NORWICH – The Artists’ Palette in Norwich celebrated its new downtown location on Wednesday, giving community members a glimpse of its freshly renovated home saved from the wrecking ball.

The business is now located at 17-19 S. Broad St., in the former Salvation Army building. Despite some setbacks of the three-year rehabilitation project from idea to actualization, renovations are finally complete and the Artists’ Palette is now operating with the same services it always had and more, said store owner Jill Kraft.

“There were some delays along the way, but it all came together when it needed to,” Kraft said, mentioning that her business, previously located just a few doors down from her new location, had moved a couple times while waiting for renovations to finish. “It’s been a few years, but it worked out great.”

Having a bigger, brighter location will allow The Artists’ Palette to branch out its services, explained Kraft. In addition to selling art supplies and renting gallery space, Kraft envisions a multi-fasciated arts center offering photography, framing, art classes, books, and a platform for performing arts and local musicians. Plans are even in the works to incorporate a café style setting near the front of the store to embellish its ambience.

“We’re trying to get everybody involved as a community and become more of a cultural experience for Norwich and all of Chenango County,” Kraft added.

Renovations to the storefront were started in 2013, though funding applications for the project had been in the works for months prior. Work on the building got underway when the Development Chenango Corporation (DCC), a nonprofit partner organization of Commerce Chenango, closed on the building in March, 2012. DCC took ownership of the building following securement a low-interest $200,000 loan from the Southern Tier Region’s Community Revitalization Program in December, 2012, which leveraged an additional $250,000 in direct investments from DCC.

The project received another boost last fall when DCC was awarded a $100,000 grant through the New York State Office of Community Renewal’s Rural Area Revitalization Program. Of that, $50,000 was used toward restoration of the building, said Commerce Chenango President and CEO Steve Craig. The remainder will go toward another project currently in the works in downtown Norwich.

“Our first step was figuring out what the vision was for this space and what we were willing to invest,” Craig said. “We liked the vision. It’s an art space, it’s retail, it’s education, it’s performance, and it’s photography. There’s really a lot going on.”