River Raisin Centre for the Arts purchases, revitalizes historic downtown Monroe building

MONROE — A 165-year-old downtown Monroe building has a new purpose.

River Raisin Centre for the Arts recently purchased and revitalized the historic, three-story building at 11 Washington St. Most recently, the structure housed the Monroe Bank & Trust Mortgage Center.

About three weeks ago, RRCA moved most of its classes to the new space. With the purchase, the RRCA will no longer need to lease space. Kristy Linster, president of the 12-member RRCA executive board, said the purchase was made with “a substantial donation from a friend of the theater.” The RRCA plans to raise funds to renovate the unfinished third floor.

The RRCA operates the River Raisin Ballet Company, River Raisin Dance Academy, River Raisin Repertory, River Raisin Repertory Youth, Monroe Youth Fiddle Ensemble, School of Music, Creative Dramatics, summer theater programs and the new Arts Centre Orchestra (ARCO). There are 125 students in the dance academy alone.

“These are exciting times for the RRCA. To finally be able to have music, theater and dance under one building is a dream come true,” said Gail Choate-Pettit, River Raisin Ballet Co. director and River Raisin Dance Academy instructor.

The former mortgage center opened in 2014 and closed in 2019, when Monroe Bank & Trust merged with First Merchants Bank. Before that, the space was the longtime location of Leski Office Supplies, which closed in 2006.

According to Lynn Reaume at the Monroe County Museum, the building was constructed in August, 1859, by Judge Bacon to be a hardware store. Through the years, 11 Washington St. also was home to a grocery store, city library and several organizations, such as Knights of Templar and Royal Arch Masons. In the 1930s, it housed a J.C. Penney store. The 12,400 square foot building is 1 ½ blocks away from the RRCA.

RRCA is using the first floor for dance studios, a reception area, a waiting room and a dancewear store. Three former bank offices became rooms for music lessons. An existing set of movable shelves that the bank used for loan records was turned into costume storage, something that was previously lacking at the RRCA.

“Dyanne (Morehouse, RRCA costume designer) is like a kid in a candy store,” Choate-Pettit said.

La-Z-Boy Inc. donated some unneeded furniture from its Monroe headquarters for the new space’s waiting room.

The second floor has several dance studios.

“The second floor has a beautiful 70-foot by 21-foot hardwood floor open space that had been newly renovated when MB&T bought the building around 2013. This has now become two ballet studios. There is also a tiled room in the back that was used as a kitchen/breakroom. This is now our tap classroom. There is an elevator that goes to all three floors, making this building ADA compliant,” Linster said.

The basement will be used to store sets for ballets and theater shows.

Eventually, the unfinished third floor will be used for rehearsal space, special events and ARCO, which had 32 at its recent first rehearsal.

“The third floor has two very large, very high, wide open spaces,” Linster said. “These are unfinished, but even in that state, they are beautiful with original brick walls and gorgeous new windows. We need to put in some fire doors, heat and sprung floors on the third floor in order to make that usable dance studio space, which of course, costs money.”

Renovation of the first and second floors and moving progressed quickly around Christmas time. Dancers and their parents helped to move costumes and props from the theater and the RRCA’s building on Cass Street. MainStreet Moving Company of Monroe also helped with the move.

“It was a short turn-around time for the renovations after the sale was final,” Choate-Pettit said. “We had to split the large 70-foot space in half, so Mike Trapp, RRCA executive director, hired contractors to build a wall, remove mirrors from Benesh and install mirrors and ballet barres in the new spaces. We had dance academy families volunteer to help us get everything out of Benesh, including the heavy Marley flooring. Melissa Moore, RRDA director, organized a day of moving; students and parents and faculty worked for hours over the holiday break. The work was completed on the second floor within two weeks and was ready to welcome students back to classes. “

With the purchase of the Washington Street building, the RRCA will no longer need to lease space.

While the RRCA owns its 1938 downtown Monroe theater and a building on Cass Street, it still needed additional space for its offerings and leased space for many years. For the last 10 years, it lease several suites at the Benesh Building on South Monroe Street. That lease ended in August.

“We used every bit of the three spaces,” said Andrew Felder, RRCA director of community outreach and fund development.

Linster, Trapp and the board worked for months to find and secure the new building. The goal was to purchase-not lease — a space that could someday house all of the RRCA’s offerings.

“Mike Trapp had been looking for a while to try to find us some new space, but we needed wide open space, with no poles breaking up the area, and high ceilings. We also wanted to be located close to our theater, which proved a very difficult task to find," Linster said.

The RRCA tried to purchase 212 Front St., which was for sale by the City of Monroe. It was the former operations center for Monroe Bank & Trust

“Our proposal was voted down by the city council. It was disappointing, but we didn't give up,” said Linster, a mom of four, three of whom are RRCA dancers.

Then, they found the Washington Street property.

“We all voted to try to purchase it. It was gorgeous and perfect for what we needed,” Linster said.

Felder said the RRCA is currently inquiring with the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and other potential sources of funding to help finance the third-floor renovations.

He said the application process alone could take six months. Construction could begin as early as 12 months from now, but it could be longer.

“There are so many variables,” Felder said.

He said the cost will be in the “six figures.”

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“We hope to fundraise the additional capital that would allow us to finish the third floor and move out of our studios at Cass Street,” Linster said. “I personally can't wait until we are all under one roof.  We hope this new space will help bring awareness to all the things the RRCA offers Monroe County, not only dance, but music lessons, Theatre Arts Camp, performing arts, musicals, orchestra. It is truly a gem in our community.”

“We all love it,”Choate-Pettit said of the new building. “It’s inspiring. It’s like a professional company. It’s so surreal that it’s actually happening. It’s new beginnings.”

— Contact reporter Suzanne Nolan Wisler at swisler@monroenews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: RRCA purchases, revitalizes 11 Washington St.