MOUNT VERNON – Teresa Buena has seen changes – “a lot of changes” – to Mount Vernon’s downtown corridor since her business moved there 14 years ago.
When La Paloma Mexican Restaurant moved to the corner of S. Main St. and Gambier St. at the time, Uhlman’s department store and The Sewing Center thrived across the street. Retail was king south of the square, but soon that began to fade.
Buena has seen businesses leave downtown. She’s seen buildings once filled with tenants become empty.
But over the past several years, she’s begun to see a shift. Industry is changing downtown, she says, as new business owners move in and local stakeholders invest in building space.
“It’s been good,” said Buena, who has co-owned the family business with her son for 30 years. “It’s been good to see the buildings that were empty be purchased and donated.”
Buena and the three other street-level business owners on the southeast corner of S. Main St. and Gambier St. will experience this change up-close in 2019, when the upper-level apartments on their corner building will undergo upscale renovations. The project, which was announced in an Ariel Foundation press release on Nov. 29, is expected to take most of 2019.
On the day after the project’s announcement, Buena sat at a table during La Paloma’s lunch hour and answered questions about how this might affect not only her business, but also those around her.
There are four first-floor businesses that occupy the building, which is owned by Cornerstone Commerce, LLC – La Paloma (200 S. Main St.), FitMix Nutrition Studio (202 S. Main St.), Hunnicut’s Jewelry (204 S. Main St.) and Y-Not Cycling & Fitness (206 S. Main St.).
All four will remain in business throughout the renovation process, the Ariel Foundation press release states.
But the project will affect each business differently.
Buena said La Paloma owns two second-floor apartments above the restaurant, one of which she inhabits. She said the family has lived above the restaurant for the past 13 years, but that they had already thought of moving out before their landlords approached them about the project months ago.
“You know, when you live above your business, it’s convenient but you’re never separated from the business,” Buena said. “So by no means were we being pushed out or anything like that. We had already thought about moving.”
According to Buena, there are only two liveable apartments on her corner of the building. The rest are not renovated. She said that when La Paloma first leased the building, the two second-floor apartments came with it.
Buena said her family plans on moving out soon, well before renovations will begin. She felt Cornerstone gave her family – and the rest of the building’s first-floor businesses – plenty of warning about the project and that they have maintained regular communication during the planning process.
“I just know that our landlords have kept us up-to-date on everything, all of their tenants,” Buena said. “This was not a surprise to the tenants, we all have been aware of it.”
This was the general consensus among all four first-floor business owners; they trust Cornerstone to keep them informed and work quickly to complete the renovations.
“My landlord’s a really nice guy and I’m sure if there was anything that was going on and it were to affect my business, he would tell me,” said Fred Hunnicut, owner of Hunnicut’s Jewelry, which has been on S. Main St. for 14 years. “He’s always treated me with respect.”
Owners of all four businesses said architects have been in and out of their stores during recent weeks. The renovations are expected to begin in the first quarter of 2019, although a start date has not been announced publicly.
While Hunnicut’s and FitMix do not use the space above their shops (Hunnicut’s uses the basement), however, Y-Not Cycling & Fitness does. Store manager Dave Frase said Y-Not (which has been downtown for 25 years) uses three second-floor rooms for storage and winter fitness training – there are stationary bikes that customers can ride on Tuesday and Thursday nights.
Frase said Monday that since the project’s announcement, he has removed the bikes from the upstairs rooms. Some of the rental and used bikes will go to to the basement and some will go to the company’s other store in Lexington. Frase said he’s not sure whether or not Y-Not will be able to offer winter cycling sessions in the future, although he said the store is willing to “go with the flow.”
“I’m assuming not,” Frase said. “I talked with the owner (of the shop) and he said we’ll just move everything out and we’ll go from there. We’ll have to make a decision on what we want to do.”
Frase said he wishes there was more direct communication between the landlords and store ownership about the project, but he also understands the need to be patient as the project unfolds.
“We’re just making plans,” Frase said. “You have to be flexible.”
All four street-level owners agreed that the upscale apartments will benefit the community. They expect the project will get done quickly as well, given Cornerstone’s history of efficiency.
“I think in the end, I think they’ll move quick on it,” Hunnicut said. “Just like the (Buchwald Center) up here when they did that, it’s beautiful now. And they moved very quickly on that; when they started it, they finished it.
“I’m sure they’re going to move quick and get it done because that’s the kind of people they are. They don’t like to sit on things.”
The business owners, who Frase said have communicated since the project’s announcement, are not sure how construction will impact business. They all seemed confident, however, that it would not be an issue.
“Basically since I’ve been working here, there’s always been construction,” said FitMix co-owner Brandon Britton, who has worked at the protein shake shop for three years.
“The streets have been closed down and all kinds of stuff – when they built the office buildings over there for the hospital and then all the Woodward stuff and everything – and we’ve survived and we’ve prospered and continued to grow. So I don’t see it being too much more of a hindrance.”
Buena believes La Paloma’s regular customers will continue to frequent the restaurant, as they have for the past decade-plus.
“We assume it will be good for business but we know that our customers that have been coming in for years continue to come in and continue to find parking places downtown and walk, sometimes several blocks,” Buena said. “So we’re grateful.”
According to the Ariel Foundation’s press release, “every effort will be made to plan for minimal traffic and parking disturbances on E. Gambier and S. Main Streets” during the year-long project.
The building once known as ‘The Office,’ located on E. Ohio Ave., will be demolished and the gravel lot will serve as an interim parking solution for downtown business owners and employees who regularly park along Blackberry Alley, which will neighbor the renovated building.
“Contractor access, dumpster placement and material deliveries will be concentrated to the parking areas along Blackberry Alley whenever possible,” the release states.
“We’re excited to see how it’s all going to take place, and they always do a good job so I don’t see why this would be any different,” Buena said of Cornerstone.
According to the press release, the upper-level apartments will resemble “condo-style settings often found in larger cities.” The Ariel Foundation will provide a grant for renovation costs and exterior improvements to the second and third floors of the building, which Cornerstone has donated.
Faculty from Mount Vernon Nazarene University, Kenyon College and Knox Community Hospital will inhabit the 16 apartment spaces after renovations conclude. The institutions will offer them to visiting or transitional faculty (those who need a place to stay before finding a long-term residence), including professors and medical providers.
From Dec. 12: Renovated downtown apartments to house college faculty, medical providers
All four street-level business owners believe the renovation project will boost the local economy, another piece to the puzzle in the process of revitalizing Mount Vernon’s downtown district.
“I’ve met a lot of the other business owners that have come down here, and anything we can do to drive more traffic down here is going to be good for everybody,” Britton said. “Having places to live up here is awesome.”
“This is good news, and it’s going to be great for Mount Vernon,” Frase added. “Nothing but positives.”
Peering out a window facing S. Main St. just hours after the project’s announcement in November, Buena reflected on all that has changed around her business in recent years. Mount Vernon is making a comeback, she says. Whatever sacrifices she and her neighbors need to make will be worth it.
“It’s exciting to see,” Buena said. “We’ve seen the pictures and it’s going to be exciting to see the outcome. It’s going to be an asset to downtown.”
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