If you were to walk down the streets of downtown Van Wert, you may notice that there are a few historic buildings that are in need of some help. That’s why the Van Wert Forward project was founded, to redevelop older buildings in the city - and now that project is receiving a little help of its own.
The Ohio Development Services Agency has awarded Van Wert Forward with over $1.2 million in tax credits to go towards the renovation of five buildings in downtown Van Wert.
That money is a big help with the project’s goal of bringing new life into old buildings. "We look at our workforce, and we look to see who is coming to our community to live here and put roots down, and we start to have conversations about how we can track that workforce," said Seth Baker, CEO of Van Wert Forward. "The quality of our downtown is really important to us; we feel like having thriving restaurants, thriving businesses, thriving residential areas in our downtown will really add to those efforts."
Some work on this project has already started, including removing a canopy from one of the storefronts. Underneath, there were historical details on the facade. It’s details like this that project members say show off the history of downtown Van Wert, and that’s something that they don’t want to go away anytime soon.
"We’re very interested in retaining what we have," said Hall Block, Van Wert Forward Property Manager. "We know that there’s a lot of intrinsic beauty to these buildings, and it’s just wonderful to see, but we also want to restore them to a modern use as well. We don’t want be stuck in a narrow, historic district type of place, we want to expand and go into the future, with vibrant a future ahead of us."
When the project is completed, there will be new apartment spaces on the upper floors of these buildings, with new commercial spaces below.
