When local customers first pull up to Hampton Square in Blue Ridge, Georgia, they may not see the fresh start-up businesses housed in the newly renovated building right away. They may be remembering the Pontiac dealership, the International Harvester tractor showroom, the poultry factory, the skating rink and the antique store that had all, at one time or another, taken up residence in the large warehouse-style structure. But quickly enough, especially at times of the day when rays of sunlight take on an angular relationship with the Earth, customers will be brought back to the present by dancing light, as it reflects through the artistic blown glass of Multitudes Gallery, a window-front art gallery featuring local and national artists.

Multitudes was the first business to rent out space in Hampton Square, much to the delight of gallery owner Mike Lacy and his partner David Alfrey. Thanks to David’s connections in the art world to nationally renowned glass blowers, Multitudes Gallery opened to immediate success and is considered by some to have one of the finest collections of blown glass in the region. David thinks the glass is so successful because of the variety of glassblowing expression the art form takes. “Every time I think I’ve seen it all,” he says, “someone comes up with something else.” And, thanks to the growing tourist economy in Blue Ridge, the gallery sees buyers from well outside of Georgia. The 91 glassblowers currently working with Multitudes aren’t the only well-known artists whose work is displayed in the gallery.

Popular local artists showcased at Multitudes keep those interested in regional art coming back over and over again. Jewelry, art photography, sculpture and pottery are the primary mediums for localartists, and are sought out by locals, tourists and collectors here at Hampton Square. Glenn Berns, Hampton square renovator and owner, says; “People will come here, to this building, just to visit Multitudes Gallery.” Mike and David have just renewed their lease for another two years, and Glenn notes that just recently he was able to rent out the last space in the building, currently being renovated to fit the needs of the new tenant, the area’s first tax service.

Glenn is proud that every business in the Hampton Square building is new, including Multitudes. The Hampton Square restaurant Blue Jeans, one of the most popular in the community, is run by a father and son team who’d had experience between them in the food industry but hadnever owned their own restaurant before. Other businesses in the building include an eye care center, a web design service, Glenn’s own business (Georgia Mountain Fiber) and the Blue Ridge Community Theatre. “It’s home to a lot of start up businesses, which is really satisfying,” Glenn says. “This building went from housing an antique store to employing about 35 people.” The Blue Ridge Community Theatre, one of the most successful in the southeastern region, performs four major productions a year, as well as four minor productions.

Glenn reflects on the positive impact the theatre has had on the community and its children as he speaks of the summer workshop program it offers. The workshops provide community members an opportunity to experience and participate in theater performances—an opportunity that was lacking. “The thing that really impresses me,” Glenn says, “is that we are changing people’s lives, children’s lives, giving them an idea about their ability to do something that they didn’t think they could do. When you can transform people in a positive way, it gives them a new, positive self-image, that’s an awesome thing. But when I look back on it, it’s not been easy.”

Renovating Hampton Square, a building Glenn believes would have already been condemned in a larger city, was no small matter, or expense. “It’s not been the piece of cake I thought it was going to be,” he says. He started off by looking for the funds that would support this lofty project, finding much needed guidance and assistance from the area Chamber of Commerce and the Fannin County Development Authority. The Development Authority encouraged him to apply for a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which he was awarded. The grant went through the Fannin County Development Authority, from whom he then borrowed the money he needed to complete his project at a low fixed-interest rate.

Not long after starting the renovation, Hampton Square began to prove itself a project in need of special attention by contractors, as it was discovered that the many businesses inhabiting the building over the years had done some damage to the structure by adding layer after layer of concrete to the floor. In order for the support mechanisms to withhold the weight of the building safely, these layers of concrete would have to be removed, a process that took over a month of jack hammering. This alone added $100,000 to the cost of the renovation. The roof, which had been advertised as solid and without leaks—was not solid and did have leaks. The cost to replace the roof was nearly $75,000. These and other unexpected expenses added up, and what Glenn’s crew had initially projected as a $450K project quickly rose to nearly one million dollars. This meant Glenn had to come up with more money.

Things looked bleak when the local bank would not loan Glenn the money he needed to finish his work on Hampton Square. He recollects, “The bank, which is right up the hill here, could look down on the project and see how it was improving the community, but they still loan me the money.” In the end, Glenn went back to the Fannin County Development Authority who helped him acquire special loans from the Georgia Cities Foundation and the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, which provided the additional $310K needed to complete the project. “Thank goodness for the Chamber of Commerce and the Fannin County Development Authority,” he says enthusiastically.

Though Hampton Square proved to be a success—local businesses and said ‘That’s what I want to do.’” This desire to see out their dreams has been motivation enough for many of the business ownentrepreneurs thriving within, supported whole-heartedly by the community—the work has been hard and the expense at times almost unbearable. Glenn points out that while he officially retired in 2001, he now works everyday at the Square because he spent all his retirement money building it. Similarly, many of the businesses now operating in Glenn’s structure are the result of financial risk taken on by the many business owners. David Alfrey, of Multitudes Gallery, explains “people thought I was nuts opening a glass gallery here. They asked why, and Iers, the rewards for each all quite personal. Glenn’s reward appears to come in his satisfaction with the happiness and success around him. He speaks sincerely of the many people now occupying space in Hampton Square, telling each of their stories as he leads a tour of the building. Some of the new tenants have had hard times in their lives, he reveals, and Glenn is pleased to have had a positive influence. “Now that they know they can do it,” he says, “it’s changed their lives.”

Written by Aubrey Videtto, photography by Chad Stevens