Moving Forward
Two of these residential lofts take up the top floor of 101 W Main Street. Justin Owen, owner of Owen Security, oversaw the renovation of this building, and his business now occupies the office space on the building’s main level, which also features an event space. The restoration of the building took Owen and his team two years, as the building had previously been abandoned for nearly a decade due to a fire.
Owen took on the project because of his appreciation for historic buildings and the downtown community. “I have an affinity for historic buildings,” he says. “I tend to get a bit of nostalgia when I walk into a historic building and think about the stories and the paths that people have taken to get through there. I thought it would be really neat to rehab that facility and allow the community to enjoy it again.”
Since opening, the two lofts have been used as short-term rentals. “A lot of people are appreciating that they get to come stay for a few nights in downtown Cartersville and enjoy the restaurants, and the shopping and the museums,” Owen says. “I think it’s a popular place to stay.” After finishing the Main Street project, Owen says he promised himself that he wouldn’t take on another restoration project anytime soon, but his love for downtown Cartersville meant that his promise didn’t last long.
He has another similar project in the works and hopes to see downtown continue to thrive. “A thriving downtown is the key to a thriving community,” he says. “I think these towns like Cartersville, there’s a lot of history and character, especially in the downtown buildings. There’s so much history in these buildings, they just deserve to be preserved.”
The Downtown Development Authority is also looking to the future while still focusing on the past. In recent years, they have pushed to discover and raise awareness of more diverse history in the area. “Since downtown is supposed to be the heart of the community, one of the things that I feel like is important in our work moving forward is making sure that all of the community feels safe and included and represented,” Read says.
Through work on the Bartow County African American Heritage Trail, Read says, “We uncovered an incredible swath of history as far as Black entrepreneurship and retail development; we had two different Black business districts before desegregation. With the area having the history it did, it was interesting to widen the perspective of what happened downtown.”