Seven businesses will open in Northwest Square
Transformation of the landmark Trinity United Methodist Church building into a mixed-use gathering spot is nearly complete.
Eleven of 15 apartments are already rented, and six retail spaces have been claimed by local businesses. The City of DeLand awarded the project its certificate of occupancy on July 18.
But don’t head to the corner of Clara and Wisconsin avenues in DeLand just yet, unless you’re looking for a place to live or visiting someone who already lives there. The shops won’t be open for another month.
“All the retailers plan to be open by Labor Day,” said Jessica Levings, co-owner of the development project she and her husband, Chris Levings, have named Northwest Square.
Once the stores open, Northwest Square will have a wine-and-beer bar, a grocery store, a coffee shop, a tea shop, Cuban sandwiches, flatbreads, and a home-décor outlet.
And perhaps Jessica and Chris Levings can have a bit of a rest.
“I’d like to get home before dark, or leave the house after the sun comes up,” Chris Levings said with a smile.
The couple, both 41 years old and the parents of four children ages 3-11, have been working 15-hour days for two years to transform the 28,000-square-foot church. Much of the work was done without the benefit of air conditioning or electricity throughout the building, both of which came online in the past month.
They’ve spent $6.3 million, including the $1 million purchase price.
“I still can’t believe we’ve done this,” Jessica Levings said.
It was important to the couple to honor the history of the building where Chris Levings attended church and Sunday school as a child, and their efforts to preserve and restore are evident throughout.
In the Blackburn Ballroom, for example, the stage is crafted from salvaged sanctuary flooring, cedar pews and communion rails. Along one hallway on a residential floor, the innards of one of five pianos left in the building is mounted as a sculpture on the wall. (They managed to give three of the pianos away.)
Chris Levings shows the stage in the Blackburn Ballroom, which was constructed using salvaged pews, flooring and communion rails.
“Chris really tried to repurpose as much of the old woodwork as he could,” Jessica Levings said.
Inside the living spaces, shelves are made from polished wooden pews, copper water pipes are repurposed for hanging rods, and doors are from elsewhere in the building.
“We didn’t buy a single interior door, other than closet bifolds,” Chris Levings said.
He added, “As an adaptive-reuse project, the core of the project is conservation and reduced impact.”
Walkability is part of that. A third of the tenants already living there don’t own cars, for example, Jessica Levings said.
Given their commitment to reducing the impact of the development, the Levingses were surprised by the impact fees they were charged by the city, county and School Board — a total of nearly $200,000.
In the case of the apartments, they were charged the same school impact fees that would have been charged for new apartments built from the ground up on vacant land, even though most of the living spaces are studios unlikely to appeal to families with children.
Impact fees are charged by local governments to help cover the cost of infrastructure — new roads, waterlines and classrooms, for example — that will be needed because of the development.
Both the city and county gave some credits for the reuse of the building. But the $44,126.25 in school impact fees wasn’t discounted. The Levingses hired an attorney to look into the matter, and negotiations are ongoing.
The innards of a piano provide a wall sculpture for the hallway of one of the residential floors at Northwest Square. The church left five pianos; the Levingses managed to give away three of them.
“The School Board is encouraging urban sprawl with their impact-fee structure,” Jessica Levings said. “We didn’t add a single square foot.”
The Levingses found the City of DeLand — the main regulatory agency — easy to work with.
“The City of DeLand was great. The Building Department and the fire marshal were very supportive,” Jessica Levings said.
“They didn’t make it easy, but they worked with us,” Chris Levings added.
The most stressful part of the project was finalizing the design and getting the permit, they said. It took seven months.
They’re grateful to their contractor, Luke Flynn of Central Florida Building & Inspections, for his handling of the daunting job, which involved bringing all the systems — electrical, mechanical and plumbing — up to code. Half of the building was built in 1926; the other half in 1959.
“I cannot sing his praises enough,” Jessica Levings said.
But most of all, they’re grateful to the townsfolk, for welcoming the transformation of a landmark where generations of DeLandites were baptized, got married and attended funeral services.
“I want to say ‘thank you’ to the DeLand community. We have felt their support carrying us through this,” Jessica Levings said.
Businesses coming to Northwest Square
La Pinsa (flatbreads) by Michael Benedict
Chapel Tap (wine and beer) by Bill Budzinski
Tropishack (Cuban sandwiches) by William Torres
Bernard’s Market and Coffee Bar (grocery) by Stephanie Sousa and Nicole Perry
Centro Tea Co. (teas and baked goods) by Jennifer Brennan
Oliver and Gray Home (home décor) by Darcy and Walter Gonzalez
Event spaces
Blackburn Ballroom, with room for up to 300 people
Ford Hall, for about 125 people
Pearce Chapel, with a 65-person capacity
Hartman Courtyard, the outdoor event space
All of the Northwest Square event spaces are named for longtime members of Trinity United Methodist Church.
This was an awesome article! The Thw Levings invited former tenants, Trinity United Church members, to come for a tour as it was nearly finished. I was thrilled to see what Northwest Square would be! Your article catches the heart of it!
I’ll be interested in visiting the retail shops as they open.