In November 2023, LIFT WC was busy raising money and making slow, steady progress on the biggest historic building restoration project in Webster City history: the former Elks Club Building downtown.
Then, disaster struck.
The fire at 608 Second Street, remembered by many as the former Bettis Appliance Store, roared through the building. Smoke and water damage was extensive, not only to 608 itself, but to the adjacent Webster Theater, which has been closed ever since.
With confidence in downtown Webster City’s future, and a vision that 608 could be viable once more, LIFT WC took on its restoration as a second major project.
Yes, the fire was out. But its impact lingered through winter and into spring 2024.
Mayor John Hawkins, a member of the LIFT board, stood at 608 Second Street Monday and gave his perspective on the restoration work already done — and what remains to be done.
This is how things stood in April, when clean-up at 608 began: “Looking at Second Street, people thought downtown was closed. There were barricades, parking spaces were lost, downtown merchants were seeing a drop in business. We were a few months away from our first Market Night. Our top priority was to get downtown open for the summer.”
Climbing the spongy, still-charred steps of 608, he recalled the first time he entered the building after the fire was controlled.
“There was debris five feet high throughout the second floor.”
LIFT WC went to the City Council of Webster City, asking for a $100,000 loan to start on what it knew was a big job at 608. It was an unprecedented move; you might even say visionary.
The council was on board.
At the same time, the City of Webster City applied to the Iowa Economic Development Authority for a $100,000 emergency catalyst grant. That grant was formally accepted by City Council at its meeting Monday evening, and the funds will now pass to LIFT WC, allowing restoration work at 608 Second Street to proceed.
“We knew there was no way to finish this job for $200,000 (the initial $100,000 loan plus the $100,000 emergency catalyst grant), but felt we could at least stabilize the building so a prospective buyer could see the potential, buy it and put it back into use,” Hawkins said.
One way to make any budget go further is volunteer labor. Hawkins, no stranger to volunteering all over town, enlisted son, Michael, and wife, Marcia, in the debris removal work.
“We started at one end of the second floor, eating the elephant one bite at a time”, he laughed.
Now, in mid-September, the second floor has been transformed. The debris is gone, new framing is up, and new roof trusses are ready to install.
Next is a new roof, which Hawkins thinks might cost as much as $90,000.
“Every masonry joint in the building was affected by the heat of the fire, so stabilizing the brickwork was a top priority,” Hawkins said. “The entire building has been tuck-pointed. We spent $80,000 on that alone.”
With obvious pride, Hawkins noted, whenever possible, materials and labor for the project have been sourced locally. Gilcrest Jewitt, formerly Lamperts, supplied construction materials. James Vassey did the tuck pointing.
If the new roof can be in place before winter, and funds allow, Hawkins will try to make the budget somehow cover new windows.
When might all this work be complete?
“November is our goal,” Hawkins said.
That would coincide nicely with the equally visionary objective of reopening the Webster Theater, hopefully in time for the annual Christmas in the City celebration.
What’s needed now, he said, is a prospective buyer-entrepreneur capable of believing that an old building can have a new future.
Admittedly, that requires a healthy dose of vision, but it appears there’s no shortage of that in Webster City right now.
View this article as it originally appeared in the Daily Freeman-Journal.
Last modified: September 17, 2024