Lee said the city only initiated code enforcement crew to inspect the wall.
He confirmed to Port City Daily the city last conducted a survey in the area in 2014 for the parking deck redevelopment as part of Riverplace. The 132-foot mixed-use development along Water Street is located behind Old Books on Front Street.
That city survey, completed prior to construction of Riverplace, concluded the “privately-owned retaining wall encroaches into the public right-of-way.”
A public-private partnership, Riverplace was built by East West Partners and wrapped in 2020. The $83-million project was mostly funded by the developer, though the city spent $24 million to demolish the former Water Street deck, in order to construct a new one.
Rohler surmised the cracked retaining wall, which also shows crumbling from the side view, is from the pile-driving done during construction of the luxury residential building.
“The city has not performed a structural analysis to determine the cause of distress,” Lee said.
To clarify, he added the wall was built beyond the property boundary, but since it serves the private business, it belongs to the building owner.
Rohler sent a letter Aug. 26, about a week after her survey was completed, to the city engineering department, city manager Tony Caudle and code enforcement, with the attached survey. She asked to be reimbursed for the job she contracted.
In response, city engineer David Cowell sent Sept. 29:
“That portion of the retaining wall at the rear of your property is a privately-owned unauthorized encroachment within the public right-of-way. As the owner, you are responsible for repair and maintenance of the wall which serves your property. The survey … does not transfer ownership or responsibility for maintenance to the city.”
Now, the small business owner and the city are in a standoff over who is in charge of its repair and associated costs.
“There is no discernible public purpose served by the wall,” Lee explained. “However, the property owner would be significantly affected if the wall was removed.”
The wall adjoins McKim and Creed engineering consultants, to the left of Old Books, at 243 N. Front St. The business owners said they did not receive a letter from the city regarding the retaining wall. On the right side, optometrist Dr. Arnold recently shut down his practice and could not be reached by press.
Rohler has consulted multiple historic and current survey records, as her building is over a century old. She said all indicate the wall is on city property in the alley behind her building.
The city maintains surveys do not show ownership, Lee added. The wall impacts Old Books’ structure — therefore, it’s that business owner’s problem.
“We’re not backing down,” Rohler said. “We are going to continue to pursue getting this resolved. It’s the city’s responsibility and what they’re doing is immoral.”
The government entity also noted it would not be refunding Rohler’s money.
“To be clear, we’re not asking for a handout,” she said. “We’re asking them to do what is their responsibility. This is your responsibility. Don’t make it mine — and in the process do away with us.”
Business faces second street enhancement
Rohler has owned Old Books on Front Street for 15 years. In 2010, the city completed the first phase of enhancements on N. Front between Market and Chestnut streets, replacing utility lines and constructing streetscape elements.
Formerly, the business was located at 22 N. Front St. for 25 years before Rohler’s family purchased it in 2007. They didn’t own the property in its previous iteration. When the city began phase one of the Front Street Enhancement Project more than a decade ago, the 22 North Front structure was found in “catastrophic failure,” according to Rohler. The city put a condemning notice on the building.
Rohler planned to relocate anyway, in order to buy property to home the bookstore.
“We discussed the possibility of buying [the original location],” she said. “Moving 115,000 books is a daunting task.”
But the condemnation “hastened everything,” Rohler added. She also agreed it was justified. Problems centered around the free-standing retaining wall, which had begun to sink.
Rohler had been renting the property from Peacock Family Business, as negotiated by Old Books’ former owner Richard Daughtry. He entered into a long-term lease agreement in the early ’80s, and though there were annual increases built in, Rohler explained the rent was tied to 1983 prices and quite affordable.
She culled the help of 300 people to move the store to 249 N. Front St. upon purchasing a 112-year-old historic property, located in the block between Chestnut and Grace streets.
Over the last few years, with the pandemic shutting down many businesses, including the bookstore, and damage to Old Books’ roof during the construction of Riverplace, Rohler’s had a rough go of it, she confirmed. While East West Partners’ contractors repaid her for repairs, she said, “they got off lightly.”
“It didn’t cover the books we lost,” Rohler said.
The building then endured a ceiling collapse from water accumulation due to the roof damage. Rohler had to close shop from January to April this year.
It wasn’t long after that the Front Street Streetscape Project began its second stage, starting in her block and finishing in the 300 block of North Front, between Grace and Nutt streets near Cotton Exchange.
Rohler explained a lot of people don’t realize businesses along the two blocks are even open. Construction crews are on site, roads are closed off, and heavy machinery is always powered up, deterring foot traffic.
Many businesses, such as the national chain Waffle House, remained close throughout the duration of construction. Nearby bar and restaurant Local 910 closed permanently.
“We’re constantly told the city wants daylight retail downtown,” Rohler said. “Over the last year, they’ve done everything possible to tell me they don’t mean that.”
The city’s $3.5-million project, a collaboration with Cape Fear Public Utility Authority, was initially slated to take place during the holidays last year. Public outcry from business owners encouraged city leaders to wait, as Christmas is the busiest time of the year for downtown businesses.
READ MORE: N. Front Street businesses brace for city’s streetscape project, missing out on holiday sales
Though crews were originally supposed to start work by January, the project was stalled again due to supply chain issues. it finally began in April — also not an ideal time for businesses that rely on tourists over spring and summer months.
The city said the project would be completed by September, though it encountered “unforeseen circumstances” with laying the new underground pipeline and addressing conflicting utility lines, Lee said.
Now, the city is saying construction will be finished by the end of November.
“We’re down to less than a third of what we would normally be making during this time,” Rohler said. “Our block is still not open.”
Work between Chestnut and Grace streets should wrap by Friday, with crews doing final touches — pouring sidewalk, laying brick pavers. The road will open late next week, the city confirmed.
“It’s been an enormous financial struggle to keep the doors open,” Rohler said. “To be landed with this [retaining wall] problem could be fatal.”
‘Not her responsibility’
Rohler has not received an official estimate of how much it would cost to replace the wall but said $50,000 has been mentioned as a starting number. It’s a figure that could easily force her to close the business if she has to come out of pocket for its expense.
“It’s amazing the city can hand over millions to developers,” she said, “but when it comes to a small business? Let’s just say the cost to replace the retaining wall would be a drop in the bucket to them.”
Rohler hired local attorney James Seay of Seay Law Firm to take over the case on her behalf. Seay sent a letter to city attorney John Joye Tuesday indicating Rohler will not be responsible for repairing the wall.
Lee confirmed the city received Seay’s letter and is reviewing it.
“Please be advised Mrs. Rohler neither built nor maintains this wall. She most certainly does not claim ownership of it,” the letter explained.
Seay informed the city the wall is not located in the property line on Rohler’s deed. It references Stuart Benson’s survey, who Rohler hired, showing “an old masonry wall,” located outside of Old Books lot, on City of Wilmington property.
The letter continued: “Furthermore, the wall extends across multiple lots, strongly indicating that it was built by the City. As such, Mrs. Rohler declines the City of Wilmington’s invitation to repair and maintain a wall which she does not own or claim any ownership of.”
City officials upheld the notion that the wall was constructed beyond the property boundary, within the public right-of-way, deeming it “an encroachment.”
“We’re a small bookstore,” Rohler said, adding that Old Books remains open to the public. “This is not a business that makes money. We do it because we love books, we love people and the community.”
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