Todd and Joan Stidham have been Hamilton residents for most of their lives; while they grew up in Fairfield, purchasing their first home in Hamilton made them realize that they’d found their long-term community. Todd works as a contractor and carpenter; after living for many years in the Rossville neighborhood, they chose to pursue a dream. They purchased a building in downtown Hamilton that they could renovate into both a home and a business.
“We wanted something that would provide income, but we weren’t sure what; we realized there was a lot of office space already,” says Joan. “Our daughter wanted to get married in Hamilton in a small wedding, and it was really hard to find a space. It got us thinking: we wanted to be a space where you could bring your own catering, decorations, etc. We wanted to create ‘The Blank Space’ for many different kinds of events.”
When a building across Third Street from Community First Solutions became available in 2017, Todd and Joan looked through it and could envision what it would be: storage in the basement, an event space on the first floor, an apartment on the second floor, and their own apartment home on the impressive third floor. There was even an accessible roof with a stunning view of downtown.
“This building was a blank canvas; three totally open, empty floors; rather than demolition, it was a build-up,” says Joan. “This just spoke to us.”
They added the walls, stripped paint off the beautiful pine floors upstairs to reveal the wood tones beneath, and painted the outside of the building a deep, dark green. They could tell there was a lot of history in the space.
“It was a furniture store before, for almost a hundred years,” says Todd. The building was called the Strauss Building and the Joffe Building at different times, based on the owners of the furniture store there.
“We wanted to keep some of the original features; we kept the light fixtures downstairs and the large windows upstairs,” says Joan. “We didn’t find a lot of treasures in the basement like we had hoped: just some boxes of old broken recliners!”
Now, The Blank Space on the first floor serves as an affordable and accessible space for small and medium-sized groups to rent a multi-purpose room. A church and a community group already meet there regularly, and one of Joan’s retirement plans is to continue reaching out for more events in response to the growing attention being paid to Hamilton in this area.
“We’ve already had a soccer club rent it out,” says Todd. “We expect that there will be even more traffic when Spooky Nook opens.”
Moving downtown was more than the pursuit of a majestic view from the living room windows; Todd and Joan wanted to be part of what is going on in downtown Hamilton.
“It’s nice to be a part of the resurgence of Hamilton,” says Joan. “It’s like we are buying into the hope; there’s something wonderful about being part of something bigger than yourself, both physically in the building and in getting to know people.”
After many months of hard work on the building, they look forward to spending a little more time relaxing and getting some time in with their new grandson, who also is growing up in Hamilton.
“We are enjoying the fruits of our labor more now. We thought we knew what we were getting into, but we still felt overwhelmed at times; it is worth it to work through it though!” says Joan. “When people come to see this place, they understand, and if I want to have a big family party, we have space downstairs!”
You can learn more about The Blank Space at https://www.theblankspace.biz/.