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04.04.2004
April 2004: Blue and White: Who’s upstairs?
http://www.unc.edu/bw/april_04/franklin.html
Strong's, Miami Subs, Light Years. 3rdTech, Preation, Integrify.
What's the difference between these two lists of companies? A little bit of height.
They're all on the stretch of East Franklin Street bordering campus, but those on the ground floor are commonly known names, while those a level or two higher are almost unknown. If it weren't for Hector's, Players and Top of the Hill, we'd probably forget that there's more than one level of activity on Franklin Street.
Take the space between Creative Metalsmiths and Light Years, where most people just see a dark room where Sephora used to be. For the past four years, the third floor has been occupied by 3rdTech, a company that works with researchers at the University to develop their technology into products with commercial potential.
UNC-CH researchers often receive requests from other universities to share their developments, but it's difficult to distribute them, said 3rdTech Vice President Doug Schiff. 3rdTech works with the University's Office of Technology Development to license the technology.
Most of 3rdTech's work is with professors and graduate students in the computer science and physics departments. Four of the employees are former UNC-CH computer science students, and President Nick England is a former professor in the same department.
Among scattered boxes, computers and wires, 119 E. Franklin St. is hiding products like the DeltaSphere-3000 3-D Scanner, a laser scanner that can create accurate models of 3-D spaces.
As the scanner rotates, the laser measures the room thousands of times per second to make a digitized model of it that can be viewed on a computer screen.
Schiff said it's a very popular product for situations involving a temporary scene, ranging from preserving an exhibit for the Ackland Art Museum to capturing a murder scene for law enforcement. It can even analyze blood splatters to produce lines in the 3-D model representing the path of the blood.
Another product, the Hiball-3000 Tracker, allows interaction between an on-screen 3-D model and the room the user is actually in. As the user walks around the room, the tracker senses its position to within two-tenths of a millimeter by communicating with strips of LEDs installed on the ceiling. It then changes the point of view on the computer screen to correspond with the user's location.
The Hiball-3000 can be used as virtual reality for military simulations, movie sets, video games or for testing architectural plans.
Another 3rdTech product that came from UNC-CH researchers is a nanomanipulator. This tool lets researchers look at an image of a molecule, such as a virus on a computer screen, and then use a pen-like object to manipulate it. The pen ony moves through air, but when you move it to make the on-screen pointer touch the image of the molecule, you can feel the pen vibrate as if it were actually touching the object.
Schiff's office has large arched windows that span the width of the building, providing a view over the Chapel of the Cross. "We often have drummers and chanters outside our window," he said. "On certain nights the police actually use our offices to watch the crowds."
The downside is that the narrow metal staircase leading up to the office isn't the most attractive entranceway to greet important visitors, and Schiff mentioned that occasionally homeless people sleep on the stairs.
It's also difficult to get trucks in and out for shipping, and the office only comes with one parking space; the company has to rent any others they need. And while it's cheaper than places on Rosemary Street and about half the price of the space below it, the location is still more expensive than other offices in Chapel Hill.
"The reason we're here, and it is a very odd location … is because we work so closely with people at the University," Schiff said. "It's crucial that we're able to walk back and forth. Professors and researchers are always coming over here."
Across the street, above Johnny T-shirt, is a very different service there for a similar reason - proximity to its customers.
Adriana van Stralen teaches classes at Downtown Yoga two evenings a week, thanks to Missy Julian-Fox, who used to take her classes at Ladies Fitness & Wellness on Airport Road. Julian-Fox is one of the owners of Julian's Men's Store and of the space above Johnny T-shirt, which was vacant. "I had been taking yoga classes and wanted to expose my friends downtown to this," Julian-Fox said. "So I asked Adriana if she could do an evening class down here if we could find the space."
In November, van Stralen, 61, took over the space, and now most of the Julian's employees practice yoga there, as well as some of their friends from up and down Franklin Street.
"It's been wonderful, the idea that you can leave your business, change and go," Julian-Fox said, adding that it especially helped her during the busy holiday season. "It's the one thing that saved our sanity - and our legs!"
The space had previously been used as an office and was full of office furniture. On first sight it doesn't look exceptionally soothing, but van Stralen manages to transform it in time for class. She uses a small lamp in the corner instead of the fluorescent bulbs overhead, and she uses candles, incense and music to create a peaceful atmosphere.
The room doesn't hold as many people as the women's gym - the classes usually have about nine or 10 people each - but van Stralen said it's a perfect space. "You hear the noise, but it doesn't matter," she said. "Somehow you kind of create a cocoon or sanctuary."
Van Stralen likes to lighten up the atmosphere to let people have fun with their bodies. "I get people here that are on the street and work with the public and have to be polite," she said. "At the end of the day you're really exhausted and have to blow off steam, and that's what we do here."
She also incorporates polarity therapy, which aims at naturally improving health by balancing the energy in the body. She has overcome many health problems through yoga, and says that many of her students have also come to her with improved health. She offers classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:15 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. They cost $15 each for non-students and $10 for students.
Then there are companies, like Preation Inc., that just think it's kind of cool to be downtown. Preation president Aaron Houghton founded the Internet software company in 1996, when he was still a 15-year-old high school student in western North Carolina. He's now 22, has a computer science degree from UNC-CH, and has been working above Tini's Tapas on the corner of Franklin Street and North Columbia Street for almost three years.
Houghton began by creating Web sites for businesses in his small hometown. Now Preation has seven employees and helps clients with software needed for their Web sites. It also maintains custom applications built for clients, and two of these products ended up becoming their own companies because of the demand for full-time support for them.
One of these, the Broadwick Corporation, works with e-mail marketing software, allowing Web sites to feature forms for visitors to enter their information and receive newsletters automatically.
Another start-up, MainBrain School, Inc., started with a school in western North Carolina that wanted to increase parent involvement. The parents can now access grades, school records, homework assignments and calendars through a very secure interface. They can also sign up to receive e-mail or text messages from the principal if their child is absent or tardy, if there is snow or if their child's grades drop below a certain point.
Tarheel Takeout Express uses similar software from Preation to dispatch orders to their drivers through text messages and to manage financial information.
Houghton found his office space through a friend who had used it previously. He said he enjoys the unique location. "You can walk out the door, and there's 60 restaurants to take clients to lunch and six banks," he said. "It's kind of annoying when He's Not has a band right outside, but on the other hand, where else can you go after work at 7 p.m. and have a live band outside your door?" The bar He's Not Here is visible from Houghton's office window, along with the alleyway behind the building. "I've seen everything from people going to the bathroom, people having sex, people selling drugs," he said. "Late at night that alley is just dangerous."
Being close to the University also benefits Preation since many of its employees are students, Houghton said. "We can walk on campus and wake our employees up when they don't show up to work," he joked.
Houghton said he enjoys being part of the downtown commission, but he's been thinking about moving. "Unfortunately, in the next few months we're probably doing what we've hated to see other companies do, which is to leave downtown."
It's more expensive than other more attractive office spaces that have more parking available. For now, though, "Saying we're on Franklin Street really still means something, and saying we're in downtown Chapel Hill is something I still support," he said. "It's just really cool to be here."
Laura Hirst is a senior journalism major from Merritt Island, Fla.
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