The town of Marion is taking advantage of a grant to breathe new life into its downtown area. 

Thomas Tolleson opened his second pizzeria there last summer.

"The community has been just wonderful to us," said Tolleson.

It's one of four new businesses that have come to a revised main street. Thanks to a Restore New York grant, the town, with the help of Tom Salviski, a local developer, spent the last two years transforming its downtown facade back to its glory days.

"If we let towns like this go away and wither away, there will be a time, my kids, my grandkids and they will never know what these mom and pop stores are like," said Salviski. "There's a tremendous amount of value to that and that's the type of thing we are trying to bring back here."

The new look made it easy for Tolleson, who opened his first shop in nearby Newark, to bring his second location to Marion.

"We are all in a small community because that's where we live so we are already in a small community so we want to support that," Tolleson said.

But the work is not done yet as one building still needs a business to call it home.

"Eventually this could be a beautiful doctor's office, it can be a restaurant, a bar, it can be an office space, a co-work space, Salviski said. "There are so many opportunities. It's just putting up the walls, the paint and the finishes which we look forward to doing."

This is an especially proud moment for Ron Lonerville of the Marion Town Board.

"I've lived all my life and I just want to see a vibrant town again," said Lonerville. "We got a nice section of town here. It's been revitalized and we are definitely open for business."