Lorain Arts Academy slated for former Broadway department store

LORAIN — Within the next year, an arts academy could fill the long-vacant Style Center building on Broadway. Jon Veard and Tony Giardini gained possession of the building at 418 Broadway via a donation from the County Landbank. A recent $350,000 grant managed by Lorain County Community College helped kick-start the project that has been on the minds of the self-proclaimed "co-instigators" for about two years, Giardini explained. "We have a pretty good idea what needs to be done, but more importantly we also plan to raise money," he said. "We need to raise money not just to cover anything that the grant doesn't cover, we need to raise money for operating expenses at least for the first year or two until it really gets on its own and can run on its own." While the pair are still working out a name — The Lorain Academy for the Arts or the Lorain Arts Academy — a board of directors is already taking shape for what will eventually be a nonprofit operation. Veard and Giardini are getting the ball rolling, but both agree once the center opens, they will be merely visitors. Once open, the space will host studio spaces and performance stages for dance, music and other arts. "Our whole goal is to help — I'll do the legal work, (Veard will) help with the construction stuff, give them some business advice and then let the board of trustees take it from there," Giardini said. Veard, the developer behind United Property Management Co., Broadway Development Group LLC. and others, said he's heard talk of an arts academy for decades, but watched groups do little more than that, prompting his involvement. The building, long ago the home of Style Center women's clothing store, passed through several hands before it was forfeited to the state in 2016. From there, it was taken by the Lorain County land bank, with talks of demolishing the space, until Giardini and Veard showed interest in the property, Giardini said. The space needs a new roof, flooring, electrical and HVAC systems, expected to cost more than the state grant can cover. The grant money must also be paid back to the college at a rate of about $25,000 a year, he explained, but can be done so via in-kind services rather than monetary payments. For example, those in-kind services could include free admission to art shows for LCCC students or staff, Giardini said. Veard plans to keep the terrazzo "Style Center" lettering at the entrance, a homage to its history on Broadway. "We want to restore the front to look like a theater," Veard said. "And we want to put the curved glass that was in there that they took out, we're going to put that back and it's going to look like it did 50 years ago. But the glass in the front will give them display areas for their art products and it's going to be a unique store." Partnering with LCCC to offer the programming, the goal is to continue to spur renovations downtown, while going hand-in-hand with ongoing projects. Veard is working on renovations along Fourth and Fifth streets, and additional space for the Lorain County Community Action Agency in the 900 block of Broadway. More than a dozen apartments are planned, along with a test kitchen and business incubator with Spectrum. In South Lorain, Veard is backing the Oakwood Park Estates project on the sites of the former Whittier Junior High and Lowell Elementary buildings, and he and Giardini recently purchased the former YMCA building on East 28th Street under JT Lorain Properties LLC for $26,000 to stay a potential demolition of the hulking structure. "If you get people to come downtown and live downtown, small businesses will survive. Then more people invest and you finally revitalize the city." Veard said. "… There's others coming in, there's a new photography studio, there's new restaurants downtown, there's a couple more coming, so one step at a time we're getting there. Giardini agreed. "I think everybody benefits from it — even us," he said. "We have business interests downtown but for me, and I think for Jon, we're pretty well set. Personally this is more about creating something that for the next 25 or 30 years is a service to the community and an improvement to the downtown area." Contact Carissa Woytach at 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.