Amid talks of redevelopment in Dillon, a residential building that has sat vacant in a state of disrepair for a number of years on the town’s Main Street could be transformed into apartments and a possible restaurant space.

Dillon Development Inc. has proposed cutting the hilly site at 103 Main St. down to side-walk level to construct a new mixed-use building with five residential units and retail space, which could become a restaurant.

“Where we are right now is we would like to have a first floor with a restaurant and coffee shop to be enticing to bring you into the core area,” said Eddie O’Brien, one of the operating partners for Dillon Development Inc.

The existing residential building at the site, which the town has designated as blighted, would be demolished under the proposed plans. The project at the corner of Lake Dillon Drive and Main Street seeks to revitalize the area by converting the building into an active commercial streetfront.

Dillon Development Inc. would require land owned by the town to complete the project. The Dillon Urban Renewal Authority, which is composed of the same members as the Dillon Town Council, took the initial steps last month to begin transferring the required land to Dillon Development Inc.

Dillon Town Manager Nathan Johnson explained that in the Dillon town core — compared to other town centers — the town owns “everything outside of the building footprint, primarily, for many properties.” 

That is the case in this situation, where Dillon Development Inc. owns only the footprint of the existing building but not the land surrounding the structure.

Dillon Development Inc. has requested town-owned land on all sides of the building, including portions of the Main Street right-of-way and a portion of the parking lot to the east of the building, so it can move forward with the proposed project. A unanimous vote by Dillon Urban Renewal Authority on May 28 kicked off the first steps of transferring the land to Dillon Development Inc.

Dillon Urban Renewal Authority member Renee Imamura noted at the authority’s meeting that the land surrounding the property “is useless to the town, and there is going to be plenty of benefit with redevelopment.”

Other members agreed that the proposed project, while still in the earliest stages of approval, would be a good use of the town land surrounding the existing structure.

“I don’t think that giving up this smaller amount of parking would be that big of a deal if we have something new and fancy looking on Lake Dillon Drive,” Dillon Urban Renewal Authority member Kyle Hendricks said. “I think it would be a fair trade.”