ASHLAND — Over four years ago, the city of Ashland acquired a decaying building at 16 East Main Street to fix up and eliminate potential safety hazards.
“The front was becoming so dangerous that there was a fear that perhaps bricks could fall off the front facade, or the front facade could collapse into the street,” Mayor Matt Miller said.
So the city hired Dan Seckel, an architect with Mansfield-based Seckel Group Architects, to work on renovations for the building’s exterior. The work would be partially funded by a $250,000 matching grant from the state.
In 2021, the renovations were complete. The building’s rotting wood and crumbling bricks were replaced by all new brickwork, a redesigned store front, and new windows.
But since then, the work on the building has seemingly halted. An Ashland Source reader recently noticed this and asked what the city’s plans are for the building.
According to Miller, the city’s plan is to renovate the first floor and gut the second and third floors, but work stalled because they were waiting for another $170,000 matching grant from the state that was awarded in July.
The first floor will be transformed into an open-concept office or retail space that may include restrooms, a break room, and a conference room, while the second and third floors will be gutted and left for future renovations once someone wants to move in.
“We felt it was important to do that demo work now while everything’s a mess and it’s unoccupied so that we can get the first floor occupied as soon as possible,” Miller said. “And then in the future if someone has an idea, a good idea for what should be upstairs, there will be (a) clean slate.”
The city is not allowed to move a government office into the renovated building because of the state grant’s terms, so Miller has been fielding offers from prospective private buyers.
He’s heard from around 15 interested parties so far, but none have committed to moving into the building, he said.
