After the flood of 1972 and the subsequent destruction of much of downtown Elmira, “Urban Renewal” had gained traction, paving way for the new Centertown Parking Garage. The new garage would have the capacity for over 700 vehicles, and would include a ground-floor plaza of commercial space facing the pedestrian space that would eventually come to be known as Clemens Square. Construction began for the parking garage in November of 1975, and a litany of delays resulted in its opening in February 1978. In that time, it housed Deister & Butler Jewelers, a John Deere showroom, as well as Chuck Clark's Restaurant, later known as the Red Room. By the mid 2000's, the spaces were completely abandoned. We purchased the lot in 2022; and with our restoration of the adjacent Mark Twain Building, it only made sense to breathe new life into this space as well! The space's brutalist style is a stark contrast to our usual Victorian aesthetic, now sporting all new floor-to-ceiling windows across the plaza, as well as several overhead doors to allow for natural flow between the inside and the rest of Clemens Square.

In the fall of 2025, we completed one of our largest projects to date here, with the opening of Centertown Social, a restaurant and brewery-style bar with a massive gaming section, an upper mezzanine level, and an outdoor stage area to anchor this new and exciting community gathering space! Our projects here have only just begun, and future plans for expansion include bowling lanes, an ice cream parlor, a men's barber shop, and even a pizza shop! More details to be announced soon!