LIVING IN THE HEART OF HISTORY
Five Questions with Christina Gressianu and Vi Wickam
Nestled in the heart of downtown Loveland’s historic district, the three-story brick building at 426 North Lincoln Avenue started life as a steam laundry in 1905, and also once served as the city hospital. Today it is the home of photographer Christina Gressianu and her husband Vi Wickam, a nationally acclaimed fiddle player with long family ties to Loveland.
The couple purchased the building in 2016 and spent four years renovating it into a combination live/work/studio, where the two ply their trades and, briefly, operated the Gressiwick, an events venue. Along the way, Gressianu and Wickam spent countless hours grappling with both the challenges of historic architecture and bureaucratic hurdles at the city’s building services department.
From their perch near the corner of Fourth Street and Lincoln Avenue, Gressianu and Wickam have watched downtown Loveland transform from “dead” to vibrant over the past several years, with additions such as the Foundry. Now they are watching with interest as the Draper Heartland development and extensive street improvements promise to remake the city’s historic core over the next several years.
Last Week, the Reporter-herald caught up Gressianu and Wickam to talk about the past, present and future of downtown Loveland/
What was the biggest challenge in renovating the building?
Wickam: It was a bigger challenge than we thought. …I went and met with the Loveland building department before we bought the building and said ‘do you see any red flags?’ And they said no, it’s the same use, it shouldn’t be a problem. And then when we went to pull the permits for the remodel they said, ‘you know, you’re going to have to put in fire sprinklers.’
Gressianu: They also told us that Studio Vino (the previous tenant) never had a certificate of occupancy and that all of the uses were wrong. And once you change use, you have to bring the whole building up to code.
Wickam: It ended up taking like nine months extra, at least, to get the project done because of those challenges, which we were not expecting at all. Ultimately, after going before City Council a few times, this building was a big part of the reason they implemented a fire suppression grant system for downtown businesses. It was created, in part, due to our struggles around this….it was a tough situation.
Is that what inspired Vi’s 2021 for Loveland City Council?
Wickam: That was a big part. Because I think that what struck me was that all of the city staff was afraid of saying yes, because they were afraid they were going to get in trouble if they told you that you could do something and then somebody above them said no. And so that kind of general culture led to an experience as someone who just bought this building, that the answer is always no. …We had talked to other people who had bought buildings around the same time, or it just tried to open businesses who were experiencing similar problems. And it’s delayed the growth of the downtown immensely from my perspective.
Gressianu: It should be a culture of resource, not a punitive culture where they’re just itching to red-tag you.
Wickam: Running for City Council was rough on both of us. I got attacked by both sides, just trying to be thoughtful and considerate. I wanted to do something that would be helpful to the city, and what I got in trying to do that was attacked.
What is going on with the Gressiwick?
Gressianu: We have spun that down. Wickam: The reason was that it was
losing money, month after month.
Gressianu: And it was a lot of work to lose money.
Wickam: There were parts of it that were fun, and there are parts of it that were very much not fun. And I had loved the idea of owning a music venue, but never really wanted to be the manager of running all the logistics. …I will be holding my Christmas concert there.
What are the biggest changes in downtown Loveland since you’ve been here?
Gressianu: The LDP (Loveland Downtown Partnership) was just getting going when we moved down here. Sean Hawkins took over as executive director of the DDA, and he’s been amazing. Really, all the cool stuff can be attributed to Shawn. It’s really come to life. I think most of the development has been appropriate for downtown Loveland. Not all of it, but most of it, in my opinion. I think the overall direction is great.
Wickam: When we moved downtown, there was nothing really going on. You’d have a few weekends where you’d have the Corn Roast Festival or the Cherry Pie Festival, but generally speaking, during the weekdays, there was nobody walking around on the streets and it was kind of dead. And probably two or three years later, things really started to pick up. And then the Foundry opened and all of the events that the DDA is putting on have been awesome and the stuff they did through COVID was fantastic.
What do you think about the Draper Heartland mixeduse development that will be next door and extensive improvements planned for Fourth Street?
Wickam: We’re hoping the Draper is smaller. We first talked to them within months after we moved in, and the original plan was only four stories, and it was a much smaller footprint. And then the dramatically more expanded version happened two or three years ago.
Gressianu: The original plan didn’t include the Oddfellows building, and they were trying to buy a portion of the parking lot.
Wickam: We love HIP Streets, if they actually do it.
Gressianu: We’ve been hearing about HIP Streets forever, and I’m looking forward to it, if it happens.