The first project in Marion County to benefit from historic preservation tax credits is currently underway in downtown Marion.
Dubbed the Lydia Project by its creators Luke Henry and Alex Sheridan, the effort involves the total renovation of the building located at 172 S. Main St. in Marion, just across Church Street from Founders Park. Henry and Sheridan are the creative forces behind the Main Street Reimagined revitalization and development team that has helped to transform several buildings in Marion’s downtown district over the past four years.
“Destined for the wrecking ball,” as Henry said, the building was one of the first he and Sheridan identified when they were discussing what would become the Main Street Reimagined project.
“We sat out in front of Baires Restaurant (at 131 S. Main St.) and looked around the block and dreamed about what it could be,” Henry recalled. “It could be the center of dining and entertainment and shopping in downtown Marion. And (172 S. Main St.) was one of the buildings that we looked at and I remember Alex saying, ‘That’s the dream,’ and he kind of waved toward that whole block there across from Founders Park. So it was one of the initial eight buildings that we bought before we unveiled the vision for Main Street Reimagined.”
Henry said the building was vacant when he and Sheridan acquired it in 2018, which presented a whole slew of issues for the developers, including finding the finances to upgrade the structure that was built in 1900, according to the Marion County Auditor’s website.
“We’ve done some improvements to it. Not anything that anybody sees – some work with the roof, things like that,” he said. “When we first bought these eight buildings, as we look back now, we were so naive as to what it would take to fix some of these buildings up. That one (172 S. Main St.) was definitely one that was destined for the wrecking ball because it had roof leaks for a number of years and other issues, some major structural issues.
“On top of bringing a building that’s been neglected for so long up to commercial code with fire sprinklers, all new electric, all new plumbing, HVAC, storefronts, windows, masonry – the whole nine yards. We realized after crunching the numbers when we got into it and figured out what all was wrong with it, it was upside down. It couldn’t be a financially viable project to be able to repay what it would take to fix it up.”
Other changes that will be made to the building include a new entrance that will face the corner of Church and Main streets, restoring it to its original location, Henry said. Currently, the entrance faces Main.
Henry said the storefronts that face Church Street are original to the building with “some neat ornate elements to them.”
“Chances are, they’ve been repaired through the years, so every piece of wood may not be original, but the design is the original,” he explained. “They’re 120, 125 years old. So those will all be redone and restored. Almost all of the windows are the original wood windows, so we are rebuilding them instead of replacing them with vinyl replacement windows. If they’re rebuilt correctly, they’re actually pretty energy efficient. One of the conditions for receiving the historic tax credit is that we make everything historically accurate.”
The metal cornice work and brickwork will all be redone, Henry noted. The fire escape located on the church street side of the building will be removed. A new stairwell is being constructed on the rear of the building.
The estimated cost for the entire project is approximately $2 million, Henry said. The Lydia Project will benefit from between $400,000 and $500,000 in federal and state historic preservation tax credits, he noted. The total amount of the tax credit from the state is $250,000, according to information provided by the Ohio Department of Development.
Access to the federal and state historic preservation tax credit programs became available for local developers after the Historic Downtown Marion district was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2022 and its designation as an Ohio Historic District in December 2021. Downtown Marion, Inc. Development Director Vaughn Sizemore said 109 approved properties within the district are eligible to receive federal and state tax credits.
Henry said the process of vying for the historic preservation tax credits is highly competitive.
“You don’t check a box and get it. It was a really arduous process to work through both the federal and state (programs),” he explained. “We had to determine how we were going to modify the building, what we were going to with it, and that had to align with the state and federal standards. So we’re the first project in Marion and first project in Marion County to be awarded. It’s really exciting. I understand that it’s not all that common for projects to get it on the first try, so we’re very fortunate to get it.”
Henry said the plan is to create three commercial spaces on the ground floor with loft apartments slated to be built on the upper two floors.
“A restaurant or coffee shop-type concept on the corner of Church and Main and then a small retail storefront facing Church Street,” he explained. “And then the eastern three storefronts (facing Church Street) will all be combined into one. We’re looking at a wine bistro-type concept for that space. The second and third floors will be loft apartments and we’re going to run those through Airbnb, similar to a boutique hotel.”
Henry said there is an increasing demand for downtown lodging thanks in large part to the growing number of events being staged in the downtown area, whether at the Palace Theatre, The Brickyard on Main event venue, or other locations.
“We’re getting more inquiries from people who want to stay downtown,” Henry said. “They’re coming downtown to do stuff, so they want to stay downtown. We think the demand is there so we’re going to try to meet it.”
Henry noted that there has been “strong interest” in the Lydia Project from business owners interested in locating there.
So where did the name come from? Henry said the team reached back into Marion’s history to pick the moniker for the project.
“Eber Baker was the founder of Marion and his wife’s name was Lydia,” Henry explained. “So as we were thinking about the project, we were right across from Founders Park, the companion space to ours. We thought it would be great to have it be called the Lydia in honor of Lydia Baker, the founder’s wife. It wasn’t just a name we liked, there was a purpose behind it, to pay tribute to Marion’s history.”
Eber and Lydia Baker settled in what is now Marion in 1822. Eber Baker was both the city’s founder and its first entrepreneur, opening a mill. The Bakers later deeded land to the city on which the first courthouse was built.
Henry said he and Sheridan have targeted the summer of 2023 as the timeframe for the project’s completion.
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