Four downtown Marion building get makeovers

MARION - A lack of downtown rental properties is leading the city to encourage - and sometimes provide incentives for - projects renovating aged buildings into places people can live and shop.

Four downtown buildings, constructed between 1872 and 1900, will be flipped from vacant storefronts and underused second floors to mixed-use projects - retail spaces, apartments and condos. Marion is providing financial incentives for two of the properties.

The effort has a twofold purpose: catering to the desires of young professionals and baby boomers who want to live downtown, and bringing more customers to businesses in that area, said City Administrator Lon Pluckhahn.

'There's a big segment of retirees and baby boomers that want to live in an area where they can walk to businesses,” Pluckhahn said. 'They are getting rid of their suburban homes and moving into more of the urban loft style environments. At the same time, millennials want the same type of housing.”

While there's no exact number of how many rental properties exist in downtown or the city, Pluckhahn said he would 'be surprised” if there were more than 20 downtown. The city is looking to finance a housing study to determine how many rental properties would be sufficient in Marion.

'One of the things I would say we've been really good at is building single-family homes,” Pluckhahn said.

For most of the downtown buildings, this will be the first time in years they have seen life. The Memorial Hall Building, for instance, has had a vacant second floor since the 1980s and a variety of shops on the first floor that have come and gone over the years.

'If you are not using the upper levels of a building, it's sort of like not using the freezer of your refrigerator,” said Marion Chamber of Commerce President Jill Ackerman.

The chamber has worked with developers to garner interest in the renovations.

'You're paying to heat it, cool it, maintain it and you've got all this space that you're not using - and that has really gone on in Uptown Marion for a really long time, that we haven't been using these upper story spaces to their highest and best use,” she said.

Renovating an old building can be an expensive endeavor, one that Jeanne Matthews, developer for the Memorial Hall Building, said she wouldn't have been able to undertake without financial help she received from the city and grants.

The project received a property tax break from Marion for five years based on the new investment. It also received a $75,000 grant from the Iowa Economic Development Authority.

'The building was in duress and hadn't had any improvements or repairs or renovations done for, boy, forever, and it needed some serious rehab,” Matthews said.

That included new duct work, plumbing, heating and cooling, while keeping the original integrity of the building intact.

'We're kind of taking the space back to how it was originally built,” Matthews said.

THE PROJECTS

Memorial Hall Building

760 11th St.

Now: Renovated two first-floor commercial spaces and one large second-floor condo. The first floor houses an art gallery and Irish pub, which will open this year.

Then: Built in 1900 and used by the Women's Relief Corps, a group that formed in 1888 to help the poor, primarily the families of Civil War veterans. The second floor was the home to a kitchen and parlor. A store was on the ground floor.

' Received a tax break from the city based on the value of the new investment for five years.

The Weichman Building

1180 Seventh Ave.

Now: Renovation of two first-floor commercial spaces and three second-floor condos.

Then: Built in 1883 by Augustus Weichman, a tailor who also operated a saloon. His first tenant was a dry goods store. More recently, it was occupied by Irwin's Clothing in 1956, which closed in December.

The Cobban Building

1138 and 1144 Seventh Ave.

Now: Renovation of two first-floor commercial storefronts and three second-floor apartments.

Then: Built in 1872, the original purpose of the second floor was to serve as a hall and a theater called Grove City Hall. It also was home to a boot and shoe store and a mercantile until 1875. A pharmacy and an orthodontist office exists on the first floor.

The Owen Block Building

1000 Seventh Ave.

Now: Renovation of existing upper-story apartments.

Then: Built in 1882 by George Owen, the second floor served as a hall for a fraternal organization from 1882 to 1893. A photo shop occupied a space on the first floor in 1899, then a storage facility in 1905. Over time, it was also was the site of a grocery store, novelty store and a bakery and confectionary. A Maid-Rite Cafe opened in 1986, where it remains.

' Marion has a development agreement contributing up to $550,000 toward this project.