For years the Furniture Mart building was a centerpiece of commerce in Jamestown.

It may never have that role again, but we’d like to think that in the right hands, with the right plan, the Furniture Mart has a higher and better use than it has now.

A city known as the Furniture Capital of the World needed a place for its furniture markets to showcase their newest creations. So, with a clear need in mind, the Furniture Exposition Building was designed in the early 1900s and built. Everyone recognizes its brick facade – though they might not know the building was designed to be fireproof with a steel structure inside the brick we’re all accustomed to see. The Furniture Mart’s fortunes rose and fell along with the furniture industry it was designed to serve. When the building was no longer needed to showcase furniture, it fell into bankruptcy before it was rescued. After years as commercial office space, it’s time to find a new life for the Furniture Mart building.

Crystal Surdyk, city development director, told City Council members last week that the city is applying for a grant through the Strategic Planning and Feasibility Studies Program, a new state program, to help an interested developer figure out the best use for the building. Figuring out the best use for such a big building will help developers come to a new cost estimate for the Furniture Mart. At this point, the only thing we know for sure is that the estimates aren’t going to decrease from the $15 to $20 million estimates we’ve seen in past years.

Redeveloping the Furniture Mart is a story we’ve written before. There have been developers interested over the past several years, but plans have fallen apart because of either a lack of money, poor timing, lack of impetus to sell the building and a host of other reasons. Every few years, there is a push to bring the Furniture Mart into the 21st century only to see the former crown jewel of downtown enterprise remain largely untouched.

We hope this time will be different. Receiving the planning grant from the state would help. Continued growth for the National Comedy Center would help, too, to keep developers interested in the site when the going inevitably gets tough. And, frankly, a little luck couldn’t hurt.