Storied home starts new chapter: Historic Fayetteville home gets renewed purpose as local business owners prepare to set up shop in the old house

By Stephanie Meador, posted Oct 10, 2024 on BizFayetteville.com

The nearly 200-year-old historic Taylor-Utley House in Fayetteville is being renovated by local business owners Casey and Carl Benander to serve as the storefront for their company Haymount Homes LLC and Casey’s new physical therapy and dry needling studio, Haymount Body Mechanic. Photos provided by Casey Benander.

The historic Taylor-Utley House in Fayetteville will soon be the new home for two local businesses. Casey and Carl Benander, owners of Haymount Homes LLC, are preparing to open a storefront. Additionally, Casey is opening her own physical therapy studio on the property as well.

It’s fitting that Casey and her husband Carl will be moving into this historic space, as they’re entrepreneurial efforts began with the renovation of old homes.

“My husband and I started the home business in 2017. At the time, there were a lot of older homes being torn down in Haymount, and that bothered us. We knew we couldn’t save every home, but we decided that we could try to get some and renovate them versus replacing them…We both grew up in historic homes, so we saw the value of what they were,” shared Casey.

They began renovating these old homes to serve as rental homes, both long and short term, as they saw the need for them due to the transitory nature of the military community. The Benander family are military as well, with Carl serving actively.

The duo also began to offer styling services to help people achieve their visions for how their home would look and feel.

Casey expanded her talents further following her daughter’s interest in selling baked goods at the local farmers market.

“At that time, I was like, ‘I need to have something to do every Saturday, if I’m going to be at the farmers market.’ So that progressed to starting to do more home products,” explained Casey.

Casey then found her niche in candle making.

“With the candles, as a healthcare practitioner, I was frustrated by the quality of the candles that were available at the price points that they were available at, and so I kind of deep dove into how to make a candle that was legitimately okay for people to burn, sustainable for the planet, high functioning from a standpoint of like it performs well, but was also super affordable,” explained Casey.

As demand for her services and products grew, so did questions about a permanent home for the business.

“People kept asking us, ‘Where’s your store?’And I was like, we don’t have one,” shared Casey. But the answer to that question has now changed as they continue work on renovations to their new storefront.

“We were excited to find the Taylor-Utley home…it kind of married all [our interests], especially because it also had a small building in the back, and I had been considering having my own physical therapy, dry needling studio for a long time. So we kind of saw it as a perfect opportunity to save a house, create a home store, and for me to be able to launch my clinic all in one place,” stated Casey.

The physical therapy/dry needling studio, Haymount Body Mechanic, is set to open first. Casey hopes to open this month, October 2024, once all of the finishing touches have been added.

Casey has nearly 20 years of experience as a physical therapist. She has gained much of that experience at Cape Fear Orthopedics, and she confirmed she intends to continue working at Cape Fear Orthopedics even as she opens this new studio.

“What’s making our little studio different is that we are going to be a direct payment studio. We’re not taking insurance, and the reason we’re not is because we know we can provide a faster and better client experience by doing direct payment,” explained Casey.

A referral will not be required to be seen at Haymount Body Mechanic.

In terms of staffing, Casey shared that they currently plan to have two physical therapists, a physical therapist assistant, a dietitian and a Pilates and dance instructor.

The storefront will be called Haymount Homes - The Market and is expected to open sometime in 2025. The store will feature the candles and the home products they currently sell along with vintage art, different decor pieces and used furniture.

Additionally, Casey shared that they plan to transform the upstairs of the store to be a space for candle production, shipping and inventory. Then further down the line they hope to utilize some of the space for small events and as a photo studio.

“What we’re planning to do with the initial launch is to basically host what we’re calling market weekends, where like once every six weeks we are open, and we are almost like an event, at least initially, and then as the store grows...as it develops, we will consider opening more frequently,” explained Casey.

This will also allow Casey time to curate a new collection of vintage items and redesign the spread between each market.

Across all of her disciplines, Casey is attentive to the needs of clients and helps them to lead a more comfortable and happy life — whether that’s helping people take the necessary steps to perform at their highest level through physical therapy or helping people settle into a home that they can feel is their own no matter how long or short a time they may be staying in it.

To find out more about Haymount Homes LLC visit www.haymounthomesllc.com.

For more information on Haymount Body Mechanic visit www.haymountbodymechanic.com.

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