PITTSBORO — It’s not often businesses host ribbon-cutting ceremonies for their lavatories, but last Wednesday’s Bath House reveal at The Plant on Lorax Lane matched the site’s commitment to “quirkiness.”
The new Bath House isn’t what it might sound like — it’s not a meeting place for public bathing, nor any of the more tawdry operations sometimes associated with the name.
It’s a new standalone building housing three private bathrooms.
“You might think this is a bit quirky to celebrate a bunch of toilets,” said Tami Schwerin, The Plant’s co-owner and founder of Abundance NC, an event-planning company and non-profit incubator. “But this is by far a lot more.”
In keeping with The Plant’s whimsical aura, the Bath House bathrooms were decorated to distinguish each stall from run-of-the-mill restrooms. The aesthetics were designed and assembled by a collaboration of local artists, including Janice Rieves, Marcela Slade, Maxi Molina, Gillian Corzine and others.
Each bathroom features a unique theme. The first is Death Faire, The Plant’s yearly festival exploring grief, healing and different cultural beliefs on death. The second stall includes several music motifs with a special tribute to Bruce Springsteen. The third is an homage to nature.
“We like to do things different here,” Schwerin said, “and that’s true even of our bathrooms.”
More than 50 people attended the outdoor celebration — the first such event Pittsboro has hosted since before the pandemic — including many town leaders.
“It’s been well over a year since we’ve had a ribbon cutting in Pittsboro,” said Pittsboro Mayor Jim Nass, who spoke at the event and cut the “ribbon” — in fact a string of toilet paper ornately draped across the building’s entrance.
“When I asked the mayor to come out for it, I asked him if he’d ever done something like this,” Schwerin said, laughing. “And he definitely hadn’t.”
But Nass was glad to do it, he said. The Plant has long embodied the attitude and character he and other town leaders have worked to promote, he said. “This whole area really epitomizes the soul and heart of Pittsboro,” especially its “funkiness.” Keeping the funk in Pittsboro has been a recurring theme at board of commissioner meetings as the officials endeavor to preserve the town’s charm without stifling its growth.
Besides Nass, attendees at the ribbon cutting included County Commissioners Karen Howard and Mike Dasher, Pittsboro Commissioners Michael Fiocco and John Bonitz and Pittsboro Public Works Director John Poteat, who was the town’s primary liaison to the project. Tim Smith of Summit Engineering and Taylor Hobbs of Hobbs Architects designed the building, which Integrated Commercial constructed.
The Bath House has been more than a year in development as part of The Plant’s ongoing expansion. There are about 15 active businesses within the complex, Schwerin said, with limited restrooms to serve them all. The area has long been known as the Chatham Beverage District, but newer businesses include hemp product distributors, a coffee roaster, a bike rental shop and Copeland Springs Farm & Kitchen, which serves seasonal meals made from produce grown on site. So far, Copeland Springs has been The Plant’s only food option, but Schwerin says more is on the way, including a possible butcher and sandwich shop.
The Bath House’s primary beneficiary, though, will be BMC (Bite My Cookies) Brewing, a taproom and brewery set to open at The Plant in the next few weeks. BMC’s owners, John and Carmen Rice, settled on The Plant for their new brewery after John — a 30-year home brewer — ditched his career in pharmaceutical research to craft beer full time. Almost immediately thereafter, the pandemic began.
“But it kind of worked out,” Schwerin said. “The town told us we needed three more bathrooms if BMC was going to open their business. So things slowing down in the last year sort of gave us the chance to get this important stuff out of the way and finished when there weren’t that many customers walking around.”
Now, with pandemic mandates receding and normalcy making a comeback, Schwerin hopes The Plant’s new offerings will bring back old regulars and attract new visitors. Nass hopes the complex will further burnish the town’s budding reputation.
“The word is out on Pittsboro,” he said. “This is the place to be.”
Reporter D. Lars Dolder can be reached at dldolder@chathamnr.com and on Twitter @dldolder.