Thomasville revamps historic building for new businesses

• The building, dating back to 1873, has served various purposes and is now home to new businesses.
• Original brick walls and hardwood floors restored, offering 11,000 square feet, 12 upstairs office spaces, and three retail spaces—a wine shop, a jewelry shop, and one still available.
• Watch the video to see how this historic building is being transformed into a new community hub.

BROADCAST SCRIPT

This place has seen nearly 150 years of Thomasville's history and now it's stepping into a brand-new era.

I'm tracking how this project is revitalizing one of our main corners.

202 South Broad Street is one of the oldest buildings still standing on Broad Street

This brick building has been home to everything from a Masonic lodge to a vacuum repair shop

Local historian Ephraim Rotter tells me a hurricane in the late 1800's even knocked the building down during construction.

It was quickly rebuilt.

"Keep in mind at the time, we didn't have to pull permits, you didn't need building codes, you didn't have plumbing, and you didn't have electricity, so that cut down on an awful lot of extra things and It wasn't unusual for a two or three-story brick building to be built in two months," said Rotter.

Heather Abbott is the granddaughter of its former owner.

Three years ago, she took on the project of turning the 11,000 square feet into three retail spaces, along with 12 office spaces upstairs.

She tells me preserving the building's original character was her top priority

"We were able to salvage the original hardwood floors, the original brick walls, so the place is absolutely amazing," said Abbott.

Rotter says it's important to keep these historic features because they give Thomasville its special look and feel.

"They have worked now for 40 years on really trying to focus around this period from 1870 to 1905 when so many of the buildings were built," said Rotter.

This draws neighbors in and encourages businesses to open downtown.

The three retail spaces are ready for business. One of them will soon be a jewelry shop,. Another one is already welcoming customers, Kin Wine Shop, run by Rhonda Foster offers a variety of wines, sake, and other beverages.

"We are walk-in retail right now. Once our contractor gets done building shelves, we will have seating inside for 20 and we'll have a couple of tables outside," said Foster.

Abbott says there's still a third retail spot available. It's currently a garage, but depending on who's interested, they plan to turn it into a new shop.

The 12 upstairs offices are available for lease now. They should be ready to occupy around February of next year.