New Taylorville developments bring guests to downtown

TAYLORVILLE, Ill. (WAND) — It's been just over 6 months since Legendary Small Town Trading Company opened on Taylorville's downtown square, and business is already booming. Several regulars come in for lunch each week, and many pack the building for live music performances each month. While the business inside is new, the building has a history dating back to 1897.

"It was originally a department store and then a law office for decades and it's always had a wonderful architectural significance," said Cindy Frisina, CEO of Heartland Development Partners, which opened Legendary Small Town Trading Company. "We really wanted to resurrect it with a business that would be a community hub and draw people into the café, as well as be able to offer unique retail items, live music, and also a really historic tasting room."

Frisina's team was able to bring new life to the building, while still maintaining the original flooring, tin ceiling, and significant paintings and pictures from the building's history. The Greater Taylorville Chamber of Commerce says the trading company is a perfect example of how improvements can be made in the Taylorville area.

"It's great for us to be able to showcase Taylorville and say, 'look at what we have to offer,'" said Linda Allen, Executive Director of the Greater Taylorville Chamber of Commerce. "We do have so much history here, and we have so many new people coming into town that are repurposing these buildings and bring them back to life and supporting the downtown district and just making everything alive."

Heartland Development Partners also owns several other buildings near the historic square. This includes the old Rene's Drugs, which will become a new rooftop restaurant called Jack's on Main. The group also plans to build a civic center and theater area across the street for community events to occur in.

Krystal Baker is the President of the Greater Taylorville Chamber of Commerce as well as a small business owner in Taylorville. She says Frisina's passion has helped bring energy to downtown, and encouraged many small business owners to try new things.

"You used to walk the streets of downtown or Taylorville in general and things were sad, you didn't see a lot of people," said Baker. "In the last few years, so much growth has come. On a Friday night, Saturday night, you can't find a spot on the square and the restaurants are full."

Heartland Development Partners uses more than 90% local contractors and craftsmen to help build the local economy. They hope to open Jack's on Main by the end of fall.