Downtown buildings open for loft tour
Published 9:00 am Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Ever wonder what’s on the upper floors of some of downtown Winchester’s buildings?
Sunday afternoon, spaces in 25 locations will be open for the Downtown Loft Tour.
Main Street Winchester Director Rachel Alexander said there will be a variety of street level and upper floor spaces open to the public from 2 to 5 p.m.
“There’s been a lot of interest generated in downtown in the last few years,” Alexander said. “We’ve seen a lot of properties sell in downtown. Main Street Winchester got involved because one of our top 10 priorities in the downtown master plan is living downtown.”
The buildings on the tour will represent everything from pre-renovation spaces, move-in ready ones and several in between, she said.
“Some of them do have apartments upstairs,” she said. “Some of them are storage. There are ballrooms and other spaces you wouldn’t imagine.”
One hidden treasure is a mural painted a year ago by Faith47, an internationally-known street artist from South Africa. Alexander said only a handful of people have seen the finished mural.
“It looks like she used some of the water stains into it,” Alexander said. “Probably only three to four people have ever seen it.”
Several of the buildings on the tour are for sale, she said, and several buildings will have representatives to answer questions.
The free tour is self-guided, though maps and other information will be available at Leeds Center for the Arts, she said. Participants should wear closed-toe shoes. Some with mobility issues may not be able to see everything, as stairs are involved in reaching some of the upper floors, she said.
The tour is a project between Main Street Winchester, Block + Lot Real Estate, Winchester Federal Bank, the Bluegrass Heritage Museum and The Greater Clark Foundation’s innovation lab.