MANSFIELD — Eric Biddle has big plans for downtown Mansfield.
The Mansfield man believes so strongly in the area’s revitalization that he’s invested his own money into several residential and commercial spaces, such as the Kafer’s Flowers building on Mulberry Street.
“I just figured instead of dreaming or talking about it, I’d just actually do it,” Biddle said. “Everyone has all these ideas or complaints about downtown or whatever, so I’m just going to do it, and then move on from there to take it to the next level, get a proof of concept.”
At the Kafer’s Flowers building, Biddle and his business, called Rebuild Local of Central Ohio, recently transformed a storage space into a 1,500 square-foot apartment, which local artist Allison Pence has since moved into.
“Somebody had said it’s the perfect space for me, and it honestly is,” Pence said.
The apartment features a living room, kitchen, bathroom, pantry, laundry room and two bedrooms, one of which she’s turned into an office. Plus, it has plenty of “character.”
Pence appreciates the original woodwork, exposed brick and even a random outdoor window that Biddle left between one of the bedrooms and kitchen.
“I’ll partner with some contractors and subcontractors, if I need help on specific things, but basically I do as much as I can. All the design and labor is me,” Biddle said. “Luckily these spaces like it was it was more like clean up, than rehab. This had the bones, had the character, it just needed a heavy, heavy face-lift.”
Between early January and Pence’s mid-March move-in date, Biddle cleaned out the cluttered storage and added new flooring, paint and fixtures, transforming the rooms into an apartment space.
The former owners, he said, took care of the property and preserved much of the original wood work, which made his job easier.
Biddle also owns other properties near Kafer’s Flowers, two near Hudson & Essex and a few in the “Boulevards” neighborhood, off of Park Avenue West.
Next, he’s eyeing Second Street for potential revitalization. He’d like to see the whole street “brought back.”
“We’ve been pretty strategic in locations,” Biddle said. “We’re passionate about downtown areas that we know are coming back, that will be just good investments, but also are just cool.”
He explained that he and his wife must like each of their apartments or houses enough that they’d be willing to live there themselves. But this is especially true of the apartment in the Kafer’s Flower’s building.
“I knew the old owner … and we joked about (buying) it for years because I actually kind of grew up going to their house. They lived in the penthouse upstairs,” Biddle said. “I was always like, this would be like my dream house someday.”
For Pence, the apartment at Kafer’s Flowers is the ideal spot.
“It’s close to everything downtown has to offer, coffee shops and nightlife,” Pence said. “My plans are to to walk anywhere downtown, to Mind Body Align for some of those meetings and coffee talks, and definitely down to Relax to get some coffee.”
