Eleven years ago, Susan Kovas and other members of the Chester community with family members who had special needs wanted to create an organization that would help young people with special needs, especially as they transitioned from high school into young adulthood. They saw a need to bridge the gap between school and career for individuals with special needs, and from that dream, WorkAbility was born.
“We wanted to create opportunities for our children and the whole community, so we started WorkAbility,” Kovas told What Now Charlotte.
In addition to cultivating programs such as swim and dance teams, the organization has spent years looking to build a job-training program for their members with special needs. Kovas, the chair of WorkAbility, and the rest of the team hoped to create a coffee shop concept that would bring their vision to life.
In 2018, the owner of 140 Gadsden St. in Chester gifted the historic building to WorkAbility. The 1924 building, which formerly served as a department store, was in need of revitalization. WorkAbility partnered with Fort Mill-based real estate company Kuester Commercial to bring the space back to life.
Now, Kuester Commercial is nearing the completion of renovating the building at 140 Gadsden. Kuester has been intentional with staying true to the historic roots of the building, maintaining unique touches that give the building character. When it opens, it will house 11 apartment units as well as WorkAbility’s coffee shop — Work-A-Latte — in a 1,838-square-foot retail space. There is also a 2,671-square-foot restaurant space still available to lease, says Shaw Kuester, president of Kuester Commercial.
Once the building is completed in late March or April, WorkAbility plans to prepare Work-A-Latte for opening. The mission of the coffee shop will be “brewing a better world,” with the dual-purpose of offering on-the-job training for people with special needs and bringing a gathering space to historic downtown Chester.
“[It allows us] to have a job-training program where our participants can go through training and get hands-on work experience at the coffee shop and get to a point where they can graduate out to a company in our area,” David Dameron, executive director at WorkAbility, told What Now Charlotte. “It’s intentionally an on-the-job training program with the ambition of our folks coming in, developing those skills and moving out as employable.”
Work-A-Latte will offer a standard coffee shop menu, and they are looking to partner with local businesses to add some food options such as baked goods.
Dameron and Kovas hope that Work-A-Latte will become part of the fabric of the community. They are designing the space to be comfortable and cozy so that it will be “somewhere where you want to sit down for a minute,” Dameron said.
Kuester has a similar goal for 140 Gadsden. As the Chester community gains traction and businesses move into the area, they hope to be part of the surge to bring much-needed development to the area.
“I think what Kuester’s done over the last 10-12 years has been instrumental in the revitalization of the downtown Fort Mill market,” Kuester broker Roger Metz said. “We’ve had a hand in some apartment buildings that brought a lot of walkability to the downtown area. It makes it a thriving place to be. We’re looking to do that same thing in Chester. I really think we’re going to see some revitalization in that core downtown market.”
