Rochester Armory gets a new life as food, cultural center
A historic Rochester building is reopening this weekend after a major facelift.
Castle Community will house a new restaurant, a coffee shop, art spaces, a book store and a performance space — all under one roof.
The building is the city's former armory, whose facade is adorned with battlements.
Naura Anderson is part of the team behind Castle Community, and will manage artist rental studios. She said the renovation preserves the historic aspects of the building while meeting a number of Rochester's retail and cultural needs.
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"We knew that including the arts was important," she said. "We knew there's definitely room for a new restaurant in Rochester. And there's no question that there's a shortage of performance spaces, especially for live music acts, in Rochester."
Castle Community is on a busy corner in downtown Rochester. It had a second life as a senior center. Last year, the city solicited proposals to reinvent the space as part of its plans to become a more attractive place to live and visit.
The team of Castle Community owners bought the building from the city for $675,000, and started construction earlier this year.
Anderson said that a big goal behind the multi-use space is to cultivate and promote local artists.
"You can give that opportunity to make, to show, to teach and to sell work for artists all under one roof," she said.
The first-floor restaurant opened Friday. The first music event in the 450-person performance space takes place Saturday night.