Fedora Boutique navigates the regulatory process

A technicality might have delayed construction on the store under the hot-pink brick facade, but Fedora Boutique is now one step closer to bringing its style to Franklin Street.

Upon visiting the construction site at 151 E. Franklin St. where Carolina Pride used to be, the Town of Chapel Hill Inspections Division discovered a work crew putting up a new wall in the store prior to the issuance of a building permit.

The department issued a Stop Work Order on March 20.

Chief Building Inspector Robert Key said the department decided the external work being done on the storefront, including the pink bricks, was minor and acceptable to do without a permit.

But the permitting process needs to be completed before workers can continue construction on the building’s interior to make sure the new construction is code-compliant, he said.

The building is about 1,000 square feet, according to Orange County tax records, which would cost Fedora Boutique about $100 to have its site plans reviewed by the town’s inspections department .

Building permit fees range from $55 to over $500,000 based on the cost of construction, according to town documents .

“They were kind of jumping the gun, but we’ve got them on the straight and narrow now,” Key said.

Key said the department halted work on the building but gave the work crew permission to sand and refinish the hardwood floors.

He said the department does not often catch crews doing construction without the required permits.

On March 26, Rohit Deedwania , the boutique’s director of business development, submitted an application for the necessary building permit. The permit application was approved Tuesday.

Construction will continue in the next couple of days.

On March 5, the boutique announced on Facebook that its Carrboro location was moving to Franklin to be closer to the UNC campus, especially female students.

Fedora Boutique has additional locations in Raleigh, Apex, Greenville and Wilmington .

Plans for the new store were approved March 10 and are on file in the Chapel Hill Planning Department, said Key.

The zoning compliance permit for the construction of a new storefront with brick and glass, which Deedwania applied for on March 17, has since been approved.

city@dailytarheel.com