The vacant church at 315 North Collins Street is about to get new life. Principle Capital, Inc. has submitted an application to the city to convert the historic building into Cornerstone Luxury Living, a 25-unit residential apartment complex with commercial space on the first floor.
Principle Capital director of operations Thom Buck, a longtime Plant City resident and the company’s president, Indira Sears, who lives in Brandon, was looking for a project closer to home. “Plant City has a historic charm to it and that drew my wife and family here and we’ve literally fallen in love with it,” said Buck.
When they started looking at real estate, the New Hope building was for sale and it instantly appealed to Buck. Although they knew the project would be monumental in scope, they fell in love with the people who owned the church and were sympathetic to their plight, having lost much of its congregation during the COVID pandemic. Principle Capital purchased the 15,441 square-foot brick building, constructed in 1922, in November for $1.784 million.
“This project is the one we’re the most excited about because we’re able to save this building,” said Buck, a longtime Plant City resident. “We were really seeking out a challenging project that wasn’t just a ‘tear it down and replace it with something’ project, we wanted a historical building that we could preserve.”
Initial plans call for 10 commercial tenant spaces, ranging in size from 453 square-feet to 631 square-feet on the first-floor (in the building’s basement, a rare find in Florida) with studio and one-bedroom apartments on the second and third floors.
“Our vision for the commercial space is similar to Armature Works in Tampa but on a smaller scale,” he said. “We’ve already been approached by owners of high-end barbershops and several eateries, some that are in Armature Works, who are interested in this project.”
The residences will be upscale apartments with high-end finishings. Even though the building’s interior will feature modern finishes and state-of-the-art technology, the building’s exterior will maintain it’s old-world charm. Plans include repairing, resealing and repainting the brick. Modern building code requires windows that open so the stained glass windows with Biblical depictions will be removed and repurposed, possibly for local churches. Some stained glass will be kept in specific windows and new modern windows that meet residential apartment code but have stained glass characteristics will be installed.
“Once it’s finished it will look like it did in it’s heyday on the outside but then inside you’ll be transmitted into the future,” said Buck. “The hundred-year old building will still be relevant to the community.”
He hopes the project will continue to revitalize the downtown area. “What causes a small town to die has nothing to do with retail development and everything to do with if there’s residential there,” he said. “Go to any small town and if you put large malls and Walmarts on the outskirts of town, its downtown businesses aren’t able to generate revenue after the sun goes down.”
Buck said the key to long-term survival for small towns is building more residential units to support the downtown districts. “If you do, businesses will come and stay because after 5 p.m. there’s till people downtown,” he said.
The construction company working on the project is Plant City-based Harpro. “Anytime we do a project in the United States we try to use local vendors as much as possible and Harpro is located in downtown Plant City and has plenty of experience,” said Buck.
Building plans have been submitted to Plant City’s Development Review Committee (DRC) for approval. Buck hopes the project will be completed within the next 16 to 18 months but the building itself will ultimately determine the timeline. “It’s a 100-year old building and we won’t have a full grasp of what it needs until we complete the interior demolition, which we’re hoping to begin in the next 30 – 45 days,” he said.
Harpro owner and contractor Jeff Bessey is up to the task. “We have to do things gingerly because there are a lot of historical items in the building and we’re trying to preserve and repurpose everything we can,” he said. “I’m really fond of trying to keep character to the structure.”
Buck is thankful for city officials, including the city manager, who’ve been responsive and supportive of the project. “They’ve been so gracious with their time and we hope we’re going to do justice to the building,” he said.