Kress Building Almost Finished With Renovations

This is the best view we’ve had of the Kress building in a very long time.

The scaffolding is down, and the residential portion on the top of the building is just about finished.

Steven Lambert is with cotton and pine, the design company working on the historic building.

He’s watched as the project went from just an idea 3 years ago, to now.

“It seemed kind of slow because of the infrastructure you had to create to go vertical on top. But now that that’s all moving it seems to, you blink and another thing is done. It’s fascinating to watch,” said Lambert.

A big goal of the project is to maintain the history downtown. They’re even using materials from other historic buildings, like the theater floor inside the now collapsed Webber building.

“I think the modern part is really neat. I think it’s great to have a brand new residential component downtown. But it didn’t eliminate a historical piece. Lower Dexter is a huge part of the narrative of Montgomery,” said Lambert.

The city sold the property in 2014, and has since sold off a total of 9 lots on Lower Dexter Avenue. Lois Cortell, Montgomery’s senior development manager, says these buildings come with some requirements, including who does the actual construction.

“One of the goals that we had in our agreement is local job creation, and that’s something that this developer has been working really hard to use contractors and materials that are from the river region area. We’re very excited about that job creation,” said Cortell.

The Kress building will have both commercial and residential space, but the lofts are set to open August 1st.