Many Threads, One Community

Many Threads, formerly Building Belmont, returns with an expanded vision connecting people throughout Gaston County through meaningful conversations and community building. Hosts Keanu Trujillo and Sam Kline share their passion for the area, their entrepreneurial journeys, and their vision for creating a platform that highlights the interconnected nature of our communities.

• Introduction to the rebranded platform "Many Threads" expanding from Belmont to all of Gaston County

• Meet co-host Sam Klein, commercial real estate expert with Mecca Commercial

• How Preston Wilson has been a common thread and catalyst for both hosts' careers

• Discussion of current projects including Loray Mill's revitalization and downtown Gastonia's transformation

• Preview of upcoming guests including Jim Morasso, Ivory Torrence, and Rob Presley

• Introduction of "The Rumor Mill" segment where listeners can submit community rumors for verification

Send us your questions, rumors, and suggestions for guests through our social media channels. We want to know what interests you and how we can better connect our community through this platform.

Transcript

Welcome to Many Threads

Speaker 1 0:00

Welcome back to the Building Belmont podcast . I know that it's been a long time since we've produced an episode , but we have some exciting changes that we're going to share with you today where the direction of the platform is going and what we hope to continue to do . But what will remain the same is we exist to connect people in our community . We have an amazing community here in Gaston County Building Belmont . Thank you to all of you that listened and followed along early on . We made some awesome connections and even produced a lot of awesome opportunities for businesses in our community Some of them , if you go back to our library , you will see that they did not make it , but that's also a part of it . But thank you for all of your support along the way . I know that it's been a long time since we produced an episode , but it had been on my mind and been on my heart . It just had not been on my schedule until now . With some of the great changes that we're bringing and a great partnership that we've created that will continue to bring these connections to you in the form of podcast and , obviously , our social media . So the Building Belmont podcast will be no more as a brand . I've expanded my reach in Gaston County and what I'm doing with my businesses and from the beginning wanted to bring a platform that served the community as a whole , our great county . So I'm excited to introduce to you the Many Threads platform . Many Threads , one community obviously is the tagline for Belmont , so we're honoring our roots of Belmont , but Many Threads is also the way that Gaston County operates . Every community if you meet someone in Dallas , you're going to find they live in Belmont or they have a business in Gastonia or their family is from Cheriville . Everything is connected here and we want to create a platform that helps to serve that , not only in highlighting businesses and thought leaders and leaders and just entertaining and interesting people in our community , but also just everyday people that are living life just the way you are here in Gaston County , that are shopping at the same grocery store , stopping at the same gas stations and sharing those awesome connections .

Speaker 1 1:50

For those of you that didn't follow the Building Belmont podcast early , the catalyst for all of this was I was meeting great people and connecting with great people . You're going to meet another one of those today and I felt I wanted to share those conversations with the community . It's very inefficient . It's impossible to have a conversation with everyone we have a conversation with on a day-to-day basis , but through this platform we want you to feel connected to them and we're excited about the opportunities , the businesses that will be formed , the partnerships that will be formed , just in general , the connections and relationships that will be made in our community .

Meet Co-Host Sam Kline

Speaker 1 2:26

Where have I been ? I started in March 2024 , alchemy Coworking here in downtown Gastonia . With that expansion into business in Gastonia obviously wanted to take this platform countywide , as I mentioned before , but that has taken a lot of my time . I'm excited to share that we've expanded to a second location . After being open just over a year thanks to Mecca Commercial , we have a second location in Charlotte . Now we're continuing our mission with Alchemy Coworking of bringing connections together and being more than coworking but connecting people to serve and build their businesses together . Also , since then started Southpoint Social . We'll probably do an episode on that at some point .

Speaker 1 2:58

So for those of you most of you being a listener base in Belmont I hope you've been out . You got to enjoy . So I've been busy building businesses , but I have not forgotten about the heart and the intention of this platform . So with that , I want to introduce my co-host , co-partner , co-personality that's going to be continuing to drive this platform with me , someone who , for many of you , needs no introduction , but for those of you that do not or have not had the pleasure of getting to meet him , I want to introduce Sam Klein . Sam Klein has been a staple in the community . I think he's the most famous guy to ever come out of West Virginia as he says it Probably , yeah , probably .

Speaker 1 3:33

Sam , tell us a little bit about yourself and what brings you here . I have Sam to thank for picking this platform back up . He also has a ton of connections . He served a lot of people in the community and we got to talking about this and I shared look , I want to pick this thing back up again . Let's do it together . So , Sam , what brings you to podcasting ?

