SOLD: WB Realty buying downtown buildings
This building housing Lirio Chocolate and the one next to it on the left, the former Real Dry Cleaners, are two of the five downtown buildings owned or being acquired by Clinton’s WB Realty LLC. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
Along with others under contract or recently purchased, WB Realty will own five downtown buildings, owner Ken White said Friday.
Chris Kopek, who opened his chocolate factory in the Eagle Bend building in summer 2021, said his full-time job as an IT security consultant has prevented him from moving ahead with plans to open a chocolate showroom at the same site, or even to continue to make his chocolate bars there.
Kopek said in November 2022 that he planned to have the chocolate showroom open to the public by Valentine’s Day 2023, after he had a construction crew working for several weeks to remodel the building’s interior.
But in January, Kopek told The Courier News that his plans had changed, and he was planning to close up shop and probably sell the building.
A few days later, Kopek said he had accepted an offer to purchase the building, but he would not say who the buyer was.
This past week, however, Ken White of WB Realty said his company is the buyer, and would be closing on the purchase later this month.
He recently purchased the building next door, 425 Eagle Bend Road, which had housed Real Dry Cleaners. That business closed permanently in November, following the death of its owner earlier in 2023.
White said Friday that he’s not yet ready to announce plans for the former dry cleaners building or the chocolate factory building next door, which also once housed a dry cleaning business.
But he said he’s also closing this month on the purchase of the former comic-book store at 372 N. Market St., just across the Norfolk Southern Railroad tracks about a block from the two buildings on Eagle Bend.
Market Street becomes Eagle Bend after it crosses the railroad tracks.
White said he already owns the building at 341 Market St. that houses Granny’s Attic antiques, and also the buildings at 356 and 358 Market St.
Historic Clinton Antiques is the tenant at 356 Market St., while 358 Market is vacant.
“We will soon have five buildings in all on Market and Eagle Bend,” he said.
White also would not comment on plans for the two vacant Market Street buildings, but said he would make his plans known soon.
As for Lirio Chocolate, Kopek said in mid-January that he was still making chocolate bars at the Eagle Bend location, but would be winding that down.
Kopek said then that he still had about 10,000 pounds of cocoa beans he needed to use before he ended his chocolate-making business altogether.
According to its Facebook page, WB Realty is a building contractor, and owns several rental homes in Clinton.