View details of this raise on Seedstage

Springville, NY

Expanding a community-owned café into a larger food, arts, and housing hub to strengthen Main Street.

• Historic preservation: Restoring a prominent vacant building in Springville’s historic district.
• Operational growth: Larger kitchen to boost food production and menu variety.
• Support for entrepreneurship: Commissary kitchen for local food businesses.
• Community ownership: Investors gain voting rights and café perks.
• Sustainable design: Expanded green roof, solar panels, and geothermal systems.

Art’s Cafe Community Owners is raising funds to expand the operations of Art’s Café into the neighboring historic building at 3 East Main Street in Springville, New York. The property, long vacant and in disrepair, will be transformed into a multi-use space that includes an expanded café kitchen, a commissary kitchen for local food entrepreneurs, an art and artisan food market, and residential units. The expansion also incorporates sustainability measures such as an expanded green roof, solar panels, and geothermal heating and cooling. Building on the success of Art’s Café, which revitalized a once-collapsed building into a thriving community hub, the project seeks to further strengthen Main Street’s economic and cultural activity.

The expansion will address current space limitations, enabling increased food production, improved efficiency, and broader menu offerings. The commissary kitchen will create opportunities for small-scale food producers, while the market space will provide retail exposure for local artists and artisans. Residential units will add desirable downtown housing, enhancing the vibrancy of the historic district. As a community ownership model, the offering allows individuals to invest directly in the project, vote for the Board of Directors, and enjoy café perks, fostering deeper local engagement and shared benefit in Springville’s ongoing revitalization.

Company Info

Art’s Cafe Community Owners operates a cultural hub in Springville, NY, and is expanding into an adjacent historic building to add food production, retail, housing, and sustainability features.

Art’s Cafe Community Owners is a community-based organization in Springville, New York, that operates Art’s Café, a restored three-story historic building featuring an artisan bakery and café, arts workshop, performance venue, green roof, and residential units. The café has become a social and cultural hub, attracting thousands of visitors annually for food, performances, language groups, and workshops. After five years of growth, the organization is expanding into the adjacent property at 3 East Main Street, a long-vacant and deteriorated building, with the aim of furthering Main Street revitalization and increasing the café’s capacity to serve the community.

The expansion project includes creating an art and artisan food market, enlarging the café’s kitchen for higher production and wholesale opportunities, establishing a commissary kitchen for local food entrepreneurs, adding two residential units for artists and residents, and implementing green initiatives such as a green roof, solar panels, and geothermal systems. By integrating retail, dining, cultural programming, and sustainable infrastructure, Art’s Cafe Community Owners seeks to strengthen the local economy, foster collaboration between artists and food producers, and enhance downtown vibrancy while preserving and repurposing historic architecture.