Speaker 2 3:52

Well , keanu , thanks again for just kind of being willing to to bring this back on board . I think I am just excited to kind of explore all the people that we know together and stick with that many threads kind of dynamic . It was easy , when we were talking about doing this , to come up with a list of like 15 or 20 people that I was dying to talk to just about Gaston County . Obviously , you know , my main thing is commercial real estate , and so the nice part about buying , selling and leasing commercial real estate is you get to meet a lot of people and I've been fortunate to meet just kind of like the titans of this community the same as you and and get to know them and , you know , sometimes help them with their venture , um , and sometimes just partner alongside them and it's just , uh , it's been cool and so's what's bringing me to podcasting is like having an opportunity to create a platform and bring those people forward and just like listen to what they have to say . Um , you know just , you know what brought me here . You know , uh , I love the fact that you brought up West Virginia . Um , you know , I moved here with my family in 2013 . Um , I had about a 10-year career in project management for commercial construction companies , knew I wanted to do something different .

Speaker 2 5:12

In 2015 I got my license , um , bumped into the Presley brothers and Bob Clay and , um , you know , I always kind of I had this idea that I was going to like do some house flipping and , you know , maybe rep myself on some deals and I sort of tripped face forward into commercial real estate .

Speaker 2 5:33

You know , loved it , couldn't get enough of brokerage like brokerage a lot more than I thought I would , and started to build a book of business . And you know the Clays came here in the 80s and worked for Far Yarns and Bob Clay was literally like the godfather of real estate in Gaston County . You know the Presleys came up . You know their father , tony , you know , came up with the idea behind CRCBR , was one of the major developers of South End back in the 90s and so kind of like real estate royalty and

Our Shared Gaston County Connection

Speaker 2 6:05

just have been very fortunate to be with that team and I'm excited to have some of those guys on the podcast and hear what they have to say . And , you know , just currently really trying to build the Mecca brand . Continue to expand on the Mecca brand here in Gaston County .

Speaker 1 6:22

Yeah Well , in commercial real estate , especially with Mecca , given the relationship that it's had to the community for many years through Bob Clay and Eric Clay on their side and then obviously joining Mecca and what Mecca's done in Charlotte , you get a front row seat to everything happening in the community before it even happens , so bringing in new business or new opportunities , new industry , commercial real estate is the front row seat to that . So I'm excited to get to even personally get to hear from your experience and the things that you're learning , the things that you're seeing , but being able to be ahead of it to share with the community . I've always felt , at least lately , that traditional media is somewhat lacking in the personal or local connection . Right , we don't have local media anymore . I'm thankful for the Gaston Gazette . They've done some pieces on us , but they're USA Today it's distant , whereas we are in the community , we're connecting with the community , so it's a more personal approach to local media .

Speaker 2 7:15

Yeah , I love that . I mean , I think you know , sometimes there's ideas about what's going on and they're not necessarily true , and so it'd be a great thing to discuss some of the , the dynamics of a deal , you know , as it's able to be shared . Sometimes we do have to remain , keep things confidential for a client , but like to to roll it out to the community and be like hey , you know this corner that you've been wondering about for five years , this is what's happening , this was and it's actually really what's happening . It's not , you know , so , um , so , yeah , I mean , I hope that there's uh , I hope that there's space for that um on the podcast , along with a lot of other things . I think one of the things I'm really looking forward to is bringing some of the businesses that I've helped um secure space in Gaston County that wanted to be in Gaston County and let them talk about their experience here , why they chose to be here , cause there's a lot of like passion for that , which I love , and just kind of like .

Speaker 2 8:13

Going back to the , to the uh , the West Virginia comment , if you're from West Virginia and you're out and about , people will say things like did you grow up near the beach , um , or are you from Western Virginia or something else that shows they don't understand where West Virginia is . We've always kind of like had that underdog mentality . You come down to Gaston County and you just kind of find the same thing . You know we are not . I mean , you know , mecklenburg County probably has around 2 million people . Gaston County has about 220,000 . But what we do have is this like really cool mix of small towns , a lot of really like you know , great people who are salt of the earth but also entrepreneurial and intelligent in their own right , and so it's to me it's a lot like hanging out in West Virginia . It's been super cool .

Speaker 1 9:00

Yeah , and we kind of connected on that , just with our upbringing being a lot more blue collar . I come from the country in New Mexico and it's similar . It is very forgotten , like you said , the comments about West Virginia I hear it all the time , especially around here . You were raised in New Mexico . You speak such great English . How'd you learn to speak like that ? It's like well , the same way that you did .

