By Alex Gary - October 22nd 2024
BELOIT
An organization with a mission of drawing people to the Stateline Area will soon have a place to draw them to … if that’s the best option.
In late September, the five-person staff of Visit Beloit said goodbye to its building at 656 Pleasant St. for a few months so Gilbank Construction could rebuild the upper level and turn it into an event venue that could hold parties, reunions, corporate meetings and receptions for up to 150 people.
“We’ll do a lot of our own programming in there,” Celestino Ruffini, Visit Beloit CEO, said of the project that will cost nearly $950,000. “It will definitely be an option for the public. We have a number of venues that are smaller and larger. There aren’t a lot in that 150-person range close to downtown.”
The 656 Pleasant St. building is one of those Beloit landmarks where local residents can tell when someone moved to the community by what they call the building. Built in 1914, it was St. Paul’s Catholic Church until 1989. Beloit College used it for a short time for storage. Then in 1998, it opened as the Angel Museum, featuring nearly 10,500 angel figurines collected by Joyce Berg.
The Angel Museum lasted for 20 years. The number of visitors dwindled over time. The collection was auctioned off after it closed in 2018. Visit Beloit, which has called several locations home during its history, bought the building in 2020.
“We had a two-phase plan, but we moved in right after (COVID-19) hit,” Ruffino said. “We had to split phase one into two parts. The first was redoing the lower level for our offices. Now, we’re ready to finish the first phase.”
The project includes adding windows on the back side of the building that faces the Rock River and removing, restoring and reinstalling the nine historic stained glass windows. Ruffino said those windows likely haven’t been touched since they were installed more than 100 years ago.
When Visit Beloit originally began developing plans that included an event venue they had to have some proactive conversations.
“Our partners did express some concern that we could be competing with them for events,” Ruffino said. “We said, ‘yes, ultimately we will be competing for some events, but wouldn’t it be better to have something that brings in more people who will spend more money at other establishments.’”
“We’re just a venue,” Ruffino said. “We aren’t overnight lodging. We won’t be a restaurant. We won’t be a brewery. We’re just a space and it will add to the options people have when looking at Beloit.”
The original phase two remains a few years off. Eventually, Visit Beloit plans to build a 7,000-square-foot addition that could house several organizations. For now, Ruffino’s staff is working from home until the work is done, which is scheduled for February. They’ll have plenty to keep them busy. On Friday, the Ho-Chunk Nation is scheduled to break ground on a $405 million casino, hotel and convention center on Willowbrook and Colley roads. Visit Beloit will be responsible for recruiting events to fill the convention center.
“The casino breaks ground on Friday and we’ll start making calls on Friday,” Ruffino said. The construction is expected to take at least 18 months. “It can take years to get major events. We’ve got to start right away.”
View Article Here.