The historic building at 6th and Main Streets in Fort Scott is in the process of being restored.

The building is owned by Al and Luanna Niece and was purchased in June 2023, according to a prior interview.

Nieces Are Working to Renovate the Payne Building At 6th and Main

“It’s a total restoration of the building,” said Chase Halsey, Co-Vice President of Mid-Continental Restoration, Fort Scott.

Koehn Construction, Fredonia, is the general contractor of the project and Mid-Continental is a sub-contractor doing the masonry restoration, which includes the brick replacement, stone replacement, tuckpointing, and stripping of the building, and in addition, will be doing the new window installations, Halsey said.

Koehn Construction did the demolition of the interior and are “pouring concrete in the basement. Getting more of the fittings in. We are pouring the slab this week,” said Brandon Koehn, a manager at Koehn Construction.

Luanna Neice said she thought they were right on schedule “probably next week steele will go up on the inside.”

The building is two stories with a walk-out basement, Koehn said, and the inside had been destroyed by a fire.

Koehn said the building should be mostly complete by mid-summer.

The building will house two apartments on the second floor, an ice cream shop on the first floor, which is street level and the basement is slated to be a gentleman’s bar, according to Niece.