An Annandale man plans to turn a vacant downtown building into a quaint gift shop, and he hopes it will attract others. Jim King outlined his vision for the former drugstore building on the corner of Main and Chestnut streets at the Annandale City Council’s regular meeting Tuesday, Sept. 1, and asked the city to consider changing its canopy ordinance. The council appointed council members Marlene Young and Jack Driste to look into it. The building is owned by Mike Jorgenson, who operated Mike’s Pharmacy there for many years. It later housed Keaveny Drug for several years and has been vacant since October 2007. Vacant storefronts Three other Main Street storefronts in the block south of there are also unoccupied. King, a computer consultant with some retail experience, said he plans to buy the building from Jorgenson and renovate the inside and outside. "My goal is to really make it a quaint, very pleasing corner that would make people want to come in and shop." He wants Annandale to become more of a shopping destination, King said. He added in an interview that he hopes his shop will prompt others to locate there. "My hope is that it will help improve someone else’s business," he said, and that one shop will build off the other. The development, which might eventually include a "light eatery" in back, is "in the extreme infant stages," King said. He started work inside the building late last week and hopes to have a grand opening next spring or summer. Plans call for taking the siding off the building and replacing it with blue-gray cedar shakes and stucco. He’ll add two bay windows along Chestnut for display space and two decorative windows at the top front. King asked the council to consider allowing him to change the color of the canopy at the front of the building. The canopy ordinance requires they be stained "to maintain a natural cedar look." He wants to trim the canopy with a white material, remove a raised section to make it all one level, and cover the roof with a different-colored shingle. "I think aesthetically it’d be far more pleasing," he told the council. Mayor Brennan "Buck" McAlpin said others have asked about the canopies, which date back to 1980 when Wally Houle was mayor. McAlpin suggested forming the subcommittee because it’s time to talk about the canopies and decide what, if anything, to do. King said he’s not in favor of dismantling them, but he believes building owners should have more leeway on their color and style.
