KITCHENER - You can come across a lot of interesting things when you renovate an older building. Just ask Jay Shah.

There's the old pulley found buried under a concrete slab in the basement of the former Budds store at 165 King St. W., a building Shah and his father, Kamal, purchased last year following the landmark store's closure.

Or the 'I-beams' acting as supports in an opening in a brick wall - "it turns out those beams were streetcar tracks," Shah says, most likely salvaged from the line that used to run right down King Street.

"We'll try and keep pieces like that and incorporate them into the building," says Shah, director of the Velocity startup incubator.

On Thursday, crews were on site to install a banner on the building's fa�ade illustrating what it's expected to look like once work is complete.

"We're pretty excited about what it's going to look like," Shah says.

Floor-to-ceiling windows will grace the first floor, which is expected to be divided into two commercial units facing King Street. A third storey, lost to fire decades ago, will be rebuilt; it will mirror the second storey, its band of seven windows recently uncovered with the removal of the distinctive metal fa�ade and Budds sign that had stretched across the front of the building.

Shah wants to preserve many of the building's historical touches as he breathes new life into the property. Granite columns at street level have been revealed as the more modern red brick covering them is chipped away. The unique white ceramic bricks gracing the second floor will be touched up; Shah is looking for a manufacturer that can produce a batch to use on the new third storey as well.

While plans call for the upper two floors to be used for high-tech office space, Shah said he's flexible and willing to consider other ideas in the context of what the downtown core needs most. "If we need more downtown amenities . maybe that's what we'll try to attract into the building."

Shah says it's been hard to pin down a precise history for the building, but he's certainly done his homework.

While the building has a date of 1915 stamped in concrete, Shah says he believes that parts of the building, at least, are older, given references on municipal fire maps from 1904 and 1894.

When the Budds store moved there in 1933 from its original location a couple of blocks away, it's believed it initially occupied a single storefront before expanding at some point into the second unit.

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Previous Record articles, historic photographs and city directories indicate the building has housed everything from the Berlin (Kitchener) Light Commission office and the Allen Theatre to Feldman Furs and a Loblaw groceteria over the years. Other tenants included union clubs and the Ukrainian Hall. An early fire map lists the block of buildings as M. Erb & Co. Glove Factory and Upholstering, Shah says.

"It's a big project," Shah says of the ongoing work. "It's really exciting to work on."