Taking an old building and retrofitting it without losing any of the original beauty is tough. But according to Glen Siders, project manager for SouthGate Development, the effort is well worth it, and he has the recent experience to prove it.

In 1985 SouthGate bought what was an old country club on the southwest corner of Gilbert and Washington in Iowa City. The building, built in 1913, had fallen into disrepair and need a lot of work. SouthGate got together with Rohrbach Carlson Architects and OPM Architects to outline a plan for waht they would call the Commerce Center - a functional office building that retained the same historical look and feel of the old country club.

"My first thought was how much work restoring that building would be," said Siders. "It was a great idea, but a massive project as well."

SouthGate completely refurbished the interior of the building. The attic was finished and turned into office space. An extra floor was added between the attic and the first floor where the ballroom use to be. New entrances were created to bring the building up to code.

Simultaneously, the building's exterior was getting its own facelift.

The grand porch which served as the main entrance to the country club was fully restored. A new basement entrance and safety exits were created, and new windows were installed.

"We used manufactured materials and put them together with custom built materials to create an exterior that met city codes and was true to the original," said Robert Carlson, principal of Rohrbach Carlson Associates, which designed the exteior with SouthGate. "It took some work but we ended up with a beautiful and low-maintenance exterior.

Dan Thies, president of OPM Architects, which designed the interior with SouthGate called the process hard but fun.

"On old buildings like the Commerce Center, challenges become opportunities," said Thies. "But once you work past the inherent physical problems, you have the opportunity for a fabulous workspace."

The effort paid off. SouthGate's Commerce Center won the Historic Preservation Award in 2004.

The restored building is home to the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, Travel Concepts, the Iowa City Area Development Group, the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry, Mike Margolin Insurance, the Christian Science Committee, Kaplan Education, Merrill Research and Associates, and Rohrbach Carlson.

"The character and quality of our buildings make up the fabric of our city," said Thies. "I've got to give SouthGate credit for looking at the Commerce Center and seeing its potential."