Shuttered For 30 Years, Part Of Frankfort's History To Be Resurrected

FRANKFORT, IL — The letters were never meant to be a nuisance by any means, but instead, a declaration of interest in a building that Kevin Kreger has had his eye on for more than 25 years.

There was always something special to Kreger about the historical landmark that has been home to so many Frankfort institutions since the 1860s, including and most recently, Cactus Carol’s. Perhaps it was the artisan brickwork that adorned the exterior of the Kansas Street mainstay or its timeless architecture that mesmerized the 10-year-old boy.

But one day, Kreger told himself back then, the building that was built in 1863 and that Kreger had fallen in love with would be his.

Kreger took ownership of the home of the 1800s-era meat market in August and in doing so, the 39-year-old homegrown developer took on an undertaking like none other in his career. The nearly $1 million restoration project will test the limits of Kreger’s construction skills, Kreger told Patch this week, but the Frankfort native knows that when the project is finished, the intensive planning and labor will have all been worth it.

In his mind’s eye, Kreger can already envision what a building that has sat empty for more than three decades will look like in just a year’s time. In the meantime, however, there is so much work to be done, leaving the village’s native son to be inspired by the building’s history and the potential of what it can be when all is said and done.

“All of the hard parts of all of the projects I have done are being combined into one project,” Kreger told Patch this week. “It’s the worst of the worst, but anything can be done. That kind of hit me when I was walking through the building alone one day and I said, “Alright, man, this is what we’ve been prepping for our whole lives.’”

Yet, he told himself, “'This is going to take every bit of what you’ve got.’”

In the years since its most recent tenant left, the former home of Cactus Carol's has seen better days. With the exception of a new roof the village had installed to keep it from caving in, the building constructed by one of Frankfort's founding families isn't in great shape.

As a real estate developer who now lives in Nebraska full-time but returns to his hometown every two to three weeks, Kreger was surprised the property sat empty for nearly 30 years. But he knew that the family that last owned the building had sentimental ties to the historic structure and didn’t want to part with it. The late Carol and Bob Watson were the owners of Cactus Carol's.

Given all the building had been through all over the years before and since Cactus Carol's opened in the late 1970s, Kreger understood that if the property was to change hands, it had to be the right set of hands.

That’s how the letter-writing campaign came into play.

For three years before he purchased the property, Kreger would duct tape letters to the front of the building expressing his interest in purchasing it. The letters became so much of a fixture that on Google Earth photos of the buildings, the notes could actually be seen from aerial shots of the storefront.

While the wording of the letters may have changed slightly, Kreger's main message never wavered: If the building ever comes up for sale, he wanted dibs. Carol Watson's sister, who served as the executor of the estate, found the letters, Kreger said. And although he knew there was already vast interest in the building and its future, Kreger wanted the Watson family to know that he was more interested than most, thanks to the ambitions of the 10-year-old boy who had fallen in love with the building so many years before.

When the family found the letters, they knew Kreger meant business. Once the family gave their blessing to Kreger, he jumped on a plane and closed the deal before the property could be put on the market. The phone call delivering the news that he was the new owner arrived while Kreger was, perhaps ironically, walking through downtown Frankfort — a sign that this was all meant to be.

“At first, you’re elated because this is something I had wanted for so long,” Kreger said. “You never know until you close (the deal) — and it took a long time to close so I was cautious not to get too excited but then it happened but then came the reality of OK, now you have to do the work.”

After Carol Watson died last fall, the opportunity to purchase the building became one Kreger knew he wasn’t willing to pass up. When the deal closed and Kreger began making plans to restore the historical landmark to its former glory, he knew he would follow a specific plan to make it happen. Over the years, changes were made to the building’s façade, which was one of the first things that drew Kreger to the building in the first place.

Before even purchasing the building, Kreger was in touch with the Frankfort Area Historical Society, which sent over information about the building’s history, which dates back to the 1860s, that would make the process of renovating the property easier for the new owner.

