Barber Builds Bellafont

Now that condos are selling at The Legacy Building in Fayetteville and the Divinity Hotel project is dead, The Barber Group is trying to move full speed ahead and complete The Bellafont on Joyce Boulevard.
It isn’t breaking news the project is behind schedule, but we do hear a $15 million loan to finance the rest of the Bellafont retail center was set to close on June 29 and a swarm of workers will be going all-out by the July 4 weekend to get the site habitable and ready to turn trade.
Mason’s was to be complete in February and East Meets West Spa & Salon was to be turned over on May 15. Neither is finished so far and the home to Mellow Mushroom, a gourmet pizza parlor famous around the Southeast, is also at least a month behind.
According to its contract with East Meets West, The Barber Group is accumulating a $1,000 per day penalty dating to May 15 and EMW owner Helena Gadison says she now expects to take control of the building by sometime in mid- to late August.
With football season fast approaching and penalties for delays on Mellow Mushroom to begin accruing in late July, The Barber Group has plenty of incentive to finish the build-outs quickly.
Speculation about cash flow problems for The Barber Group has become as much of a pastime in the business world as chatter about Houston Nutt in the wacky Razorback realm.
Public records don’t reflect the speculation, though. The only lien of significance against The Barber Group, one totaling $231,348 filed March 9 in Washington County by World Granite and Stone Art Inc. for material and labor at The Legacy, is destined for court with the development company planning to contest the claim.
Amidst the delays, the operators of Mason’s, EMW and Mellow Mushroom are sticking together to keep their timetables straight and relying on each other to generate traffic once Bellafont is tenantable.
We also hear that a popular downtown Fayetteville restaurant is not discouraged from making a move and is eyeing the Bellafont’s retail center for a second location with negotiations ongoing.
The retail center is currently 40 percent leased, the company said.