Historic downtown Grand Island building coming ‘back to life’ | Nebraska News
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GRAND ISLAND — Downtown Grand Island’s Bartenbach Building is undergoing a major renovation.
The historic building at North Locust Street and West Second Street is to become Artisan’s Alley under project partners Cathryn Sack and Gabe Coin.
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The building was purchased for $550,000 and will benefit from an investment of roughly $1.9 million, including $550,000 in tax increment financing approved earlier this year.
“We’re bringing this building back to life,” said Sack. “This to us is the pillar of downtown. It’s off the main corridor. It’s the first building you see, accessing it from the east, south or west.”
Already, Sack and Coin have been attracting new businesses to the location.
Bartenbach will host Allo Communications operations in Grand Island and Speakeasy, an “intimate cocktail lounge.”
The upstairs living spaces also are being renovated.
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There will be 12 condos, including four corner units, and rooftop terrace access for five units.
The original “Bartenbach Galleries” sign will remain in place, Coin noted. Sack identified it as being the first neon sign in Nebraska.
Cathryn Sack, one of the renovators of Grand Island’s Bartenbach Building, explains that the classic-style green columns at its corner storefront will be kept and restored, along with its other unique architectural details.
The site’s first retail space, at 201 N. Locust St., is getting a completely new front, and its classic-style pillars are being restored.
The storefronts are also getting new canopies.
“We want to create more depth and character,” Coin said.
Civic Nebraska remains located at 203 N. Locust St. Its neighbor at 205 N. Locust is vacant and available for lease. Speakeasy will be hosted at 207 N. Locust.
Allo will occupy the space at the north corner of the building. It will host their offices and customer support center.
“They’re super excited to be a part of Grand Island, its history and its future,” said Sack.
To increase its sustainability, the building’s front will be spray-foamed to help make utilities more efficient and improve longevity, said Sack.
Coin expects renovations to the building storefronts to be completed in mid-July. A Lincoln-based artist will contribute a mural to the building’s brick-fronted second story.
“It’s going to be very colorful pieces of art, and he’s also going to be painting a giant peacock on the brick wall, which will be fun,” said Coin.
It was the alley off of Second Street that inspired the two to pursue the project, they said.
Coin identified it as the only private alley in downtown Grand Island.
Both shared a vision of what that alley could become, explained Coin.
“We were on a trip, just driving down to Texas, and we decided we needed to use that time to come up with a name,” he said. “We both like art, and we were going to look at art. We love the alley. It’s the reason we bought the building. We both had the same vision, and it was perfect. Artisan’s Alley.”
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The alley will be renovated to be a walkway experience. New concrete will be poured and it will be embellished with decorative lights and adorned with painted art.
“We imagine flag signs and potted flowers and a more quaint, ‘al fresco’ feel,” said Sack, who is optimistic about the site’s prospects.
““It will be diverse and have living, housing,” she said. “It’s just a good mix-use building.”
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