A North Main Street business is closing.

A downtown Austin business will fill the void.

Lisa Granle-Tuttle has announced she is closing her Granle’s Custom Framing and Art Gallery business at 421 North Main Street.

Steve Davis, co-owner with his wife, Ange, of Steve’s Pizza, has signed a purchase agreement to take possession of the building Jan. 1, 2009.

Steve’s Pizza is located in the two-block area being acquired by the city of Austin. It will be turned over to Mower County for construction of a new jail and justice center.

Steve’s Pizza, located at 215 Second Avenue Northeast, is one of three remaining business properties the city is attempting to acquire. The others are Anytime Fitness Center and the former Colonial Bar and apartment building.

With a Jan. 1, 2009 take over of the Granle-Tuttle property on the agenda, it appears the city will not be able to keep the county’s Dec. 31 deadline to have the two blocks ready for construction of a new jail and justice center.

Those details have to be sorted out by city and council officials. Right now, the owner of Steve’s Pizza is “excited” about the prospects of a new downtown location.

“We’re excited,” Steve Davis said, “It’s a very attractive building with visibility and the parking a restaurant needs.”

“And,” he added, “it’s downtown, where we have been for more than 30 years and where we want to be in the future.”

Granle-Tuttle is also excited about the changes coming, but leaving the downtown business world will be hard.

She called owning her own business an “awesome adventure.”

Leaving a downtown storefront the couple transformed into the talk of the town is a “happy-sad” experience, according to her husband.

Granle-Tuttle has owned the business for eight years. Before that, her parents, Gary and Linda Granle owned the business for years until the sudden death of Linda Granle.

The business was the first for the Austin Main Street Project’s downtown rehabilitation efforts.

“Granle’s has always been a great asset to our downtown and losing it is unfortunate,” said Sarah Douty, Austin Main Street Project coordinator. “However, we respect the owner’s decision to change career paths. The building and downtown location is a great fit for Steve’s Pizza. We are very glad this longtime business will be able to continue operating in downtown Austin.”

The financials of the purchase agreement, which neither Granle-Tuttle or Davis discussed, were, in part, revealed by Douty.

“The easement, which defines the exterior appearance, stays with building,” she said. “A portion of the forgivable loan will be paid back to the Port Authority upon the sale, making those funds available for future projects.”

Future plans

Granle-Tuttle will complete college studies for a bachelor’s degree in business administration in December.

Her youngest child, Stephanie, will graduate high school in June 2009.

That leaves Granle-Tuttle and her husband, Brad, with an opportunity to move in new directions in their lives.

“We decided it’s a good time for us to start a new chapter,” Granle-Tuttle said.

There are practical business matters to address for the couple and their daughter, Jessica, who also works in the business.

Beginning Nov. 1, there will be a “going out of business” sale, offering customers 40 percent off regular prices.

Both the business’ inventory and the 12,000 square foot building’s fixtures and furnishings will be sold.

The JCPenney Catalog Store outlet operated by Granle-Tuttle will be moved to another location, but that has not yet been confirmed.

It’s a bitter-sweet juncture in Granle-Tuttle’s life as a business-owner on North Main Street in Austin.

She praised the Austin Main Street Project for being a “wonderful program for downtown Austin.”

She said new building owners, Steve and Angie Davis, have picked a “perfect location for their pizza restaurant business.”

She also praised her business neighbors along North Main Street for becoming “good friends, who we will miss.”

And, she said, “I’m going to miss all that.”

Brad and Lisa Granle-Tuttle did the mosaic work that decorates the exterior of the building with friends, Dennis and Krista Hawley, and daughter, Jessica’s boyfriend.

The building became an eye-catching edifice at downtown Austin’s busiest intersections: Fourth Avenue and North Main Street.

When the front window space was given over to “Support Our Troops” displays, passersby couldn’t help but notice.

That display of patriotism came, in part, from the heart: The couple have a son, Clayton, who is a member of the Minnesota National Guard and who most recently served a peace-keeping mission in Kosovo.

Inside the business, there were art shows with works displayed on the main street and upper levels.

In the basement of the three-story building, Brad crafted elegant frames around pictures, family photos, soldier’s medals and more.

Once he framed a five-foot-long rattlesnake skin for a customer.

“There are still those beaded curtains hanging in the basement from the days when it was the Fantle’s Store,” he said.

That’s a lot to leave behind.

“I love the interaction with my customers,” Granle-Tuttle said. “I love Christmas, when we get to do the windows.”

“I love what we were able to do with the outside. My husband and I made that ourselves,” she said.

“I’m not bitter at all,” she said of her decision to close the business. “This business has been an awesome adventure. We’ve enjoyed it.”

“I’m very sad to be leaving,” she said only to have her husband say he is “happy sad” at the turn of events in their lives.

Both expressed their appreciation to their “loyal customers”, the Austin Main Street Project’s support and business friends along North Main Street for helping them fulfill their business dreams for the last eight years along North Main Street.