Speaker 1 9:20

But at the same time , I do connect with the blue collar mentality of Gaston County . I think the best people in the world are here and if you filled my bank account with billions of dollars , I'm still going to live here . I love this community , I love the people and I owe everything to this community . Coming from New Mexico , I didn't think that business or entrepreneurship was in the cards for me , because it's just culturally not a thing there . This community is what changed it for me as to wanting to serve with this platform , and this platform has served me greatly in my own ventures by connecting with people genuinely . Even now being able to connect further with you , although we go way back , uh , this community is just amazing . I want more people to feel that and feel that welcomeness .

Speaker 1 9:58

I had a group in here today for the Commissioner School of Excellence we are at Alchemy Coworking , by the way and one of the students asked how do you make connections ? That was a hard question to answer because I know how I have , but how do you put that into a formula ? You know , my thing was just get out in the community and serve people . That's what it was . It was genuinely connecting with people and it was genuinely connecting with people . And then here we are , but a thread that we actually share and the thread that I owe everything to being the Wilson family , both summer and Preston Wilson . You had a start with Preston Wilson . For those of you that don't know , preston is the founder , along with his wife , summer Wilson , of William Henry salon , ballard's barbershop , william Henry , the spa ,

Preston Wilson: The Community Connector

Speaker 1 10:36

um . But you had a connection with him early on , professionally , on the construction side , if I remember correctly .

Speaker 2 10:42

Absolutely . I , um , I mean , this is a . This is a perfect , a perfect story for this podcast . I initially interviewed with Andy Presley , um , who is uh , much more of a gunslinger than his brother Rob , who and I I , you know , I'm obviously connected to Rob professionally now and Andy said I don't really like , um , I don't really like , uh , standard interview procedures . Let's meet at the bar and have a couple of beers and talk .

Speaker 2 11:10

I said , sure , it was probably like three or four in the afternoon at the time the Peter wheel was Glenway , and so , after a couple of drinks and a lot of talking , I end up in front of Preston and negotiated a deal on the spot to help consult and try to help Bauer Trouse that Andy had an interest in work on a sort of commercial division , and so that's how I met Preston was , you know , you know , an instant sort of insertion into his business and he , that was a great experience . I don't think it was something that took . We did do some deals together , but ultimately I think he went in a different direction . That was okay , I was moving in a different direction as well , but Preston was one of my first great clients , actually , and he just he had some real estate he wanted to sell and it was like , no question , no negotiation on commission , just like , hey , man , go sell this stuff . And , um , that was my . You know , that was like one of my first great clients and we just got to be friends and and uh , and even partners on some stuff and he , it's like the best playing card , as you know , is to sort of mention his name . He's just so well liked throughout the community . So anytime I can work that into a conversation , I do and we've just been able to , you know again , commingle on all kinds of things throughout the years and he builds a very mean house along with all the other stuff that he does .

Speaker 2 12:37

The one thing about his commercial construction , the portion of his business that is commercial , he just he can't do something typical . It's boring to him . You know we've tried to work through that and it has to be this 100 , 150-year-old building that needs all this creativity . And then it's amazing to watch them come alive . And obviously , you know I , um , I sold the property in belmont last year to , um , some clients and the way that I sold them was brought them to alchemy and then I said I don't have a dog in this fight , but there's only one contractor that you should speak to on a building in belmont that's , you know , over 100 years old . That's Preston Wilson , and we're currently like working through plants on that and I'm super excited . Um , so yeah , preston is , uh is a probably a thread to a lot of people within this community .

Speaker 1 13:30

When I say the Gaston County has the best people , in my eyes Preston is the best of the best . He's number one . Uh . The opportunities he's provided is amazing . They were the ones that helped me start my first business and it was very organic . We became friends . They were the first friends we made . I didn't realize I had hit the lottery and I didn't understand the blessing that was at the time . But Elevation Church is what brought me here originally , and then I fell in love with the community and I met Summer and Preston through there , and so Preston again .

Speaker 1 13:56

A lot of threads can be traced back to him and this is becoming an impromptu Preston episode , which he's going to hate . But it's a great example for what we want to do for the community Preston having a role , or a small role in your start into where you are now . He had a major role in mine . They helped me understand I'm not meant to be an employee , that I'm a terrible employee , because I'd get bored easily . I usually had a two year life cycle uh , corrections , law enforcement , uh .

