Second & Main in Corbin, as it looked in spring of 2017. I had just put up the paper and paint installation to cover the front windows during renovation.
In January of 2017, our family bought the old JC Penney building in Corbin. When we first laid eyes on the place that was to become Second & Main, we saw a building shell that had been vacant for a decade, without any workable plumbing, electric, or HVAC. And it was love at first sight.
Unlocking the building for the first time as owners on January 17, 2017
The building at the corner of 2nd Sreet and Main street was a 1920’s, Deco-stye brick building with an open first and second floor complete with mezzanines and a third floor contained to itself. For decades it served as a department store, and we love to hear the stories of folks going upstairs to look at pattern books, or remembering where the children’s clothes were located. When Penney’s moved to the strip mall, the building took a turn as a furniture store, which went defunct in the early 2000’s. By the time we had come across it in 2016, it had been vacant for over a decade.
Now that Downtown Corbin is bustling, anyone would jump at the chance to buy the building. I may be a little biased, but I think it is one of the most special buildings on Main Street, with its beautiful mezzanines and original touches. It goes to show how dramatically Corbin has changed in the last few years that it had sat so long on the market. The 10,000 square foot building was selling for the price of a modest house with no buyers in sight. In 2017, Main Street was anchored by The Wrigley Taproom and Eatery and You & Me Coffee and Tea: there was no Shep’s, no Caboose, no Austin City, or axe throwing places or Crossfit gyms. To be clear, those two businesses showed us that Corbin was on its way to being very special, but the real estate market had not quite caught on yet.
Still, buying a building in Corbin was a bit of a leap for our family at the time. We were living over an hour away, at Pine Mountain Settlement School in Harlan County. We were plenty busy, with Geoff running the non-profit and me chipping in everywhere I could. I homeschooled our children in the mornings, led an early childhood program mid-day, and worked in the afternoons. In fact, in January of 2017 I was busy leading a renovation of the gift shop of Pine Mountain, which set the initial seeds for Moonbow Mercantile. Our lives were pretty full, and a historic downtown building in Corbin may have seemed like an unlikely choice.
The truth is that from the moment we arrived in Eastern Kentucky, Geoff felt called to invest in a historic downtown building, to give it new life and make it part of economic development. Those of you familiar with the region know how mightily communities have struggled with the collapse of the coal industry. We had looked in the town of Harlan with no luck (spoiler alert: our Harlan building was on the horizon) so we broadened our search. We had already met a great pastor in Corbin, and knew there were good schools. Geoff knew the Downtown Director, Andy Salmons, who first told him about the JC Penney building and got the wheels rolling on the project.
Perry looking on at Geoff, Will, David, and TJ right after they took the plaster off the walls
Geoff reimagined the building as a multi-purpose space, with retail, co-working, and event space. We had no rent or mortgage, so we could afford to buy the building for the asking price of $159,000. In fact, one of the funny things about me and Geoff is that we have never bought a home and only paid rent one year of our 14-year marriage. We met on the Navajo Nation where we had teacher housing, moved to Cambridge where we were residence directors for 10 of our 11 years, then onto Pine Mountain Settlement School where housing was provided with the job. All those years of no rent and no mortgage made buying a building possible without any family or personal wealth, on just the strength of our two paychecks. But commercial real estate has different rules, and the plan was deemed a little too crazy for us to secure financing from a bank. To make it happen, we did that thing that you are not supposed to do, and cashed in our retirement and bought it outright. Our plan was to move into the 3rd floor and renovate it ourselves. The cost of the renovation could be paid as if it were a mortgage or rent payment, particularly since I was transitioning back to full-time work. Geoff then applied for financing for the renovation costs—the project was taken on by the Southeastern Kentucky Economic Development Corporation—and assembled a crew of guys he knew from Harlan County to complete the work.
From the outset, it was hard work and lots of sweat equity. We didn’t want to do anything too dramatic, but really to stay true to the original beauty and history of the building. One of the first things to go was the plaster that covered the brick walls. Existing trim work was left untouched, while raw, rough-cut poplar was locally sourced and put in to create new bathrooms and a retail store. The old cement sub-floor was left largely intact, but trenches were cut in for new plumbing, then covered with new concrete. Electric lines were laid, and smoke detectors installed.
Harlan and Perry were often scootering around the construction site
The process of turning the vacant building into a swanky event venue — on the smallest budget possible — was a full-team, family effort from day one. Our children have spent some quality time at Lowes and made stacks of lumber their playground. They carried trash to the dumpster and helped spray paint in the evenings after school. Geoff and I did as much work as we could with two full-time jobs, sealing the floors late at night and hauling lumber for the framing on weekends. We even demoed a bathroom on our wedding anniversary, including an ancient and very-full toilet. Of course, we also had a fablous crew we worked with, including Will, David, TJ, Chris, and Zach. At points these guys moved cots and sleeping bags into the building and showered in the mop sink so that they could put in the time to make it happen.
Looking back on it now, it was a tremendous leap of faith. There have been times of great stress, frustration, and worry. As Geoff says, renovating historic buildings to make them into businesses is not for the faint of heart. But boy has it been incredible. That original vision of taking something unused and making it a space for a community honestly felt like a call that we have tried hard to answer. Again and again we have prayed for guidance and discernment on this journey, to make sure that we were following God’s plan. Every community event, every wedding, and every time we buy from a local artist for our store, reinforces that the effort was part of something bigger than ourselves, and for that we are very grateful.
Enjoy a look down memory lane at how it all got started.
