buildings of distinction
83
108 VISION DRIVE
USTOM COLORS vice president Caroline
Johnson says the two-story building at the corner
of Eastwood and Vision is a perfect fit for the com-pany
with the motto “the psychology of color.”
It’s eye-catching, just the thing a retail establish-ment
needs to attract customers. The creativity of
the design hints at the creative possibilities inherent
in the paint and flooring selections inside. There’s
ample space upstairs for the corporate offices.
“We’ve got a lot of compliments. It’s very con-temporary,”
Johnson says. “We get more walk-in
traffic here.”
The building arose not because of a vision for a
new corporate headquarters for their five stories, but
because of necessity.
The company was happy with its store/corporate
headquarters on Market Street near the intersec-tion
of Military Cutoff Road. But the city’s plans to
extend Military Cutoff to the Wilmington Bypass
included an overpass where the building stood. The
city purchased the land, forcing business owner
Nancy Dombroski to look for a new location.
The company purchased the lot fronting
Eastwood, occupied by a car wash, and hired archi-tect
Philip Humphrey to design a new building.
“They just said we need a two-story building,”
Humphrey says. “I drew what I thought worked
best. They loved it the first time.”
C
The small frontage
of the lot dictated
design decisions
like two stories
and a functional
storage area, and
bays at the rear.
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