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Three businesses now operate in old Marion Maid-Rite building, with more coming
Owners now focused on finding ‘right thing’ for prominent corner space
Sep. 14, 2025 6:00 am
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MARION — Two years after acquiring full ownership of a historic building in Uptown Marion, Jamie and Kelsie Hoth, of Marion, have turned the dilapidated Owen Block Building, which was the longtime home to the former Maid-Rite restaurant, into a thriving space with three businesses and several upper story apartments.
Background
The building, at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 10th Street, was built in 1880. In 1986 it became home to a Maid-Rite restaurant that operated there for more than 30 years, until the previous owners decided to close in 2017.
In 2019, Jamie Hoth and Joe Hill, of San Diego, Calif., bought the building together with intentions to reopen it as a Maid-Rite restaurant.
Those plans never came to fruition, and in May 2023, the city filed a petition asking the court to deem the building an abandoned property and grant the property title to the city. In the petition, the city said the building had multiple broken windows that left the interior exposed to weather conditions and contributed to further deterioration of the property. The city placed fencing around the building as a public safety measure.
Jamie Hoth said he went to speak with Marion City Manager Ryan Waller about the building, and told Waller that he and his wife had plans to acquire full ownership and fix it up. In August 2023, after ownership changed hands, the city withdrew its petition. The Hoths then began the process of addressing the building’s structural concerns so it could house new businesses.
What’s happened since
There now are three businesses operating out of the building — HEA Book Boutique, the Skin Society, and Uptown Marion Nail & Spa — as well as seven apartments on the second floor, six of which are currently occupied, according to Jamie Hoth.
The first step toward improving the building, Hoth said, was to hire an engineer to address structural issues at the front of the building that had existed for years. That fix required a new 75-foot steel beam and 6,000 pounds of concrete. The Hoths also had to address damage to the second floor caused by the August 2020 derecho.
After the major building repairs were complete, the Hoths began work to remodel the apartments on the second floor. They also found their first business tenant in Jenn Draper, the owner of HEA Book Boutique. She initially signed a three-month lease in 2023 to host a pop-up store during the holiday season, but business was going well enough by the end of the lease that the two parties decided to extend the agreement.
The two other businesses moved in later, and Jamie Hoth said he and his wife are working on filling the 3,500 square feet of business space left in the building.
“There’s more to come. We’re doing our best to try and pick a good tenant on the corner ... that’s going to benefit the community. We have other businesses in Uptown, so we want a good neighbor,” Hoth said. “The top question we always get is, what’s going on in the corner? When are you going to get somebody in there? It’s a big process, really, to get somebody in there that fits, because it’s a lot of space and you got to get the right thing.”
Kim Downs, Marion’s deputy city manager, said the remodel process was a great success from the city’s perspective, and she was excited to see the changes that the Hoths were able to make to the building.
“We spoke and created a timeline that they felt was reasonable to them, and what worked for us,” Downs said. “They really were great to work with, and they’ve done a great job, and it’s been so fun to watch.”
Lacey Schroeder, director of the Uptown Marion Main Street Program, said the new businesses have had a big impact on the number of people visiting the district.
“A lot of their clients and customer base are intentionally coming to visit them, but then those people turn around and spend a great deal of time in the Uptown area, whether it's visiting coffee shops, or going shopping, or maybe they're coming for a book club, and that book club is meeting at one of the restaurants. They have added a lot of vibrancy to the area,” Schroeder said.
Schroeder said she’s also been excited to see the apartments on the second floor of the building being put to use, as having residents Uptown stimulates the area’s economy.
“They are living, they're working, they're shopping, and they're spending their time in Uptown,” Schroeder said. “That’s a big investment that those building owners, Jamie and Kelsey, have made.”
Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com
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