Historic Kress Building on Main Street likely to get $700k facelift

The historic Kress Building on Main Street, home to Cowboy Brazilian Steakhouse and Capitol Places apartments, is set to receive $700,000 in structural improvements if the city’s Design/Development Review Commission approves Bailey Bill status for restoration.

The Bailey Bill is a tax incentive aimed at encouraging preservation, restoration and adaptive reuse of historic buildings.

Built in 1934 in Art Deco style, the Kress Building in the 1500 block of Main Street, across from the Columbia Museum of Art, originally housed the SH Kress & Co. five-and-dime department store.

Iconic Columbia artist Blue Sky’s metal chain sculpture, “Neverbust,” hangs suspended between the Kress Building and Sylvan’s jewelry store next door.

Kress owner Tom Prioreschi plans to convert the building’s rooftop mechanical room into a penthouse in addition to a laundry list of repairs and structural improvements including patching the terracotta facade, repairing the roof restoring the terrazzo flooring and upgrading the HVAC, plumbing and electrical systems.

The design panel will consider Prioreschi’s request at its 4 p.m. Thursday meeting at 1737 Main St.

This story was originally published November 9, 2016 at 2:47 PM with the headline "Historic Kress Building on Main Street likely to get $700k facelift."