The next stage of a dramatic downtown overhaul is beginning with restoration, demolition and transformation.
Most visibly, that work has stripped away glass panels that long covered a pair of structures, revealing century old building fronts with arching windows and crumbling brick.
Much of that brick will be repaired, while other material will blanket the lower levels of the building. That work began last week.
“It'll be a mix of, you know, restoration and new material,” said Connor Kenney with SAA|EVI, which is leading a $72 million redevelopment of the long-vacant Cornwall and Gateway buildings into the 129-unit Gateway Apartments. The project also includes first-floor commercial space.
“People will begin to see that transformation, you know, throughout the summer, here,” Kenney said. “By the end of the summer, it's going to be quite a bit different.”
Starting next month, workers will start prepping the neighboring building, formerly Metro Market, for demolition. And an announcement is expected soon about the renovation of another building into apartments and retail that's already underway around the corner on North Clinton Avenue at Division Street.
“If we activate Division Street, things start to happen in a fun, unexpected way,” said developer Patrick Dutton, who has that building at Division, a couple along East Main and another around the other corner on St. Paul. “Then it’s game on.”
The East Main Street block between St. Paul and North Clinton has been one of the most worn and stagnant stretches in all of downtown. That began to change with the renovation of the old McCrory’s building at 200 E. Main St., then the Glenny Building and most recently Harper’s Corner at Main and Clinton where a cafe is set to open soon.
But the work around the Metro Market, which will be taken down beginning this fall, making way for a pedestrian commons, is key. It would both open the expanded block, and allow pass-through to Division Street, which today is a largely forgotten alleyway.
“I hope everyone is surprised,” Dutton said.
