Main Street Van Wert celebrates 2014

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Main Street Van Wert celebrated the successes of the past year and learned from historic building restorer Steve Coon what impact downtown renovation can have on the future of a community during the organization’s annual meeting on Monday evening.

Board President Eric Hurless welcomed the nearly 100 people who attended the dinner, held at the Black Angus on Main restaurant on East Main Street, and thanked sponsors Alexander & Bebout and Slusher’s Jewelry for their support of the event.

MSVW Program Manager Adam Ries provided downtown highlights from 2014, which included improvements made to 13 buildings, three new businesses that opened, $1.2 million in downtown reinvestment and 1,855 volunteer hours.

Representatives of two of the three new businesses, Truly D’Vine Bread Company and Alterations and Custom Sewing, were on hand to receive mementos of their opening, while The Bachwell was also recognized.

Also honored was Dale Davies of Balyeat’s Coffee Shop to mark the landmark restaurant’s 90th year in the downtown area, 50 of those years under the operation of Davies, along with his brother, Don.

Ries also talked about the $300,000 revitalization grant the city received last year, which will be used in the coming year or so to leverage new improvement projects in the downtown area. He also was pleased with the fact that Van Wert is again, after a lapse of a few years, a nationally accredited Main Street community — one of only about 20 such communities in Ohio.

Coon, who owns Coon Restoration in Louisville (pronounced Lewisville) in Stark County, showed a number of before-and-after photos of buildings he has restored in Canton, Warren, Cleveland, Hamilton and other Ohio communities, and the impact that such restorations can have on a downtown area.

Coon noted that bringing people to a community’s downtown area can lead to a renascence of that community. He added that historic buildings are preferred over newer buildings.

“People like to connect with historic buildings that tell a story,” Coon told those who attended the dinner.

Coon added that, after sitting vacant — often for years — occupancy is again high for the buildings he has restored, something that has surprised a number of people who thought he was crazy for renovating old buildings in blighted downtown areas.

Coon’s ability to see the possibilities in blighted and vacant buildings has led to many successful renovation projects, while he added that being able to sell his vision to investors and others is crucial to making each project work.

“You have to paint these guys a picture,” Coon said. “Sometimes they’re just not drinking the Kool-Aid like we are.”

Even more important, Coon said, the first building to be renovated in a community’s downtown often leads to more downtown revitalization and, eventually, in a vibrant, prosperous downtown area.

Coon noted that the availability of federal and state historic tax credits are crucial to his ability to renovate downtown buildings, but also noted that, while new banking regulations have impacted his ability to borrow money for renovation projects, he still manages to make things work.

That was also the message he wanted to impart to those at the dinner: “Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.”