Adaptive Reuse: Links to Stories

Adaptive Reuse is a relatively popular category for the Rural Resurrection website. If done right, an adaptive reuse project can be a profitable venture for those involved. But if done right, it can also become a visual centerpiece for your community, drawing others in.

Provided below is a list of the postings on Rural Resurrection about Adaptive Reuse projects. When new posts on this subject are added to the blog, this post will be updated and re-published later in the week.

What is Adaptive Reuse?

Over the past few years there have been a few articles on adaptive reuse projects throughout the Midwest. But what is “adaptive reuse”?

6 Reasons For Adaptive Reuse in Your Community

Check out these six reasons to start an adaptive reuse project in your community. Finding new uses for buildings in your community can be beneficial in a number of ways from cost to the character of the neighborhood.

Adaptive Reuse: Cawker City Gas Stations

n 2020 we introduced you to a couple in Kansas that rebuilt a 1930’s era gas station into a rustic hotel. The project was enough of a success that the couple has continued to reinvent spaces in other buildings along the main drag in Cawker City.

Adaptive Reuse: Sedalia Depots (Katy Depot, Sedalia Depot)

The community of Sedalia, Missouri, had two railroad depots and was an important railroad town in its heyday. But as railroad activity waned, so did the maintenance of the depots. Eventually, not just one, but both structures saw significant renovations and changes to their original purpose.

Adaptive Reuse: Ridgeway Community Center

The village of Ridgeway, Wisconsin, is a shining example of the energy that a community needs to complete an adaptive reuse project that can make a difference to a community. Nothing was going to slow this community down in making a difference through adaptive reuse.

Shopko Reuse Examples

Midwest towns are gradually getting over the Shopko shock. Slowly, the former big box stores are being purchased and repurposed in a variety of ways. This post looks into the new lives of these once-empty structures.

Adaptive Reuse: School Buildings

Once rotting, derelict school buildings are being renovated and brought back to life with adaptive reuse. These are just a few examples of closed school buildings that have been adaptively reused into housing, community centers, hotels, and more.

Artist and Fare is a Former Shopko?

The reuse of a once-vacant former Shopko building in Plover, Wisconsin, serves as an ideal example of adaptive reuse for other communities.

You may know of an interesting adaptive reuse project. One that may be a helpful example to other communities, don’t keep it to yourself! Let us know through our contact form.