Downtown Streator building to become event space following $15K facade grant approval

The former K’s Secret Garden building in downtown Streator is set to become a space for small events, following Streator City Council’s approval of a facade grant to help support renovations during their meeting Wednesday night.

The decision follows a Streator Plan Commission meeting last week, where commission members discussed and unanimously voted to recommend the project to council.

Developers Chris and Sarah Over, who have acquired four buildings in downtown Streator over the past six months, said their goal is to create a space for events such as baby and wedding showers that are affordable and unique from local bars or banquet halls.

“I originally bought the building with the intention of renting it to someone else,” Sarah Over told commission members last week. “Then, I’m like, ‘I really just want to keep this for myself.’

“It’s an opportunity to do something different – to pay it forward to other people.”

City Manager Jeremy Palm said the renovation will include reopening second-story windows, installing a new awning along the lower facade and restoring the building’s original ceramic tile entryway.

Inside, the couple plans to maintain historical features such as tin ceilings, pan lights and original baseboards.

“This facade grant will allow for the second-story windows, which are currently boarded over with metal, to be restored with new windows,” Palm said. “They’re also going to add a lining across the front and reinstall a stove or mosaic tile entryway.”

“Basically, it will be refurbished to look like it did back in the 1950s.”

According to city documents, the project cost is estimated at $27,889.01, and the grant would reimburse about 54% of that, up to the program’s $15,000 cap.

The grant is funded through the city’s Downtown Building Facade Renovation and Replacement Program, which supports improvements within the tax increment financing district II.