Old City Hall gets new life as restaurant

For decades, it was the Marion City Hall. In recent years, it housed some of the offices for the N.C. Probation and Parole program. Now, the old building at 130 Logan St. is the new location for the Catawba Vale Café.

“We’ve brought it back to life,” said employee Kayla Hall. “It’s awesome now.”

The popular eatery reopened last week in the old City Hall building. Formerly at 32 E. Main St. in Old Fort, the Catawba Vale Café was located next to The Appalachian Artisan Society (TAAS) Gallery, which featured works by area artists and craftspeople. Owners Dru and Bev Heldman closed the TAAS gallery on July 1, due to economic conditions and the loss of retail sales because of bad weather. And in December, they announced plans to move their popular eatery from Old Fort to downtown Marion inside the old City Hall building.

After months of work and renovations, the new Catawba Vale Café is now open for business. Hungry customers there will be able to enjoy their familiar items from the menu such as The Wildcat Mountain Mega Club, the Cowburger, The Simpleton salad and quesadillas. They can also order a variety of coffees, teas, smoothies and ice cream.

“The menu is pretty much the same,” said co-owner Bev Heldman. “There’s nothing changed.”

Like in Old Fort, the café in Marion is open from Monday through Saturday for lunch. The regular hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. but there will be extended hours during the summer months.

But what has changed is the inside of the old City Hall, which was erected in 1936. For a long time, it also housed the city’s Police Department and Fire Department too.

When the Heldmans and their employees started leasing the structure, they had to make some changes to the interior. This would be the first time the building would be used as a restaurant. They had to convert what been drab office space into an inviting and welcoming place for folks to eat and drink. They also brought in kitchen equipment.

“We had to remove two or three layers of carpet from the hardwood floor,” said Bev Heldman. “We removed plaster from the brick walls. We took it back to the original. Everything in here was very industrial. Everything was just real drab.”

The biggest changes were made in the large room that would become the dining area. In one corner, Bev Heldman, who is an artist, painted a silhouette of a large tree with spindly branches. The original brick walls were uncovered.

“I just wanted to take it back to how it used to look,” she said.

The eatery occupies just the main floor of the building. It also has a Wi-Fi room where folks can sip coffee and surf the Internet.

The Heldmans plan to someday expand their business into the old fire station bays and maybe into the basement. This would provide more space for patrons and a larger venue for live music. The Catawba Vale will feature free live music on Saturday afternoons as part of its Grassroots programs.

“It’s going to expand as it grows,” she said. “We will expand it as we can.”

Unlike their former gallery in Old Fort, the new Catawba Vale Café won’t have much art on display and for sale. “We will have some local art but not much,” said Bev Heldman, adding this will not be a gallery like TAAS.

But their new eatery will be able to serve alcohol, since it is located in the Marion city limits. The Heldmans plan to serve beer and wine but no liquor. They expect to have that in place by July.

“I am not in any rush to have that,” she said. “There’s a process and I have to get permits.”

For now, the Heldmans and their employees are happy to finally be situated in their new location. Already, customers are finding out that they are open for business. The Catawba Vale Café plans to have a more formal grand opening soon in the old City Hall.

For more information, visit www.catawbavale.com.