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CAPE FEAR MEMORIAL BRIDGE CLOSURE: UPDATES, RESOURCES, AND CONTEXT

Ask a Journalist: Whatever happened to the Castle Street boarding house, Colonial Arms?

Reliance Home Care owner Michelle Robinson stands with Queen Owl, one of the first residents in the newly named Agape House.
Kelly Kenoyer
Reliance Home Care owner Michelle Robinson stands with Queen Owl, one of the first residents in the newly named Agape House.

WHQR has started an occasional series called: Ask a Journalist. We take listener questions and track down the answers. If you have a question you’d like answered, email us at staffnews@whqr.org.

Q: Whatever happened to that derelict boarding house, Colonial Arms?

A: Colonial Arms was a boarding house at 813 Castle Street aimed at very low-income residents. It charged weekly rent, and fell into such poor condition under the care of proprietor Jeremy Bailey that the city ordered it demolished.

At the time, the city’s code enforcement department spent a full year warning the owners of the building that its conditions were “unfit for human habitation.”

Photos from a July 2022 inspection showed exposed wiring, filthy kitchens with missing or broken cabinets, unlockable doors, and feces from cockroaches.

City Council pilloried Baileyat that hearing, but he vowed to fix up Colonial Arms. The council voted to vacate, close, and demolish the property within 180 days if the repairs weren’t made.

A few months later, WHQR received this question, and decided to check back up on the building. It turns out, Bailey kept his promise and repaired the building.

Wilmington Code Enforcement Officer Brian Renner said his office closed its case after doing a final inspection.

“We found that they met our minimum requirements for housing code,” he explained. “They've really improved the overall situation there in terms of the building itself.”

Still, Brenner says neighbors are a little worried. “I think a lot of people have concerns about the operation of that building,” he said. “But you know what that building is. It's affordable housing, very low affordable housing, which is a severe issue here.”

As it turns out, one of the concerned neighbors has taken over operations at the boarding house.

Reliance Home Care has an office next door to the building, and the owner, Michelle Robinson, used to call the city to complain about the building. Still, she took care of the residents there as part of her home care business.

When it was refurbished, she saw an opportunity. She formed a new nonprofit organization and signed a lease for the entire building.

“When we signed the lease in February, we had the sign removed that said ‘Colonial Arms’, because this is not anything like Colonial Arms. We don't want that reputation to be associated with this," she said.

Instead, they’re calling the building “Agape House.” Robinson says it’s named after the term Agape, which is “God's highest form of love, the sacrificial self-giving love not expecting anything in return.”

The 18 rooms share bathroom and kitchen spaces, and the nonprofit is renting them for $200-$225 per room. Every room has already been rented, and Robinson says they’re providing shared meals and psychiatric help through a psyche nurse practitioner.

As for the renters, they vary significantly- some recently left incarceration, others have histories of mental health problems, and others have simply had a run of tough luck.

Queen Owl, for example, is a 77-year-old woman from the neighborhood. Her home burned down in a fire a few months ago, and she has since moved into the Agape House.

“It is so comforting to know that I can lay my head down at night, I got a roof over my head,” Owl said. “I feel like I've gotten plenty of love from the staff here. And they give me encouraging words and that young lady gives me the hugs that I need so bad sometimes.”

Owl has taken decorations and dishes from her home and brought them into the shared areas of Agape House. She cooks for the residents, and has made the place unrecognizable. Where once there were torn-apart cabinets, now there are cute decorations and homey signs, alongside the smell of cooking sausages.

Queen Owl redecorated the new downstairs kitchen in Agape House. When the place was called Colonial Arms, this kitchen was filthy and all the cabinets broken. Now, it's tidy, and looks like a home.
Kelly Kenoyer
Queen Owl redecorated the new downstairs kitchen in Agape House. When the place was called Colonial Arms, this kitchen was filthy and all the cabinets broken. Now, it's tidy, and looks like a home.

The nonprofit is still very new, and residents still lack some furnishings. That’s why Robinson is putting on a pop-up market to fundraise and seek donations for the Agape Project.

That event is April 1 from 11 am to 4:30 pm at 819 Castle St. Anyone interested in vending there can call Gabby at 910-431-1851.

While the boarding house at Castle Street is now in good repair, many buildings around the city are still in trouble. Renner wants residents to know they can call his office if they have concerns, and that he values transparency.

“We're constantly working with people,” Renner said. “If you do get a violation from us, or you have any questions, just call us. Talk to us. We're not here to take your property. We're not here to do anything negative other than trying to improve the health and safety. And that's really what our entire team focuses on.”

To contact code enforcement for addresses in the city of Wilmington, call (910) 341-3266.

Kelly Kenoyer is an Oregonian transplant on the East Coast. She attended University of Oregon’s School of Journalism as an undergraduate, and later received a Master’s in Journalism from University of Missouri- Columbia. Contact her on Twitter @Kelly_Kenoyer or by email: KKenoyer@whqr.org.