Revitalizing Downtown with The Fleemans

From retail and dining to nightlife and downtown living, Tyler Fleeman has incorporated all of these elements into The Commonwealth – a fully repurposed building which houses five local businesses and five second-floor apartments.

Trends Dress Shop and Go Gurl Beauty Supply were already tenants by the time Fleeman took over the property in 2024, with Monroe Deen Apparel arriving shortly after. By the end of 2025, Lily Ann’s Floral Design opened in the newly created fourth retail space.

Fleeman’s efforts to revive the Green Grill are well timed, with the recent re-opening of the Centralia House Restaurant and opening of Colden Brewery, bringing forth a new era in Centralia’s Historic Downtown.

The young entrepreneur’s journey of fully revitalizing Downtown’s easternmost block began in 2023. After returning from Florida, he decided to get involved in real estate with an interest in undertaking a revitalization project. That project would get its legs in late 2023, when Fleeman learned that The Commonwealth building – which makes up almost all of the 300 block of West Broadway – was for sale.

“I started looking around and checking out some of the buildings downtown,” recalled Fleeman. “I had heard the building was owned by the Carillon Foundation. Once I looked at this place it really stood out to me as something that would work perfectly for what I wanted to do.”

“The main thing for me was that I wanted a multi-use space where we could have a little bit of everything,” Fleeman explained. “For us, it started store by store. I wanted multiple storefronts, and I wanted to attract new businesses to open downtown as well.”

Fleeman said he was inspired by fellow local entrepreneurs Shannon and Mindy Cooney, as their development efforts helped show him what was possible in downtown Centralia – from enhancing quality of life through new business to the introduction of downtown living.

“Downtown living is huge right now. Everybody wants in on it,” Fleeman said. “The design of our apartments is a modern, industrial type of apartment that you would probably see around St. Louis. They have exposed piping, and they have very spacious, open concepts to them. We have three apartments that are two-bedroom and two that are single-bedroom.”

With The Commonwealth and other downtown projects reaching completion, Fleeman said he has no plans of slowing down.

“It’s really exciting. With momentum, you’ve got to keep it going. It’s easy to lose,” he said. “There doesn’t seem to be much of a place to be doing this than where we are now. It’s very exciting to see everything open downtown.”