The Freelon Group
Owner: Philip “Phil” Freelon
Lending Partner: Cardinal State Bank
Location: Durham, N.C.
Project: Purchase and up-fit of a 17,163 square foot building
Community Impact: Six new jobs created, African-American Owned
Company Mission: Provide architectural design expertise in the areas of museum/cultural centers, higher education and science/technology facilities.
If you’ve ever gone to a Charlotte Bobcats game or visited one of the newer Durham County libraries, then you’ve seen the work of Philip Freelon. Freelon, who founded Durham’s The Freelon Group in 1990, is a local entrepreneur and architect who has risen to prominence in his field.
“Part of my personal makeup is that I’m an optimist,” says Freelon. “I’m in a profession where people like me are represented at the one percent level, but to me that brings an opportunity to be noticed in a homogeneous environment, which is something that architecture firms struggle a lot to do.
When Freelon wanted to expand his business, he came to Self-Help. At the time he was leasing 9,000 square feet in a Research Triangle Park office building. He needed more room, and he wanted to own the facility.
“Around the time I started the firm there was an economic downturn,” Freelon says. “Developers and bankers were not investing in new construction, so most of our work in the early years was public-sector work, particularly schools. We prefer a balance between private- and public-sector work, but it’s hard to achieve when the economy is slow.”
Freelon found financing for his new building with an SBA 504 loan, provided through a partnership between Cardinal State Bank and Self-Help. Now with 60 members, The Freelon Group has expanded from education-related buildings into science, aviation, and sports facilities, and increasingly, museums and cultural centers. Freelon has consciously focused his firm’s design energy on clients and projects that serve the greater good of the community.
“The plan was always to evolve the firm as quickly as possible to do the kind of work I was good at – larger-scale college and university buildings, airports, and eventually cultural work like museums,” says Freelon.
With more than 25 years of experience in his field and degrees from North Carolina State University's College of Design and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Philadelphia native Freelon has carved out a niche for his services in North Carolina, and more recently, nationwide.
The firm’s work focuses on research and education, the advancement of understanding between disparate cultures, and the creative expression of the arts.
"Over the years the folks who select architects have become more and more diverse, so if we can bring a team that reflects diversity I think it resonates with our clients,” says Freelon.
Freelon’s building designs have received numerous awards, including 27 American Institute of Architects (AIA) regional, state, and local design awards. In 2008 The Freelon Group was recognized by Contract magazine as The Designer of the Year. The firm is also the recipient of the AIA North Carolina Outstanding Firm Award in recognition of outstanding service and design excellence.
In addition to delivering “innovative and inspiring design through collaboration,” environmental stewardship is a big part of Freelon’s mission. The firm is one of 19 LEED® Accredited Professionals in his firm. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings.
For more information, visit www.freelon.com.
