Greetings!
Perhaps some of you good people out there can lend me some assitance. I am the new director of West Overton Museums which consists of 20 buildings dating from 1803 to 1880. It is the site of the Old Overholt distillery and the birthplace of Henry Clay Frick. The village has several brick barns, the distillery/gristmill, workers houses, general store,and several larger homes including Abraham Overholt's 1838 homestead. All of the buildings need work, some are in dire need of stabilization.
The long term goal is to re-create West Overton Village as it once was, a 19th century rural industrial village. This will take time and money, of which we have none. In the meantime there has been much debate amongst the board on how to achieve this.
Some members want to get the empty buildings occupied with businesses that sort of fit (candleshops, quilt shop and a period restaurant) as soon as possible and let the tennants rennovate (gasp!) these buildings at their own expense and then give them a discount in rent for expenditures.
Others believe we should get the funding and restore these ourselves and then rent them out at a premium. The idea is have a mix or balance of museum buildings for interpretation and others with shops and a period restaurant in a quaint village setting . Some of these buildings are in real bad shape, so restoring some of them is cost prohibitive while converting them to serve a present use might make more sense.
Still some believe we should shore up the buildings and wait to get sufficient fuding (if there is such a thing) to do this properly and have the shops and restaurants run by the museum.
So, can anyone lend advice who may have been in such a situation? or know of any businesses that specialize in locating in historic settings? or have any suggestions for lease agreements with tennants? or can assist with the pros and cons of the various scenarios so I can share this with the board before they get too hasty?
Thanks for listening,
Grant Gerlich
West Overton Museums
West Overton Village
Scottdale, PA 15683
(724) 887-7910