'Cold and sterile' bank building transformed into mid-century modern space in Charlotte

CHARLOTTE - Lorri Doolittle never set out to completely renovate the vacant mid-century bank building at 122 S. Cochran Ave.

When she and husband Fred Doolittle went looking for a new office space last year she wasn't thinking that big.

Her financial advising firm was operating out of two small offices in Charlotte and Eaton Rapids.

Neither of them were big enough for Doolittle's five-member staff to work out of at the same time, so they rotated between them. Doolittle split her time between both properties, occupying a "cubby-sized" space in her Charlotte office just big enough for her desk.

The hunt for something just a bit bigger than what either site offered began last spring.

"It doesn’t need to be ridiculously large," Doolittle told her husband when she starting looking at property in both Eaton County communities.

Her first impression of the 8,700-square-foot, two-story property on South Cochran Avenue in the heart of Charlotte's downtown?

"Cold and sterile," Doolittle said.

Built in 1960, the building has been home to three banks — First National Bank, Michigan National Bank and Bank of America. It had been vacant since 2013.

Today it's been remade into a re-imagined mid-century modern space that's home to Doolittle & Associates - an Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. practice.

An open canvas

Lorri Doolittle wasn't sure the empty bank building, with five teller booths still standing inside its revolving doors, could become a warm atmosphere where staff could service her practice's more than 800 clients.

But Fred Doolittle needed no convincing. It was the right property, he said, in part because it had been well cared for over the years. 

Beyond that, it was an open canvas.

"I think for me it was just the wide open space, the glass on the front," he said. "Being wide open to me it allowed us to do whatever we wanted."

Fred Doolittle purchased the property in July of last year for $150,000. Then the Doolittles brought in Dutch Brothers Development Group as consultants, and architect Jon Jorgensen to completely renovate the space.

Lorri Doolittle declined to cite the exact amount spent on the project, but said it was significant.

"My biggest concern was we were going to put this thing together and it was going to look awful," she said.

But help from experts, who urged them to pay homage to the building's mid-century roots, helped them dream up a new vision for the 5,700-square-foot first floor.

The practice now offers four offices and two conference rooms, a kitchen, workout room and three bathrooms.

Jason Vanderstelt of Dutch Brothers Development said the building was solid, and there were opportunities to highlight some of its best features during the renovation.

"The bones were super solid, which you don’t generally find when you buy buildings in the downtown," he said. "Generally, there’s a lot of deferred maintenance. That was not the case here."

The renovation included dismantling the teller booths, and removing gray and pink tiles and adhesive that was covering up the building's original terrazzo flooring. They reused existing glass, and brought in new elements, including natural wood and deep blue paint accenting the walls throughout.

They also incorporated decorative pieces that have hung inside the building for six decades — including a large wooden clock, lighting fixtures and coin wall hangings. 

When Doolittle talked with people about the building’s renovation several asked about those pieces, and whether she would keep them in the space.

“They remember this from their childhood. We didn’t want to change it so much that people didn’t recognize it, because this is part of history. It’s part of people’s past.”

'The perfect place'

Doolittle opened the doors of her new office to the public last month.

The decorative clock and the coins hang in the same places they’ve always been, and the revolving door at the front is still there.

“I’ve had people come in, 70 or 80 years old, that used the revolving door when they came to visit because that’s what they remember," Doolittle said. "That’s pretty cool.”

One of the bank’s old vaults is inside Doolittle’s office. She plans to set up a coffee bar inside. It still contains safes used to lock up cash. The heavy vault door stands open.

“We don’t close that door,” she said.

Another vault, used for safety deposit boxes, will be utilized for storage. It’s bigger than the vault in her office.

The space is open, but warm, Doolittle said, and exactly what she wanted all along.

“I think the wood makes it warmer,” she said. “I think the darker color makes it warmer. I think the fact that we have a kitchen makes it warmer. I struggled with colors and all of that. A lot of it I couldn’t see. It was a lot of learning.”

But the picture of what the mid-century bank would become did start to come into focus.

“It’s the perfect place for my business,” Doolittle said.

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Contact Reporter Rachel Greco at (517) 528-2075 or rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @GrecoatLSJ.