(Spirit Lake)– The Spirit Lake City Council Tuesday evening heard an update on the ongoing renovations of the Stevens Block at the corner of Hill Avenue and Lake Street. Maria Mellmann, who owns the building along with Kevin Kuhlman, told council members four of the five units on the ground level are now rented out. She says now their attention is about to turn to the upper level of the building…
“Our architect now is in town full time so we’re going to hopefully apply for another grant to get an elevator in, and I have an investor that I’m working with to come on hopefully in the next year so we can move to the abandoned upstairs which is 10,000 square feet of potentially usable space. It currently has no utility up there at all, so.”
Mayor Kevin Bice thanked Mellman and Kuhlman for their investment, adding the Stevens Block renovation has made downtown Spirit Lake a focal point.
Mellman and Kuhlman began their project some three and-a-half years ago after acquiring the historic building, which at one time contained an opera house on the upper level.
