Something Big Has Begun in Montpelier

More than 2 years since my last blog post...it doesn't seem that long!  But now that we are embarking on something very new it seems appropriate to document our progress so far and throughout the project - for everyone's benefit.

The Project: First National Building

We began this endeavor in November 2011 when my parents purchased the...less than impressive...building across the street from our office.  At the intersection Main and Empire Streets, it's one of the most prominent buildings in town...it also is one of the most dilapidated in the downtown.  The apartments upstairs are not habitable and only 2 of the 4 commercial spaces were occupied.  It seemed like a long-shot, but we began the process of evaluating the building for its rehabilitated potential.

June 2012 - Through Heritage Ohio I was made aware of a webinar on "Discretionary Grants" through the Ohio Development Services Agency (ODSA, formerly Ohio Department of Development, ODOD).  The webinar described a new formula for downtown revitalization grants focused on individual projects or clusters of buildings - especially those with residential over commercial.  That's EXACTLY what we have!

December 2012 - We received notification from ODSA that the preliminary assessment of our project was acceptable and that we should move forward with our formal application.

July 2013 - After many months of drawings, contractor quotes, banker meetings, community input and a blessing from Village Council we submitted our application for "FY 2013 Community Development Block Grant, Discretionary Targets of Opportunity for Downtown Revitalization".

October 2013 - We received APPROVAL of our grant application.

Effective Friday, January 24, 2014 we have officially requested release of funds to the tune of $170,000 from ODSA.  We hope to receive those funds mid-February 2014.  That means that demolition and preparation work can begin in March.  We must be finished by October 31, 2014 in order to comply with the terms of the grant.

It's been 2 years and 2 months in the works, but we are nearly ready to begin on a very exciting transformation in downtown Montpelier!  My intention is to provide project scope and progress updates as this very exciting project moves along.