Speaker 1 14:23

I wasn't in the military for nine years but my active duty was only two . The rest of it was with the guard finance for a year ministry for two years and finally understood through them you're not meant to be an employee , you're meant to build . And obviously they know that . They're great entrepreneurs themselves and they gave me my start and helped me build my first business in 2020 . And then , when I had this vision for alchemy , of course I shared with Preston first , and you know he is very intentional about what he does and the construction and the work he does , so I shared it with him in 2021 . It wasn't until 2023 that he finally came around and said hey , I have the right building , it's time , and so I'm so grateful for that .

Speaker 1 14:58

But what Preston does for so many , you'll never catch him on a podcast , maybe , maybe , if it's like my last dying wish he would get on a podcast , but he's not that guy to be public facing in that way , and yet his threads are everywhere in the community and that is an example of what we want to do here . Is someone listened to an episode , hear about a story , hear about a connection , meet a person through the platform that ultimately changes their life and their legacy ? That's my hope , so I wanted to bring it to Preston just to show

Luray Mill and Commercial Development

Speaker 1 15:27

how , even through us , there's a common thread in what we're doing now .

Speaker 2 15:31

I marvel at both of them . The decisions that they make are generally about what's best for the community , and most people make decisions about what's best for the community and most people make decisions about what's best for themselves . So a lot of times when he's purchasing a piece of real estate or making a move and he'll talk to me about it , it's like well , it would be really beneficial to , and he'll list , you know , a multitude of other people when you're talking about threads . A great connector you know has plugged me into a lot of the clients that I've been able to do deals with . So absolutely um echo that sentiment .

Speaker 1 16:05

Yeah , well , we're working on a project together . Now alchemy is looking at our third location at Luray mill , which kind of brought us back into each other's ecosystem , although we always were connected . I owe so much to Mecca . I owe so much to Mecca , obviously had met Rob through Belmont Trolley back in 2021 , and then met Eric when I was going through my first serious deal to build co-working over at the Dynamo 31 building where your office is , and Eric mentored me all along the way and it was my first introduction into commercial real estate and how you work and ultimately are paid . He didn't make a dollar from me , but he was there and he was taking meetings and he was walking me through commercial real estate and that's the kind of the Mecca experience as well . And then Rob brought the Charlotte location . So I have a great love and affinity and connection for Mecca because it's the same thing . What's the right connection , what's the right place , what's the right opportunity . But now we're working together on Luray .

Speaker 1 17:02

Luray Mill has been an amazing project . It's one of my favorites in the county for what's been done to it . But it's come under new ownership in the last three years roughly , I would say , and you now have that listing on the commercial side with Mecca and we're looking at putting a third location there . So it's a great example of the work that can be done together . Tribridge , the owner of Luray Mill now , and Josh , our point man there , great company to work with . They care about the community where they invest , how they invest not only in how their product returns investment but how it serves the community . So it's a great example . We'll be working hand in hand . We'll have some , hopefully , stories around what's happening at Luray . They are expanding their apartment offering now , I think adding a hundred more units roughly .

Speaker 2 17:47

Yeah , that was always sort of the second phase that you know that that building is just such a storied history , you know , from like catching on fire to going bankrupt , changing hands a few times and ultimately Preservation . North Carolina purchased that property and held on to it and kept it from being demolished . It was really at that level and held it for quite some time I'm not sure exactly how many years but the end product has just been amazing . The end product has just been amazing , the amount of effort that went in when it was first purchased and repaired and brought back to life . And the residential piece has always been the big success story and the easy thing to talk about .

Speaker 2 18:35

And the commercial pieces really lagged . Essentially , what they made um on the on the first two floors was something that they called the mall and they had this idea that it was going to kind of be these kind of small retail shops that was supported by the residents above and the surrounding area and it just it just isn't a retail spot . Um , you know if you've been in it , it's beautiful but it kind of lacks the foot traffic that's necessary . And so finally we've been able to put our arms back around the commercial piece and , as you said , tribridge is now willing to invest into some of the outfits and the different things that are necessary to get commercial deals done , and we've gosh since taking over , I think we've got four deals done and another one on the way , obviously super excited to have you there , but it is . It just has a cool factor for a professional office setting that's , in my mind's , unmatched .

