We are excited to announce our newest acquisition, 136 South Main Street, the building tucked right between Maddie’s on Main and 101 Smokehouse. This is one we have had our eye on since the very beginning. When we launched Main Street Reimagined, we bought eight buildings on a block that was about 80% vacant. Today that same block is about 80% occupied, and 136 is one of the last empty eyesores still standing. Bringing it back has felt like unfinished business for years.
I had been in conversation with the former owner, Mr. Harris, for a long time. His law office sat on the first floor, and the upstairs has historically held two apartments. We never managed to formalize anything before he passed away last year, so over this past year I have had the privilege of working with his estate, and especially with his sister-in-law, Ducky. She lives in Lima (where we have mutual friends downtown, which is seeing a revitalization of its own) and she is, without exaggeration, one of the peppiest and friendliest 84 year old ladies I have ever met. Getting to know her has been one of the unexpected gifts of this whole process.
If you walked in today, you would swear you had stepped onto the set of Matlock. Wood paneling, overstuffed furniture, humming fluorescent lights, and shelves of old law books and filing cabinets fill the first floor. All of that is about to go. As we started exploring, we pulled back the drop ceiling tiles and found the original tin ceilings hiding several feet above them, still in great shape apart from some peeling paint. 136 is a bit of a sister building to 138 next door, home to 101 Smokehouse, so we have a good hunch about what else is waiting for us. Behind the paneling and plaster, we expect to find the original brick. Under the musty carpet, we expect hardwood.
Our plan is to bring all of that back, taking the building down to the beauty of the original sticks and bricks while putting in all new mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems. That part is expensive and unglamorous, but it is what readies a building like this for the next 50 years of use. The facade is a bigger challenge. It was modified, and frankly ruined, back in the 1960s or 1970s, so we are planning a complete rebuild of the front. That significantly complicates the project, but our goal is that every building we touch is beautiful, enduring, and a complement to everything around it.
We are still kicking around ideas for what 136 will become, and we cannot wait to share them as they take shape. For now, we are just glad to finally have the keys and thrilled to be dreaming up another unique space to a block that barely resembles what we started with 8 years ago.
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There is a magical moment in every one of these projects that I never get tired of. It is when we pull back something ugly, a drop ceiling, a sheet of paneling, a strip of worn carpet, and find something beautiful that was there the whole time. At 136, it was the tin ceiling, hidden for who knows how many decades above cheap acoustic tiles. It was installed back when craftsmanship and character were just how things were built. For whatever reason that beauty got covered up, and we get the joy of uncovering it again.
That is the story of downtown Marion in miniature. The good bones were always here. Somewhere along the way they got hidden behind choices that seemed practical at the time, and our work is mostly the patient business of taking those layers back off. It is slow, it is costly, and the facade on this one will test us. But I believe these buildings are worth it, because what is underneath has always been worth it.
I also want to thank Mr. Harris’ family, and especially Ducky, for trusting us with a building that allowed his practice to serve many people in the Marion community for many years. (I actually found out through the process, that his firm was a continuation of one that started all the way back in 1882!) We never take that handoff lightly, and I’m proud that we have gotten to be the new keeper of the keys for many historic, legacy downtown buildings over the last 8 years. We will do our best to honor its history, while giving it another 50 years of life. I cannot wait to show you what we find, and what we build.
Better Together,
Luke Henry Col 3:23
