Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. View our community through that triangle and there is more to see than keeping certain rubbish out of the landfill or maintaining clean streets and sidewalks.
Today I was thinking about the second “R.” It is great to reuse what many people think of as disposable. How about what everybody should agree is not disposable — buildings.
Structures, regardless of type, are built to last years if not decades or centuries. Houses are among the most reused of all. Whether a couple lives in their home from saying “I do” until well past retirement or for a few years before selling, that particular address will be embraced and reused by its new inhabitants.
Certain buildings can almost be born again. Alliance is like other communities in this part of the Great Plains: founded between 125 and 150 years ago with a historic downtown core, population between 2,500 and 10,000 and a mix of business and commerce centered on agriculture and a few main industries. In the past decade there are several examples of historic buildings beginning new lives within the community fabric. What had once been an opera house at Fourth and Box Butte was renovated for an optometrist’s clinic. A longtime bar a block away expanded into the neighboring building. What had originally been a photographer’s studio became a church outreach center.
I admire the investment of local residents in what could have become vacant storefronts. Alliance does not have as extensive a downtown district as some of its area neighbors, however most of the buildings are in use with successful businesses. The bones are the same, yet every time a new person has moved in the purpose and atmosphere changes. I may miss the barber who clipped and shaved next door to the bank though like being able to look for flowers and cards in his former shop.
On occasion reuse is not possible or feasible. There are cases where the lots have laid barren decades after a well known building came down. Of course some parcels can be viewed as “recycled” as new structures seem to sprout from the soil. Park at Fifth and Box Butte to seek financial advice where the multistory Drake Hotel had long peered down on traffic and passersby.
Reuse is hardly limited to downtown Alliance. Two notable examples can be seen along the Highway 87/Flack Ave. corridor. Shopko, which had replaced Pamida, appeared to be a difficult location to attract a new owner. Too small for a “big box store,” who would buy that former discount store, I thought. Now it houses what has been a thriving local hardware, houseware and appliance store. Bomgaars relocated to a new store on Highway 385. The company’s former building heading out of town on the north end of Flack seemed destined for reuse by the city of Alliance. Councilmembers voted for new construction instead. Again the assumption was what had been Wheelers more than a generation ago will sit empty for years. Wrong again. This location was purchased by a local contractor as their new home.
Oh, there are still plenty of for sale signs the community wishes would fall like leaves and be replaced with “sold” placards. The former Kmart building is the foremost in my mind. I know Box Butte Development Corporation works diligently to attract new investment in our town. Their moves here and throughout the county have yielded much fruit though are kept on the QT during the process. I am hopeful they can help court a new owner for the 40-year-old yellow building.
Reuse in the commercial real estate sense only works with community support. As we prepare for Christmas, step into those storefronts around Alliance and Hemingford and spread some holiday cheer.