We had always talked about making loft apartments, and when this property became available about 5 years ago we decided to go ahead with this one because, at 7,200 square feet per floor, it had so much potential and undeveloped square footage.

The Allison Building was originally built in 1907 as a furniture store on the 2^nd and 3^rd levels, sharing half of the street level with a drug store and soda fountain. There was a freight elevator in the southeast corner for the furniture store which used the third floor as a warehouse, the first and second floors as showrooms and the mezzanine level for offices. 

In the 1980s Mr. Broadus Willoughby bought the building and remodeled the street level as the first covered mini-mall in Americus. He made it for 7 little retail shops whereas we currently have four. The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation might be interested in this building. They would certainly want all of the exposed brick interior cleaned and preserved, which we would too. Also, I’m on the board of the local Sumter Historic Trust and Chairman of the Downtown Development Authority, both of which would be interested in the renovation of this building. 

We will convert the 2^nd floor into apartments. Up here on the third floor, I can just envision maybe 2 or 3 loft apartments, and I would definitely put the elevator back in. If I lived here, though, I’d want it wide open with my apartment taking up about 2/3 of the space, or about 4,500 square feet. I’d want a bedroom and a bath in the back and the rest of it just wide open with views of Americus through the big windows.