Carol Johnson, Southern Indiana Business Report
PAOLI – The historic Boyd building on the Paoli square has been a drug store, hardware store, and housed the county license branch. The past 10 years it was a flower shop and boutique.
Last year, new owners purchased the building and began a renovation and repair – it sustained damage from a tornado that tore through the town – that has brought the building back to life.
Built in 1936, the downtown building re-opened last month with new tenants and a new name – Court Street Commons.
Owners Chris and Brandy Terrell bought the building in 2023. The tornado ripped off the roof, but it was otherwise still sound. The upper floor contained six apartments and because there is a need for housing, the couple left those units intact.
In focusing on the lower space, their vision was to bring something new to the downtown that would enhance their community.
“We wanted it to be a place with a lot of community interaction and offer several professional services,” Brandy said. “It’s a beautiful building, but we didn’t want to do retail.”
“When you see a building like that, you see so many possibilities,” said Chris, who built custom homes for about 20 years and now owns rental properties. “The structure of the building is a testament of how they used to build buildings.”
The building measures 15,000 square feet and has three floors. There is a communal waiting area, break room. It currently has two vacancies and the couple would like to see small businesses or nonprofits move in.
Brandy is a licensed clinical social worker at Southern Indiana Community Health Center and also has her own practice, Forward Together, offering mental health counseling and consulting, in the Court Street Commons.
Other tenants are Glow Aesthetics, Building Blocks, an early learning and child care nonprofit; and Team OC: Orange County Youth Mentoring Program.
“My hope is to continue to grow and provide a good service in the community,” she said of Forward Together.
Brandy said having a nonprofit like Team OC in the building is what she envisioned for the Court Street Common.
She explained that Team OC came about after community conversations about Orange County’s high rate of youth that reported Adverse Childhood Experiences. ACEs are traumas such as divorce, parental separation, abuse or neglect. Adults with a high number of ACEs are more prone to harmful behaviors and poor health outcomes.
Brandy said that as awareness of ACEs became known, SICHC’s Dr. Yolanda Yoder started asking pregnant women in the practice about ACEs. Thirty percent of SICHC’s patients reported an ACE score of 4 or more, which was twice the national average. With numbers that were concerning, the ACEs survey moved to local students in grades 7-12.
Team OC was created to provide mentors for children that have experienced several ACEs.
Downtown Paoli momentum
The couple said it’s a good time to be downtown. The town’s new Main Street organization, Possibilities in Paoli, is planning events that focus on bringing people to downtown.
“I see a real value in downtowns like ours,” Chris said. “Over the years, there was a tendency to move away, but I see the center of towns as the hub of communities. We need to continue to invest in them.”
“Seeing Court Street Commons come alive has brought even more excitement to the Paoli square!” said Skylar Whiteman, executive director of Orange County Economic Development Partnership. “It’s been fun to see the building’s transformation and it’s such a vital piece of downtown Paoli. Chris and Brandy are invested in Orange County and continue to make an impact with their business ventures and community involvement.”