Speaker 1 19:33

I love the office I go to , but I would love to , I would , I would absolutely love to walk into Luray and go to work every day , absolutely , absolutely and again , being in downtown Gastonia , downtown Gastonia again , especially knowing that most of this base is in Belmont . I know it gets a bad rap , but we've been here now over a year , almost two years , with construction and everything else . The changes that we've seen in downtown Gastonia are leaps and bounds from where it was and it's a great opportunity . I think that people that look at an area as undesirable or I don't want to be there , they're missing the opportunity . So it's fun to get to be a part of that underdog Again . Of course we're going to gravitate towards the underdog downtown Gastonia or Luray mill , but what's happening in Gaston County , right , wrong or indifferent . Almost every community loves the growth , except Belmont , and I understand I sit in the traffic every day , so do you . We get it , but there's a lot of growth happening here and I still don't think the secret is out in Charlotte entirely . Actually , since our Charlotte location , I like to go to the gym in Charlotte in the morning and beat the traffic and then go into our Charlotte location and I'm talking to a guy who , his wife , works at Caramont , at the new hospital ,

Our Vision and Future Guests

Speaker 1 20:40

and he lives in South end and she works the night shift . So at 5 PM every day she's driving into Gaston County terrible drive . And then at 7 AM she's driving out of Gaston County terrible drive . And I said , man , well , why don't you look at a home in Gaston County ? Well , you know and he was trying to be nice about saying I don't want to live in Gaston County , but there's a lot of great opportunity coming here and we hope to be at the forefront of those opportunities to serve you in the community .

Speaker 1 21:05

But it's not just about what Sam and I want to talk about . Look , we can both make friends with a wall and we can talk about anything . We want to talk about what interests you , what serves you in the community as an everyday person that's growing and living here from great nonprofits or organizations . We have Catawba Riverkeeper , who we've had John Sear be on before . We need to catch up with him . He's now absorbed Stowe Botanical Garden as well . There's a lot of great things happening here and we want to be at the front of that , always be a positive , unifying platform in our community . It's about connections . So that's what you can expect from us . I'm very excited to pick this back up again , especially alongside Sam and being able to serve the community again , although that never stopped . This platform was a huge part of it and it grew quickly , thanks to all of you , and I'm excited to pick it back up again . Uh , we'll close with this , sam . What do you hope this platform does for the community ? What are you most excited about ?

Speaker 2 21:56

I think I'm most excited about exposing people that I know um to the community , that I'm , that that I think they need to hear from you know people that , again , that's probably my favorite part of my job is being around these entrepreneurial minds and watching them take risks and grow and watching their bills business develop , and I want them to come on this , this platform , and talk about like this is why I chose Gaston County . This was why Gaston County was important to me , because that , to me , is the unifying effect that you're talking about . This is a great place to live , it's a great place to be and , uh , man , I'm honored to share studio space with you . I'm looking forward to it .

Speaker 1 22:30

Give a couple of shout outs , maybe if some people that you want to have on here so they can look forward to the call .

Speaker 2 22:34

Man , I just got off the phone with Rob Presley . We were talking about , of course , a real estate deal and you know I said I'm about to record a podcast . I got to go . You're on the short list . He said great , my buddy , Nate , over at Link Logistics , is definitely a top pick , is definitely a top pick .

Speaker 2 22:56

We've got to have our man , Ivory Ivory yes , I actually ran into him at Everyday Market grabbing a cup of coffee . He does a great job in the community serving on city council which is not an easy job by any means and then is out in the residential world doing a great job . I think probably my favorite thing about him is he's a great guy , doesn't take himself too seriously , he's always got a smile on his face , but is also a consummate professional as well . So those are a couple of guys we're going to reach out to right away , and he's someone I always enjoy sharing space with . Yeah , a couple more . Jim , uh , he , he's someone I always enjoy sharing space with . Yeah .

Speaker 1 23:36

Yeah , a couple of more . A couple more uh , jim Morasso web custom kitchen . He's excited to come and talk and everyone loves web , you know . But when you spend time around Jim , you could be talking about anything . You just leave a better person . So I'm excited to have him on . A couple of others that are planning flags here in downtown Augustonia . Talk about what Jim's doing with the citizens national bank building or other things like that . We have the connections , guys , so now we want to use them to serve you and to connect to you . So please comment , like , subscribe , do all the things that help the platform , but genuinely engage with us on social media . If there's something you want to know . Actually , it makes me think I think a good segment or a fun segment would be the rumor mill .

Speaker 1 24:11

Yes , you know the rumor mill , yeah , we will send us all the rumors and we'll process them and I promise you , if we don't know the truth , we know who knows the truth . That's right and we can get ahead of those things Because , again , rumors can be a little bit divisive as well Absolutely , and we can bring truth to those situations . And development takes a long time . One of my great friends and partners me three , I was like man , this took so long . He said , dude , that's nothing , because it just takes a while , it's . You have to be very intentional so we'll bring those connections . But even outside of business or construction or commercial real estate , again we have the connections . We want to share them with you . So let us know what interests you and how .