Built in 1885, the building previously housed Willman Furniture, which closed in late summer of 2022 after being open for 87 years.
The 215 property, a two-story commercial building, and the 217 property, a three-story commercial building, originally were two separate retail spaces, and the first floor was connected to each building in the 1950s.
A grand opening was held Friday as Sellman Enterprises, local and state officials, and guests celebrated the ribbon cutting of the 13,255-square-foot building and $2.9 million project.
Jamon Sellman, developer of Sellman Enterprises, said he may be the face of this project, but his team is who needs to be applauded because he’s not the only person that made it all happen.
“What it means to me in the end is we have done something together as a community, as a set of professionals that carry passion around in their pockets,” he said. “This is a beautiful building. The structure of this building was always beautiful, but it needed to be reimagined. It needed to be made more useful and more modern. Now we have that.”
Richard Ebert, director for the Champaign Economic Partnership, said the space is amazing and you would have never known it was a former furniture store.
“Today we celebrate the fruition of Jamon Sellman’s vision for this building and the continued growth for downtown Urbana,” he said. “A grand idea carefully curated and brought to life by Jamon and a team of people and entities who have helped to bring this vision for this grand old building back to life.”
The building held somewhat of a “soft launch” in April, but the building was not open yet at that time because of some “minor hiccups.”
The building has a hybrid co-working and business incubator on the first floor called 211 CoWork, owned by Sellman’s wife, Tiffiene, with residential space in the upper two floors called Willman Lofts, owned by Jamon.
There are nine lofts, including one studio, four one-bedrooms and four two-bedrooms, with one fully outfitted Airbnb. It also includes a rooftop deck over the back section of the 215 building that is a co-working accessible space, a new four-stop elevator, additional storage in the basement and a small café area.
Four of the nine lofts are now occupied, Sellman said.
The co-working space allows individuals or businesses to join as members and offers daily or weekly memberships.
“We have this space finally coming to life. This will be a very vibrant, active space...It will be an incubator,” Sellman said. “It will be propagating our next years and round of professionals that will exist and thrive in this community as well. We haven’t even met them yet, (but) that’s the cool part. That’s what this building is going to mean in the next decades. That is my hope and dream.”
Mayor Bill Bean attended the opening, saying it’s a beautiful building and recalling memories about it from when he was younger. He said he remembers going to the building in the 50s as a little boy when it was Butler’s Soda Shop and then Willman’s Furniture.
“(Sellman) had a real vision for downtown, and I like to think that he kind of jump started a renaissance here in Urbana ... He really took it to another level, and I just really appreciate what Jamon has done, what he’s done for the city of Urbana,” Bean said.
Sellman said his “heart is full” and thanked everyone that’s been a part of the project to make it a reality.
The property was purchased by Sellman through an LLC called Willman Sellman Improvements LLC in February 2023. A groundbreaking was held in December 2023.
The properties received funding through the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit Program to help a private developer rehabilitate the historic buildings.
The total budget for the project was $2.9 million, with a $499,998 tax credit to Sellman for rehabilitation of the buildings, as well as an $800,000 grant from JobsOhio’s Vibrant Community Program, that is almost exclusively for co-work space development. However, the 219 address was not part of the tax credit and involves Sellman’s own funding.
For more information, visit sellmanent.com/willman or the “Sellman Enterprises LLC” Facebook page.
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