When I first took a photo of the work being done at the southeast corner of Main and Utica, I sent it to Steel and he was in disbelief that the building was coming back to life. The process started off with a couple of upper windows being replaced, which looked nice, but was almost a tease if that was all that was being done. Gradually more windows were replaced, then came the molding work, the stripping of the paint, the repainting of the facade and finally the work on the storefronts.
Although the work is not complete, Bethesda World Harvest International Church (located directly next door) is on its way to restoring the original beauty back to this lackluster corner. While the western side of the intersection still looks on par with your average strip mall architecture, there is now a shining star that acts as an example for the rest of Main Street. Hopefully other property owners will look on and see that this sort of investment is the way to bring back the businesses while stabilizing the ones that already exist. It completely changes the dynamic of the street, from a lackluster corner that Steel wrote about back in 2006 (see post) - remember the littered window displays, boarded up sections, tragic yellow awning and rusted gates... to an excellent example of restored urban architecture.
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Although the work is not complete, Bethesda World Harvest International Church (located directly next door) is on its way to restoring the original beauty back to this lackluster corner. While the western side of the intersection still looks on par with your average strip mall architecture, there is now a shining star that acts as an example for the rest of Main Street. Hopefully other property owners will look on and see that this sort of investment is the way to bring back the businesses while stabilizing the ones that already exist. It completely changes the dynamic of the street, from a lackluster corner that Steel wrote about back in 2006 (see post) - remember the littered window displays, boarded up sections, tragic yellow awning and rusted gates... to an excellent example of restored urban architecture.
^A storefront before and a storefront after.
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outstanding rehab. Wonderful to see. Huge improvement (great choice in colors, too).
There was public grant money (city) associated with this project. I'm curious as to how much. Perhaps BR could inquire.