As previously reported, Main Street Washington revived a large grant from the Main Street Iowa program on January 28th. The $50,000 grant is going to be used to renovate the properties from 210-212 on South Marion Avenue. Before work on the buildings can begin, they have to have an environmental review of the project as stipulated by the grant. This can take anywhere from 60 to 90 days.

Once the review is completed they plan to remove paint from the masonry of the building as well as begin to restore the masonry. Amy Vetter from Main Street Washington says a lot of this phase of the project is going to be restoring some of the historic pieces of the building that are already there, like window fixtures and sashes.

They also anticipate some structural repairs may be needed and those will take precedent over other aspects of the project. The end goal of the project is to make the second floors of the buildings usable. For more information on this project and the Main Street Program listen to our In Touch today.