NORTH BEND - Historian Dick Wagner once described it as "North Bend's grandest downtown structure," in his book "Louie Simpson's North Bend." But now the Castle Building on the southeast corner of Sherman and Virginia avenues is one of the city's least impressive.

Outside stucco is cracked and rust stains drip down from dirty windows. Inside, 10 upstairs apartments have fallen into disrepair.

All that's changing.

A North Bend couple purchased the 14,000-square-foot building that houses Fat Cat Antiques Mall and plans to give it a $250,000 renovation.

Anthony and Laurie Moore, who bought the building in January, say all they see is the building's potential.

"There's a difference between worn out or neglect," said Anthony Moore. "This one was just neglect."

The Moores, who also own the Empire coffeehouse, Java Jones, and a construction and home design business, U.S. Homebuilders/Southwest Design, have renovated three of the apartments.

"Each apartment we're completely remodeling. They'll be darling when we're done with it," Laurie said.

The couple is ripping out filthy carpets and flooring and re-texturing most of the walls. They had to repair a pipe in a wall that was leaking down to the antique store below.

"Not only do they get right on it and fix it, they do it right," said Tim Pearce, owner of Fat Cat Antiques for 14 years.

After the inside is finished, Anthony said he and his son Andre, 16, are going to repair the roof and install new windows.

"What we would like to do is put a custom plaster texture on the outside," Anthony said.

They will be working with the Coos County Historical Society to keep with the look of the rest of the downtown area.

The Moores plan to build a new storefront where an electric train store is moving out, which they will use for their own business. Still in question is what will happen with a basement that has a colorful history.

Laurie said she's heard the space housed Deb's restaurant in the 1970s.

"It was a hot place to go," she said.

In the 1950s the space was owned by Nellie and Jack Ripper. According to the book "In a Small Puddle" by Nellie Ripper, the couple opened a bar and grill called Ripper's Round-Up Room in 1951. They had previously owned Ripper's Supper Club in the Coos Bay Hotel, now the North Bend Hotel. The Round-Up Room had informal Western decor, and even reflected some of the Wild West, when in 1953, two people were shot and killed there. Later, Jack became an Oregon senator.

In the early days, the building, constructed in 1903, had a third floor and fancy penthouse headquarters for the Commercial Club, a civic organization town businessmen and professionals belonged to, including North Bend Mayor Louis Simpson. By the 1930s, the upper stories had deteriorated and were removed.

Prior to moving to the Bay Area in 1992, for 20 years the Moores lived in Roseburg where they worked up and down the I-5 corridor, building a few shopping centers and developing a subdivision in Glide. They rehabilitated an older 10-plex residential-commercial building in Myrtle Creek.

"Some of the apartments didn't have floors in there. There was just dirt," Laurie said.

Anthony said they should be finished with the inside of the Castle Building by fall, then get started on the outside.

"We just need to work our way through it and make it a place to be proud of," he said.