- Havana State Bank is 100 years old.
- Neighbors have been working to make building a resource for the neighborhood to bring more people to the town.
- Watch the video to see what will be inside.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Neighbors finishing up a big piece of Havana history's renovations. I’m Ashley Engle your neighborhood reporter. For 7 years now, neighbors have been working on the Havana State Banks restoration. Their goal? To make this a resource for the neighborhood to bring more people to the town.
"When a community has good bones, you know you want to respect that."
Good bones that Ann Kozeliski believes the Havana State Bank still has.
"it's also a corner stone to the community."
Ann tells me the bank was the town's center back in the day serving many neighbors financial needs.
Now, neighbors are working to use its rich history as a resource to attract more people to the town.
We want it to be a place where it can help us in downtown Havana.
Tony Lombardo, director of Havana Main Street says neighbors wanted to give the bank a makeover to keep its history alive.
Havana main street started the renovation process three years.
"I think it’s going to be a real boom to the community because it is going to be a fresh look."
Here's what’s going to be inside:
Havana Main Street’s office, art, a welcome center and offices that neighbors can rent out and use.
With the location being at the corner of n Main ST. and W Seventh Ave, neighbors are using this to their advantage.
"This building we hope will be an area where people come and talk about economic revitalization. Investors people who want to lease space downtown. People who want to make this town thrive."
"Having this building, renovated, refreshed, revitalized on that corner, that's going to be one on the things that people will first see."
100 years of history being turned to continue to tell Havana’s story to neighbors from all over.
"that's what we're about. That's what we hope we are a center for here."
Tony tells me they will have a grand opening later this summer for neighbors to come and see the banks makeover.
