The Philipsburg Revitalization Corporation (PRC) says their main goal is to increase the overall look of downtown. The current President, Eric Rusnak, says they bought the two connecting buildings on N. Front St. back in 2019 and expect to be mostly done with construction by the summer.
“The first thing they can expect to see is the removal of blight from downtown Philipsburg. We want these buildings to be occupied, we want them to be functioning, we want them to help create foot traffic for other businesses,”
There will be two commercial spaces, and two affordable housing units on top.
One of the commercial spaces will be home to The Artery, which Rusnak describes as a community art space owned by two locals. The other commercial space is going to be home to the PRC office. He says this will include a ‘business incubator space’ that would give new businesses a temporary place to operate.
“It will give the PRC a permanent home, so for visitors that come to town or prospective businesses they’ll have a place to go to visit our space,”
Rusnak says they are almost done with the commercial space at 104 N. Front St., and expect The Artery to open in the spring.
He says they have come a long way from when they first bought the building, and there was no heat or plumbing and there were holes in the floor.
“It was kind of a dangerous place to walk and now when you take a look around you see it’s a totally reformed space, something we want Philipsburg to be proud of,”
