The high ceilings, exposed brick and the door to an old bank vault are echoes of the Hilltop Bank Block’s namesake. But these days, what a visitor to the site is most likely to notice is a rich smell of coffee.
A large roaster and other pieces of equipment from Roosevelt Coffee Roasters — which moved in earlier this month — take up half the room of the development’s main building at 2374 W. Broad Street, a sign that it and nearby spaces are finding new purpose.
Brothers Preston and Parker Steele are working to change the block — which includes the former bank building built in 1928 and a few other buildings next to each other between North Wayne and North Oakley avenues — into a destination. All told, the project accounts for 29,000 square feet of retail space and six residential spaces.
“It’s got story behind it. It’s architecturally significant,” said Preston Steele, a part-owner of the block of buildings that is being called the Hilltop Bank Block. “It’s beat up a little, but we’re used to old buildings.”
In addition to the bank building, the block has about six other retail spaces. There are four finished apartments, which were renovated and are now occupied by tenants, with the option to make two others spaces apartments, the Steeles said.
“We’re trying to change the narrative of the Hilltop, at least from a live-work standpoint,” said Parker Steele, who is managing partner for the project and owner’s representative at the building.
The goal, Preston Steele said, is to connect people to the West Side, and the first step in this case was getting Kenny Sipes, founder of Roosevelt Coffeehouse and Roosevelt Coffee Roasters, as a tenant.
The roasting operation, launched in 2018, operated out of a leased building in Franklinton and was looking for other options when it learned about the Hilltop Bank Block project, Sipes said.
“On my first visit in the building, I thought, ‘This is pretty fascinating and it’s pretty beautiful and it could be pretty special.'”
