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Cyber cafe coming to Hemphill building

April 27, 2006|Mike Moore

The downtown revitalization efforts got a shot in the arm courtesy of a $146,000 grant - to be put toward the Hemphill building on Main Street - from the Governor's Office for Local Development.

This comes as good news to Nicholasville City Clerk Roberta Warren, who helped write the grant and worked in the Hemphill Building as a teenager.

"It was close enough for me to walk," she said. "Even though it was a pharmacy, a lot of this [space] had drug store stuff. It had candy and there was a counter over there where the sandwiches were. As a kid, there were the twirling seats [bar stools] that were pretty cool."

Equally excited was building owner Bill Jacobs.

"We're going to have a coffee shop and bakery combination with wireless access in the building," he said. "The upstairs is slated for two, 2 bedroom apartments. That's the plan, and that's what we're hoping to accomplish here."

Before any work can begin, Jacobs said there were still a few hoops to jump through, but expects the coffee shop's doors to be open sometime in the fall.

The Hemphill building, then a pharmacy, closed its doors in 1998 after CVS Pharmacy opened up a few blocks away. It has been vacant ever since.

Getting the funding needed to complete the project was a joint effort, according to Nicholasville Now! president Brian Goettl.

"It's been a collaborative effort with the city of Nicholasville cooperating with Nicholasville Now!, cooperating with the owner to make this happen," he said. "We hope to get business owners involved in this process [grant funds] as well."

Throughout the years, the Hemphill Building - which according to Carola Hartley dates back to the 1870s - has worn many hats, as a pharmacy, dentist office and post office to name a few.

"The other thing I think is cool about this, is that the building originally started out as a post office, which was one of our first forms of communications," Goettl said. "Now, 100 years later, it's going to be a cyber communications."

With the prospects of the building coming back to life a reality, it made some in attendance of the press conference a little nostalgic.

"When Bill [Jacobs] and I were much younger, and when the Hemphills were here, this was the gathering spot for everybody in Nicholasville," Commissioner Johnny Collier said. "It's going to be great to see it open again."

Warren said having the building operational is good for the community as a whole.

"I hope that it brings the kids in and gives them something to do," she said. "I know the wireless Internet idea is really popular right now for gaming, and there's going to be no alcohol, so it will be a good place for kids to come."

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