Old feed mills no longer in operation often sit vacant, but that’s not so for one old mill in Ames. A group of artists and entrepreneurs are planning to transform a building that formerly served as a Doboy feed mill and warehouse into an art gallery, workshop space and coffee shop.
“The person who previously owned it had an auto shop in the warehouse,” explains co-founder Lyndsay Nissen. “When it went on the market, we had to jump on it.”
Nissen is part of a group of artists who are working to renovate the old mill, which they are calling Reliable Street.During this Talk of Iowa interview, host Charity Nebbe talks with Nissen and co-founder Elliott Thompson about their vision for the building and how they’re working to create community led workshops to empower artists of all kinds to make art and make a living doing it.
Renovations of the more than 3,500 square foot building will be implemented in phases, and Reliable Street is hoping to have a coffee shop open by January 2017.
“There is standing water in the basement, all the floors have holes in them. It’s been home to pigeons for 40 years from what it looks like, so it will be an undertaking,” says Thompson.
