Re-polishing one of downtown’s gems
THE HEART OF DOWNTOWN
Plymouth will be getting something new when a touch of the old is restored.
And the impact should be terrific.
Advanced Eye Care proprietors Drs. Tim and Cheryl Ziegler are purchasing the vacant Bank First National building on the northeast corner of Mill and Stafford streets with plans to convert it into a state-of-the-art facility for their optometric business.
The best part is that the doctors plan to restore the building back to its former look, with brick and stone façade and uncovering the upstairs windows that have been hidden from view for decades.
They’ve been hidden from view by garish metal siding that Dairy State Bank chose to wrap the building in many years ago. The intent was to give the building a modern, streamlined look and, while that kind of look has thankfully gone out of fashion, removing the vestiges of it has never been easy.
The Zieglers have obtained $210,000 in revolving loan fund money from the city to help in their effort to restore the 19th-century commercial building to its historic look. The city has also chipped in by agreeing to buy a strip of 11 parking spaces to the north of the bank, on the other side of the alley between Stafford and Division streets, to convert into another public parking lot for downtown.
The spaces are not needed by Advanced Eye Care for their customers, but they are a welcome addition for downtown and nearby businesses, which are always strapped for usable parking spaces for customers and visitors.
The Zieglers have a lot of work ahead of them, and their plans have not yet crystallized completely. A lot of what they hope to do with the building will, of course, depend on cost and available financing. But any progress they make in restoring this anchor of the downtown business section to its former grandeur is certainly welcome and to be applauded.
Also welcome and to be applauded is the city’s efforts to aid this project.
Keeping downtown healthy, vital and attractive is one of the major tasks facing both the public and private sectors. It’s often been said that downtown is the heart of any city, and anything to keep that heart beating loud and strong is commendable.
At issue: Something or other Bottom line: Do something about it
