(Spirit Lake)– Restoration of a historic landmark in downtown Spirit Lake continues. Maria Mellmann and Kevin Kuhlman purchased what’s known as the Stevens Block at 802 Lake Street in January of 2022 and have been restoring the iconic building ever since. Mellmann tells KUOO news there are several commercial units now available on the lower level, and that one of those is now occupied…
“We currently only have four spaces. We left units one and two combined just because of the layout. The large bank safe is still in there from when it was originally built and that thing’s so heavy it’s not going to go anywhere. So we’ve been showing it to quite a few people. Unit four is rented out to Natural Family Chiropractic and she’s had really great success. Our contractor was Gabe Kuehnen with Timber Lake Carpentry and he really finished that off nicely. We get a lot of compliments on that.”
She says they’re hoping a restaurant, preferably a steakhouse, would locate in the largest unit…
“Unit one is kind of set up where it would be about a 2,500 square foot dining area and then quite a large kitchen off the back and then kind of an office. You could use the safe for liquor storage if you would, behind a bar or something. We just keep thinking in my head like it doesn’t need to be big.”
In the meantime, Mellmann says restoration work continues on the building’s exterior…
“We’re working with Northwest Glass out of Spencer replacing all of the boarded up windows, kind of getting them back to what they used to be, and hopefully in the next couple of weeks we’ll be starting to replace the cornice which is essentially the crown molding on top of the building, because that is rotting.”
She says eventually they plan on restoring the interior of the upper level as well…
“There’s no electric or HVAC system up there so it’s going to be quite the feat getting everything done. So right now we just kind of want to fill the main level, get that going, and all of those units have a full basement. The total building is about 30,000 square feet. People don’t realize how big it is just because of all the different businesses that have been in there and everything, so. We’re looking at that in the future, but no apartments. We want to keep it, you know, like meeting spaces or more offices, if you would.”
The Stevens Block last year received a “historic landmark” designation from the city of Spirit Lake. The City Council Tuesday approved an economic development grant to further assist the project.
