The Old Calloway Building Has Been Empty for Three Years. Smithville Can't Agree on What Comes Next.

Depending on who you ask, the old Calloway Building on the corner of Main and Depot is either a tremendous opportunity, a cautionary tale, a blank canvas, or an eyesore that should have been dealt with two mayors ago. It's been sitting vacant since the insurance agency that occupied its ground floor quietly packed up and moved to a strip mall on Route 9 back in the spring of 2021. The upper floors, which once housed a law office and a small architectural firm, have been empty even longer.

The building itself is hard to ignore — a three-story brick structure built in 1911, with arched windows on the second floor and a terra cotta cornice that the local historical society has described, in writing, as "one of the finest remaining examples of early commercial architecture in the county." It's also, as of this past winter, sporting a tarp over a section of the roof and a plywood board where one of those arched windows used to be.

The town has been talking about what to do with it for the better part of two years. The talking hasn't resolved much.

The Case for Keeping It Local

A vocal contingent of downtown business owners wants the Calloway Building to become an incubator for small, locally-owned retail and service businesses — a kind of curated marketplace under one roof. Sandra Kimball, who runs the gift shop two doors down, has been advocating for this vision at every public meeting she can get herself into.

"We don't need another chain, and we don't need something that's going to be here for two years and then disappear," Sandra said, sitting in her shop surrounded by handmade candles and locally printed cards. "What we need is a place that builds on what's already working downtown. Small businesses, local makers, maybe a coffee counter. Something that gives people a reason to park and stay a while."

Her vision has supporters, but it also has a practical problem: the building needs significant investment before it's usable. Estimates for basic structural repairs and code compliance have ranged from uncomfortable to alarming, depending on which contractor you talk to. Without a clear funding mechanism, the small-business incubator idea remains exactly that — an idea.

The Developer Perspective

On the other end of the conversation sits a proposal from a regional development group that approached the town last fall with a plan to convert the Calloway Building into mixed-use commercial space on the ground floor and market-rate apartments on the upper two floors. The pitch is straightforward: private investment handles the renovation, the building gets back on the tax rolls, and downtown gets some new foot traffic from residents living above the shops.

Not everyone is enthusiastic. The phrase "market-rate apartments" has a way of making certain Smithville residents nervous, conjuring visions of the town drifting away from its working-class roots toward something shinier and less recognizable. Others point out that the developer's track record in similar towns is mixed — one successful conversion in a neighboring county, and one project that stalled out mid-renovation and sat half-finished for eighteen months.

"I'm not saying development is bad," said longtime resident Phil Ostrowski, who has lived a block from the Calloway Building for over twenty years. "I'm saying we should know who we're getting into bed with before we sign anything."

The Preservationist Argument

The Smithville Historical Preservation Society has its own stake in this conversation, and its position is perhaps the most emotionally resonant even if it's the hardest to fund. The Society wants the building rehabilitated in a way that respects its architectural integrity — no dropped ceilings covering the original woodwork, no vinyl windows replacing the arched originals, no aluminum cladding over the brick facade.

"That building is part of what makes Smithville look like Smithville," said Preservation Society board member Carolyn Marsh. "Once you lose that, you don't get it back. We've seen it happen in other towns. You end up with a downtown that could be anywhere, and then people stop coming because there's no reason to."

The Society has floated the idea of pursuing historic tax credits to offset renovation costs, a funding mechanism that's worked in other communities but requires navigating a bureaucratic process that can take years. In the meantime, the tarp on the roof is doing only so much.

What the Everyday Resident Thinks

Pull up a stool at any diner or barbershop in Smithville and the opinions come fast. A sampling from the past few weeks:

"Turn it into a community center. We've needed one for years and nobody ever does anything about it."

"I just want someone to fix the window. It looks terrible."

"My daughter's dance studio is looking for space. Something like that building would be perfect if the rent was reasonable — and it never will be."

"Honestly? Tear it down, put in a parking lot. I can never find parking downtown." (This suggestion was met with audible groaning from two other people at the counter.)

The range of opinions isn't surprising. What's interesting is what runs underneath all of them: a genuine investment in what happens to that corner, a feeling that the Calloway Building matters in some way that's hard to fully articulate. People aren't indifferent. They're just not aligned.

What the Debate Is Really About

At its core, the argument over the Calloway Building is an argument about what kind of town Smithville wants to be in ten or twenty years. Does it grow, and if so, how and for whom? Does it preserve, and if so, what's the actual plan for paying for that? Does it stay the same, knowing that staying the same is never really an option?

Those aren't questions with clean answers. But they're worth asking out loud, in public, before a decision gets made by default — which is what happens when a building sits empty long enough that any offer starts to look good.

The town council is expected to revisit the matter at next month's public meeting. If the last few sessions are any guide, the room will be full, the opinions will be strong, and the Calloway Building will keep standing on that corner, waiting to find out what it's going to become.

The Smithville Herald encourages residents to attend the upcoming town council meeting and make their voices heard. Check the town website for date and time details.