Work to restore the historic Atascadero Printery building is progressing.
The Atascadero Printery Foundation is working to transform the old building into a large community space.
“There's not a lot for our youth to do. Our seniors have a great facility, a great program, but their facility is tiny and they need a bigger place, so we need this for our community,” said Karen McNamara, Atascadero Printery Foundation President.
The group was established 10 years ago and has since made enough money through grassroots fundraisers to purchase the building from the city and begin renovations. Now, they’re marking another significant step in the process.
“The beginning of the actual retrofit process,” McNamara explained. “It's a three-layer plaster system with a fiberglass mesh embedded and that strengthens the brick so that this is now seismically sound, and so this building will be strong for another at least 100 years.”
McNamara says that with the retrofitting process now making the building safe for people to enter, they will open their doors to the public for the first time on September 20.
“We will be doing tours every half an hour from 9 to 3. Everyone is invited. It's free. Come see our displays and come inside and tour the building for yourself.”
McNamara says she appreciates the community’s help with getting the renovation going, but the work is far from over.
“Always looking for donors, looking for people that might, you know, want to take on a large room as their room, you know, it's something named in someone's honor, but we just we have so many opportunities here for the community,” she said. “We hope the community gets involved and understands that this is for everybody.”
To learn more about the Atascadero Printery and get involved, click here.
