By: Deborah Johnson Wood
The former Russell Block Building, also called the Daniels Building, at 360 W. Western in downtown Muskegon may soon be an avant-garde center for art studios and a gallery or two. The three-story circa 1891 building has 18,000 square feet for a dozen artist's studios, a couple of galleries, two apartments, and a small gymnasium that could be modified into a small theater or dance studio.
The structure is part of a $5 million, three-building renovation project by Gary Post and Russ Strong of Western Avenue Properties that includes the completed Century Club building and the Savings Bank Building.
"This building's in the worst shape of the three," Post says. "The brick facade needs a lot of work to bring it back. Back in the 40s they skinned it with metal panels, which blocked up the windows and damaged the stone sills and headers."
The building once housed the YMCA, thus the reason for the gym. The first floor has 16-foot ceilings and most of the original tin ceiling. Post says the stairwell opens into the first floor space, but could be reconfigured into an entryway to the upper floors from Western Avenue.
"The ideas are flowing," Post says. "This building's a challenge because it needs so much more work than the other two."
Source: Gary Post, Western Avenue Properties
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Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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