Downtown Toledo has welcomed yet another upscale, lofted event space in what used to be a dilapidated, vacant warehouse at 710 Monroe St.
The Mez has been transformed into a cosmopolitan-style hotspot and is open for business, celebrating its grand opening on March 6 with an enthusiastic turnout of the town’s social mix. The space, where the Standard Pawn Shop resided for 40 years, sat empty for nearly a decade before being purchased by SVN Ascension Commercial Realty estate agent Stephanie Pilgrim.
Pilgrim said the application process began a couple years ago, and “we took advantage of the Facade and White Box grants for the whole building. Cody Brown and the city representatives were wonderful to work with. They were integral to getting this building revitalized and brought back to life.”
The building, built in 1892, was in dire need of a facelift, which is where the Façade Grant, provided by the city, was crucial. Its allotted money provides a 50 percent matching grant to reimburse expenses incurred during a comprehensive facade improvement, according to the city’s website.
Words like “upscale” and “lofted” give off vibes of plush throw pillows and million-dollar condos, but according to general manager Dani Bucher, the charm of the space is in its rustic atmosphere for weddings, corporate events and private parties. It accommodates up to 150 guests.
“We want this space to feel natural and organic for our clients,” she said, “With an historic building, we focused on adding amenities for the client and our vendors – trying to make sure they had great success and minimized any bumps in the road; making it seamless for them so they wanted to come back in the space and work hard at giving it a makeover.”
Along with keeping the historic feel to The Mez, Bucher and Pilgrim are focused on turning the entire building into an almost self–sustaining event center. Magnolia, a nightclub, has been a popular attraction since opening last summer. It sits on the third floor, its neon sign facing traffic.
As the city’s newest nightclub, Magnolia features live DJs, house music and bottle service every Friday and Saturday night.
“They attend to all of our bar service and beverage service,” Bucher said. “The upcoming restaurant and catering service will be something that we’d love to incorporate on the first floor.”
“When you have a multi-tenant building, it’s to everybody’s benefit to have great relationships with everyone,” said Pilgrim. “Eventually, the goal would be to get some type of speakeasy or wine cellar in the basement, which is the last space that’s open. It’s definitely going to take a unique investor to do that.”
It is those investors and grants which has given downtown some fresh breath. Nearly $250 million has been allocated into “catalytic projects,” such as the ProMedica corporate headquarters, under the Downtown Toledo Master Plan initiated in 2017. Since then, an additional $425 million in investments has been added.
Nearly three-quarters of the money has gone towards the construction of the Glass City Metropark, the renovation of the Glass City Convention and Event Center, bike paths running down Jefferson and Summit, and the planned renovation of 11 historic buildings, such as Fort Industry Square.
The economic impact has been gradual, but Summit St., for instance, looks alive at night, and especially on the weekends.
“We hope it’s a continuation of involving other businesses and playing our role in this on-going process,” Bucher said. “We’ve bartered with other businesses downtown and stayed engaged to experience great things together.”
“We’re confident that what we’ve done here is unique to the city. We wanted to go for the big-city vibe,” added Pilgrim. “We’ve teamed with Destination Toledo to become a great offering for those corporate events, and certainly we hope to get the wedding industry and more private parties here. I’m hopeful it has an economic impact on the city.”
