An insurance salesman who has done business for several years on the Fort Campbell Boulevard commercial strip will move his agency downtown later this year when construction workers finish the restoration of a small, century-old building.
(Photo by Jennifer P. Brown)
Part of that restoration work will give Michael Venable a view of the heart of town. Last weekend, a crew knocked out bricks to reveal several old window openings in the building at 11th and Virginia streets.
“I’ve always had an affinity for downtown,” said Venable, who owns a State Farm Insurance agency.
The move also makes financial sense, Venable believes.
“I think my visibility is going to be better,” he said. On the boulevard, people are buzzing along at 45 mph, or faster, and aren’t as likely to see his office, but in the downtown district where traffic moves slower, passersby will be more likely to become aware of his location.
The building is one of several former Cayce family properties that sold at auction last fall.
Venable had intended to go to the auction but was out of town that night. A few months later, he bought the building from two downtown investors, Tyler Young and Taylor Thieke, who purchased most of the properties at the auction.
“I think our downtown is important, and business owners taking pride in downtown is important,” Venable said.
He estimates he’ll spend $325,000 to $350,000 on the project, including the purchase and restoration.
Most of the interior has been gutted, which included removing a drop ceiling. When it’s completed, the interior will have high ceilings and brick walls. Venable is considering a vintage State Farm mural on the south end of the building.
In the early and mid-1900s, the building was part of a car dealership and a garage. In recent years, it housed a chiropractor’s office and a daycare center.
Venable, who employs five people in his agency, also bought a portion of the parking lot that surrounds the building.
A section of the building will be developed for a business tenant. It will have a separate entrance.
Venable is receiving a $15,000 Downtown Renaissance grant, and he’s been approved for additional assistance through the Downtown Development Incentive Policy that Hopkinsville City Council adopted last September. He will be eligible for an 80 percent rebate on property taxes resulting from any increased assessment on the property and a 50 percent rebate on payroll taxes resulting from new employees that result from the project. Both rebates will be in effect for 20 years.
Venable is the second applicant in the Downtown Development Incentive Policy. Previously, Hal McCoy was approved for the incentives for restoration work to two buildings he has purchased – the former Young Hardware building that will become The Mixer restaurant and the former J.C. Penney building that will house offices for McCoy and the Kentucky New Era.
Venable hopes to be in his new downtown office by Nov. 1.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
