Downtown Building Experiences Revival

The Deming Building in downtown Marshfield has experienced a steady revival, thanks to the efforts of Marshfield residents Erin and Chris Howard.

Located at the corner of 2nd Street and Central Avenue, the building dates to 1898 and was occupied by American Images from the 80’s until 2017. The Howards purchased the property in 2017 with a plan of promoting their positive vision for downtown Marshfield.

So far the building includes Mojo’s Restaurant, which opened last summer, Thrivent Financial, and Contours Body Sculpting. Once completed, the building will have 10 tenants – one restaurant, one retail shop, and a large office tenant at the back of the first floor, and then seven small businesses on the second floor.

“Erin and I wanted to make this a kind of ‘community center’ for everyone in Marshfield – a place where anyone and everyone could stop to eat, shop, and visit a number of professional service businesses,” said Chris Howard.

An elevator was installed in late October of last year along with an indoor wheelchair ramp and accessible bathrooms into the building’s grand entrance off of 2nd Street. From that entrance, the restaurant, office and retail spaces, and elevator to the professional services upstairs can be accessed.

“We wanted to make the building easily accessible including for those who are elderly or have difficulty navigating stairs,” he said.

Further developments are planned for 2019 as potential businesses finalize plans and renovations are completed. These include restoring the façade, creating exterior signage, and installing awnings.

The couple is seeking tenants who would be a good fit for the building and benefit from the foot traffic.

“11,000 people drive by the building every day, and more than 1,000 people walk through the building every week,” said Howard. “Once the additional tenants move in, we expect nearly 2,000 people to utilize the building every week.”

Though the downstairs has been spoken for, three spaces upstairs are still available for rent.