The new owners of the Hooven Mercantile building in Jim Thorpe aim to make the property "an amazing centerpiece for the borough and Carbon County."

Matthew Rechs, director of business affairs for a New York City technology company, said he and a group of partners at Hooven Hall LLC purchased the 41 Susquehanna St. property from David L. Kuhn in July for $225,000."The current condition of the property doesn't do justice to what we think is an incredibly historic piece of commercial real estate," Rechs said. "It is an essential part of Jim Thorpe's history."Rechs has split time between homes in Manhattan and Jim Thorpe for the past six years, but said it's not his intention to develop the building and sell it.In fact, he plans to retire in Jim Thorpe and have his children inherit the property."We plan to invest at least a half-million dollars to develop the location into something that will be part of the future of Jim Thorpe," he added. "This is a terrible investment for the next 10 years, but we feel it's a wonderful investment over a 30-year period."PurchaseSince moving to Jim Thorpe six years ago, Rechs has always kept his eye on the Hooven building. This summer, Carbon County commissioners discussed purchasing the building and the former Gulf gas station to create office space for county offices. Stories that Rechs and his partners purchased it out from underneath the county are unfounded, Rechs said."We had an environmental study done and stated our interest to the Realtor, but were told the building was sold," Rechs said.A couple months went by and the Realtor called us to tell us the deal probably wasn't going to go through. We put an offer together in three weeks that allowed the previous owner to close on the same date they would have with the previous deal."HistoryThe Hooven Mercantile Company imported coffee, tea and spices into the Port of New York.Trucks would bring the dry goods from New York to the building in Jim Thorpe, where they would be packaged and prepped for distribution."The company's heyday was the beginning of the 20th century," said Rechs. "They operated out of the Jim Thorpe building until the 1920s."Offices of the Carbon County schools were located there in the 1960s and 1970s.According to the building's Facebook page, which Rechs regularly updates, he already has a few Hooven relics in his possession.They include overdue library books, some dating back to the 1960s, and a five-pound box of ground cinnamon, which Rechs believes was likely packed in the Hooven building.Inside, a section of third-floor wall is stamped with different wording including "Trident Coffee," which Rechs believes was Hooven's own brand of java.One can still find the original elevator, a grinder and other equipment Hooven used to pack its products."We're going to have to take some of that stuff out to get the space ready for a tenant," Rechs said. "Seeing some of it go is actually going to break my heart."Sorting out the history has been tricky."We'd love to find someone who had a relative that worked for Hooven Mercantile," Rechs said. "To this point, we haven't been successful with that."Future plansAs for the building's future uses, Rechs left the door open."Options include office space, retail opportunities, a restaurant or even an art gallery," he said. "There are lots of options for us. With the right tenant, we feel this is an amazing opportunity."Rechs transformed a former ticket office just inside the building's entrance into an art gallery featuring works of three local artists; Victor Stabin, Emerson Freese and Stephanie Verme.Prior to the sale, the second-floor of the 132-year-old building housed the Old Mauch Chunk Model Train Display, operated by Michael Heery, of Lehighton, until November 2012.A gift shop, Everything Nice, continues to operate out of the first floor as it has for over 30 years and there are no current plans for that to end.Two upper levels have been vacant, and without heat, since around the 1930s."We're going to heat that up there and bring hot water into the building for the first time," Rechs said. "The construction quality here was excellent and we want to preserve this genuine treasure for a long time to come."A land development plan has yet to be submitted for the site."We are working on waterproofing the building," Rechs said. "We have installed over 20 of 36 Anderson windows and we are also working on a new roof. We are going to do everything 100 percent up to code. We care about the long-term viability of the building."SafetyRechs is working with Jim Thorpe Borough Council on improving a crossing at Race and Susquehanna streets, the intersection nearest to the Hooven Mercantile Building."It's a difficult issue and definitely not a quick fix," Rechs said. 'I met with Police Chief Joe Schatz and we're looking at some type of more sophisticated lit crossing."In an Aug. 18 letter to council, Rechs urged the borough not to remove painted pedestrian crossing lines at the intersection."My wife and I work in the Hooven building every day and are often joined by our two children, ages 5 and 2," Rechs wrote. "On two separate occasions we have nearly been struck by vehicles that failed to yield to us as we crossed Susquehanna Street. We observe near-collisions between vehicles and pedestrians at this intersection many, many times each day."Schatz said it could take around $7,000 to properly address the crossing."That is well within the amount we would consider spending to make the crossing excellent," Rechs said.