“We’re really bringing the building back to its original, super original state,” Kreger said. “Historic preservation is something I enjoy and it’s something that I have a passion for ….so (restoring the building) was a must-have for me.”

The building was erected in 1863 by the Folkers, one of Frankfort’s founding families. Originally opened as a meat market, the building also housed a small sub-office of the Chicago Heights Telephone Company, which operated a switchboard there that was never capable of connecting more than six telephone lines at any one time.

Judy Schultz, the president of the Frankfort Area Historical Society, said that located under the sidewalk next door was a cellar that housed all of the meat market’s cattle hides. And while Folkers Meat Market was the original tenant, a local dentist opened an office upstairs, where a dressmaker, beauty shop and other businesses took up space as did Frankfort's first bank.

Cactus Carol’s opened in the late 1970s and became popular among local residents before later closing. In the years since, preservationists like Schultz worked to make sure that the building remained standing despite the interior starting to fall apart. But Schultz, like Kreger, sees something bigger than a building when she looks at it, even in its dilapidated state.

“The architecture is just second-to-none — we just don’t see it anymore,” Schultz told Patch. “We don’t want to lose those values and everything that building represents. It’s Frankfort’s history and we need to preserve it for our young people so they can see how (life) was 150 years ago.”

Kreger held to the same vision. In the 24 hours after it was announced Kreger had purchased the building, potential tenants immediately surfaced. Kreger said he received at least 25 text messages and voicemails from potential tenants, all of whom wanted to be part of the relaunching of the popular space.

Between the building’s historical significance and the fact business vacancies rarely come up in Frankfort’s downtown district, Kreger knew interest would be immense in moving into the building once the renovations were complete.

Kreger posted a sign on the property alerting business owners that the space would be coming back to life. But after his phone and social media blew up with messages during a flight back to Nebraska, Kreger told his father to go to the property and remove the sign, knowing if he didn't, the list of prospective tenants would quickly become too much to handle.

The main level of the property has already been leased and Kreger said that the reaction to the project has been overwhelmingly positive. Selfishly, Kreger said that his hometown pride swells and he is glad that the property is being redeveloped by someone who understands the building’s significance to the community rather than having an outsider come in and put their stamp on it.

As much of an undertaking of restoring the building to what it once was, Kreger said that envisioning the final result is what gets him through each day. In his mind’s eye, he can see what every detail will look like even before work begins.

Kreger hopes to keep the construction and renovation budget under $1 million. He hopes to have the project complete by Fall Fest 2023. Keeping to his timeline will take some work as there are some permitting issues that have to be addressed and design obstacles that must be cleared to keep the project on track, but he’s hoping that if he can stay on pace, the building will return to life within the next year.

Kreger admitted that since the beginning, his biggest fear is that the building would be demolished, which — as someone who has deep ties to the community — Kreger knew he couldn’t allow. Had he not purchased the building, he believes it would have been knocked down, which he said would have been tragic due to its longtime connection to Frankfort and its residents and all it has meant to Frankfort’s history.

“We all have a little bit of a swag about us when it comes to our downtown,” Kreger said. “We have a lot of pride in our downtown district.”

So, he added, "I’m honored to have the chance to bring this sucker back and save it from being demolished."

He isn’t alone. Schultz, who has lived in Frankfort for the past 20 years, said when she looks at buildings like the one Kreger is bringing back to life, she immediately travels back in time. Like Kreger, she has always been enamored with history and how a community’s past can add to the richness of its present and future.

And while the finished product may be almost a year from being completed, Schultz will continue to smile every time she sees a building that carries such great significance for a proud village.

“It’s important for us to keep that alive and in front of us so we don’t lose sight of where we came from,” Schultz said. “I think that just needs to be in people’s faces and when I look at (that building) it makes me feel good. It’s part of Frankfort. It’s our history.”