Old House Handyman: Apartments, shops among revitalization projects in downtown Newark

Downtown Newark is looking sharp, thanks to investments by the city in new streets and sidewalks and a flurry of historic preservation projects in recent years — including two significant projects underway a few doors from each other on Courthouse Square.

I had the privilege of being part of recent hard-hat tours of the restoration being done at The Home Building Association banking office, at the corner of West Main and 3rd streets, and The Arcade, a century-old shopping mall that stretches under a glass roof from 33 N. 3rd St. a block west to 4th Street.

A total of $33 million is being spent to restore those two buildings alone — $14 million at the bank and $19 million at The Arcade. A significant portion of the funds are in the form of pledges from the community — $12 million for The Arcade alone — which shows the value Licking Countians place on these landmarks.

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Millions more have been spent by the Licking County commissioners to restore the stately 1876 courthouse at the center of downtown, and by the owners of a remarkable collection of 19th-century commercial buildings that ring the square and spread out in all directions from the square. They have reinvigorated businesses and created 80 loft apartments. Another 19 downtown apartments will be available in The Arcade when it opens in October, according to Megan Ernest, administrative manager for Newark Development Partners, which owns and is renovating The Arcade.

Among the previously renovated buildings is the Midland Theatre, which the late Dave Longaberger and his Longaberger basket company bought in 1992 and spent eight years and $8.5 million to restore, is helping show the community the value of historic preservation, the arts and the possibilities for downtown Newark.

Another gem is The Works complex, a former steam-engine factory dating to the mid-1800s that now includes not only a hands-on museum of arts, industry and history, but also shops and a restaurant.

My bride and I, and our three daughters, attended an event at The Works last Saturday, and we loved what we saw as we drove through downtown. The Midland was hosting a concert. The Works was filling with patrons who watched a glass-blowing demonstration and charity auction, and who sampled appetizers and desserts prepared by local restaurants and caterers.

All around the Courthouse Square and beyond, people were enjoying craft brews at Shipp Brothers Brewing, sipping wine at Buckeye Winery and dining on everything from pulled pork at Moe’s Original BBQ to steaks at 1922 On The Square and wood-fired pizza at Elliot’s.

From a recent historical perspective, this was a remarkable and much-appreciated scene. I was darn near in tears at the sight of this transformed downtown, one that is virtually unrecognizable from the one my bride and I found when we moved from northeastern Ohio to a historic neighborhood just west of downtown Newark.

I had been hired by The Dispatch in 1984 to be the Newark bureau reporter, and my bride and I agreed that it would be good for me to live in the place I was reporting for and about — and had never seen before we moved there. So we rented an upstairs apartment in a gorgeous Victorian-era home, and a year later, for $28,000 at 12% interest, we bought the big, brick, 1876-Italianate house next door. We were in love with each other and this neglected but beautiful old house, and thus began our 40-year adventure in restoration projects.

We were five blocks from downtown in Old House #1, so we did our best to support local businesses. Almost every Friday night, we bought subs or a pie from Christy’s Pizza. Because we were just married and still paying off college loans, our dates were dollar movies at the Auditorium Theatre, which had been built in 1894 as the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall, and visits to Tiffany’s Parlor, an ice-cream parlor in what is now known as the Sullivan Building — The Home Building Association bank building now being restored by the Licking County Foundation.

My first impression of downtown Newark reminded me of a particular scene from the 1946 classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” — the one in which Clarence the angel shows George Bailey what his beloved hometown of Bedford Falls would have been like if George were granted his wish that he had never been born.

Bedford Falls without George Bailey and his family’s savings and loan became Pottersville, which was named for the stingy owner of a local bank, and was bustling with drunken partiers brawling in the streets and running from one bar to billiard hall and to what appeared to be a strip club.

Downtown Newark wasn’t what I would call bustling in 1984, but it had clothing and jewelry stores, a shoe store, and Tiffany’s and the Auditorium — and some seedy bars and a strip club, all within view of that stately courthouse.

In fact, when our three daughters were little and we took them downtown to the annual Courthouse lighting ceremony on the day after Thanksgiving to usher in the Christmas season, we walked as a young family through the once proud but then decaying and nearly empty Arcade. We could imagine the enclosed mall, built in 1911, bustling with shoppers decades earlier. And we shielded our children’s eyes as we passed the Club 2K strip club to get to the courthouse and see Santa flip the switch on the Christmas lights.

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I’m so happy to see the former Tiffany’s being restored to the amazing glory that was the Old Home savings & loan. The “jewel box” bank designed by famed architect Louis Sullivan will have new life as the home for Explore Licking County, welcoming visitors to this dynamic downtown and all that Licking County has to offer — including the international World Heritage Site that is the Newark Earthworks, the Dawes Arboretum and the many, many historic sites in Licking County’s cities and villages.

And The Arcade! No more strip club or seedy bars. When The Arcade reopens in October of this year, it will house 19 apartments and nearly two dozen shops. And I will proudly walk with my family through this historic treasure and into a restored and renewed downtown Newark.

Alan D. Miller is a former Dispatch editor who teaches journalism at Denison University and writes about old house repair and historic preservation based on personal experiences and questions from readers.

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Revitalization of downtown Newark to include The Arcade, apartments