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Renovation Of Cottage Grove Historical Building Scores SHPO Grant

Brian Bull/City of Cottage Grove

Efforts to rejuvenate Cottage Grove’s downtown area got a $200,000 boost recently.  As KLCC’s Brian Bull reports, the money will be used to help renovate the 115-year-old Bank Building on Main Street.

Workmen are stripping the building down to the original framework, all part of a million-dollar fixer-upper managed by a real estate broker, Len Blackstone. 

Jared Sidman is with Mainstreet Cottage Grove. The group received a $200,000 revitalization grant from the State Historical Preservation Office (SHPO). He says when the Bank Building’s fully renovated in May 2020, it’ll help improve the local economy.

Credit Brian Bull / KLCC
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KLCC
Jared Sidman of Mainstreet Cottage Grove, inside the Bank Building currently being renovated.

“Ever since logging took dive in the 1970s- 80s, there was never too big a recovery here to offset that," Sidman tells KLCC.  "(It) wasn’t helped by the ’07-08 recession and still being felt today.

Credit Brian Bull / KLCC
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KLCC
A worker prepares concrete in the basement of the Bank Building.

"So, historical renovation is a really, really big way to stimulate economic growth, and there’s a lot of value in preserving history.”

The facility will also feature updated and improved housing, through upper-level apartments.

Copyright 2019, KLCC.

Brian Bull is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Oregon, and remains a contributor to the KLCC news department. He began working with KLCC in June 2016.   In his 27+ years as a public media journalist, he's worked at NPR, Twin Cities Public Television, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Wisconsin Public Radio, and ideastream in Cleveland. His reporting has netted dozens of accolades, including four national Edward R. Murrow Awards (22 regional),  the Ohio Associated Press' Best Reporter Award, Best Radio Reporter from  the Native American Journalists Association, and the PRNDI/NEFE Award for Excellence in Consumer Finance Reporting.
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