Developers, LMY, Inc., Awarded for their Rehab of Historic Building in Downtown Statesville
LMY, Inc., the owner and developer of The Jenkins Building in Downtown Statesville received an award for excellence in downtown revitalization for Best Adaptive Reuse Project during the annual North Carolina Main Street Awards Ceremony held in Goldsboro in March. N.C. Department of Commerce Chief Deputy Secretary Jordan Whichard, Assistant Secretary of Rural Development Kenny Flowers, and Director of the North Carolina Main Street and Rural Planning Center Liz Parham presented awards in design, organization, promotion, and economic vitality.
“An extraordinary amount of planning, coordination, and hard work went into bringing these award-winning projects to fruition,” said N.C. Department of Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders. “I extend my most sincere gratitude to the Main Street staff and local leaders who carry these projects. Thanks to their efforts, the Main Street program has leveraged more than $5.2 billion in public and private investment over the last four decades.”
The Jenkins Building, located at 212 South Center Street, is a three-story, 10,500 square-foot building in downtown Statesville, built in 1922. The large open floor plan was ideal for retail, and it was originally the home to Nichols Furniture Company.
The Downtown Statesville Development Corporation acquired the building in 2011 and sold the building in 2019 to an entity that wanted to redevelop the building for a theater. When those plans fell through in 2021, Downtown Statesville Development Corporation worked with the owner to sell the building to Michael and Diane Young with LMY in 2021. The Bogle Firm Architecture designed the plans for the rehabilitation project, and developers LMY utilized the federal and state historic tax credit programs to bring this project to fruition in July 2023.
The $1,500,000 adaptive reuse project features two first-floor retail spaces on the front of the building, and one first-floor office that is accessible from the back of the building. On the second floor, there are four two-bedroom market-rate apartments, that range between 950 to 1,150 square feet. The Downtown Statesville Development Corporation has been working to increase upper-story residential as an economic development strategy for several years, and this project furthers that strategy and provides space for three new businesses downtown.
The building features include original 15’ high pressed tin ceilings and stained concrete on the first floor, original heart pine floors on part of the basement level, and heart pine flooring and 10’ beaded board ceilings on the second floor. The storefront, which was not original to the building, was removed and a more appropriate storefront was constructed, featuring large display windows and a sizable transom that spans the length of the storefront. The second-floor window openings were reopened to their original size and new aluminum-clad wood windows were installed. Bricked-in windows on the rear of the building were reopened. And new mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and life safety systems including sprinklers and two new staircases were added to meet the building code.
The tax valuation on the building increased by 450% post-rehabilitation, and the building is 100% occupied. The completion of the Jenkins building also sparked interest with other downtown property owners to develop upper-story residential, and the neighboring building, 210 South Center Street, was leased after sitting vacant for more than 18 years.
