City buys downtown business building

A downtown Richmond building is ready for a business and for residents.

Richmond Neighborhood Restoration sold the renovated building at 720 and 724 E. Main St. to the city of Richmond. The Board of Public Works and Safety approved the $62,500 purchase on May 30.

RNR had bought the building for renovations in 2021. It will be part of the city’s Placemaking Loans Accelerating Community Entrepreneurs (PLACE) program, according to the organization’s July 11 news release announcing the sale. The Secret Ingredient formerly operated on the lower floor.

“Secret Ingredient is an incredible accomplishment for our downtown district,” said Roxie Deer, RNR executive director. “It is the first of many projects that will bring life and movement back to the heart of our community. We are thrilled to show this renovation off to our community and cannot wait to announce our next property downtown.” 

RNR partnered with the city, the Redevelopment Commission and the Economic Growth Group to renovate the building’s second and third floors, creating three one-bedroom apartments, one two-bedroom apartment and office space. The building has a new heating, ventilation and cooling system, plumbing and a modern look for a historic building, the release said.

“It’s a great improvement to Main Street and will hopefully encourage others to make investments in the district,” said Dave Stidham from EGG.

Mayor Ron Oler said after a recent Common Council meeting that the city will solicit proposals from entrepreneurs for the retail space. The chosen entrepreneur will pay subsidized lease payments for five years, with the ability to turn those payments into a down payment to buy the building.

“We’ll take proposals and whoever has the best proposal will take over the retail on the first floor, and in the case of those two buildings, the city through a property-management company is going to rent out the apartments,” Oler said. The entrepreneur would take over managing the apartments if a purchase is arranged.

Oler said the Readmore building at 901 E. Main St. will be renovated in the same way. Then-Mayor Dave Snow announced the PLACE program and the Readmore building as the pilot building during a May 2021 state of the city address.

The 720-724 building is the first commercial project for RNR, which has renovated five residential properties. The group is working on a North 12th Street residential property. It plans to continue working downtown with funds from the Revitalize Richmond grant awarded to Earlham College.