Mary Landes has been known to shed happy tears when her co-working tenants pack up and leave The Temple.

She’s like a proud parent giving her kids a gentle nudge when they’re ready to conquer real-world challenges.

Landes (forever 59), is the executive director and founder of the Salina Innovation Foundation in the former Masonic Temple.

It opened as The Temple eight years ago, in part to help those chasing their dreams, and to save the landmark that is on the National Register of Historic Places.

She finds solace in knowing her cherished work neighbors are better off than when they arrived, thanks to a big ol’ building and some friendly neighbors.

“It’s a great feeling to watch people grow. They come in and a lot of times, they’re not in the best place in their life,” she said, “and to see them walk out with energy and success; it’s amazing.”

Armed with more experience, customers, income potential and confidence to function and prosper, they load up with dazzle to share, and march away proud.

“Graduates,” as they’re dubbed, set up shop from downtown Salina to Kansas City and other spots where there is a market for their talents, skills and products.

They will always be remembered as family to Landes, and most of her flock feels the same way.

“It’s sort of where dreams begin, an insane launchpad,” said Jonathan Hess, co-owner of Gryphon’s Wing Records, with girlfriend and business partner Olivia Hamilton, both 23, of Salina. Their March 21 grand opening at 119 E. Iron Avenue downtown, attracted more than 500 people. Customers were still congratulating them nearly weeks later.

The Hess-Hamilton partnership owes some gratitude to the majestic monolith at the corner of Santa Fe Avenue and South Street downtown, where they still rent space for recording and storage.

“Especially as a younger persons, it can be hard to get your foot in the door with upfront costs,” Hess said. “The Temple provided me a space to start from scratch and build from there.”

Thanks in part to all of the eager entrepreneurs whose rent helps pay The Temple’s monthly bills and upkeep, the stately gray beacon, smack-dab in a major shopping and business district in the growing city, is finding new life.

The large asphalt parking lot — soon to be re-paved — is often loaded with automobiles for weddings, parties, reunions, high school proms, movies, dance recitals, and town hall gatherings. A Night at the Opera benefit was staged in the auditorium in late March.

Among the consistent revenue lifelines at the Temple are the tenants who rent rooms to hone skills while working their way into careers.

“That’s what the whole co-working space is about, letting someone get a start,” said Mitch Robinson, chairman of the Innovation Foundation board of directors, and executive director of the Salina Community Economic Development Organization.

“They lease space at at very attractive rate, to start up their business,” he said. “It’s an exciting thing that’s going on.”

At the heart of it all is Landes, who runs the operation and constantly fights off what might appear overwhelming to some.

“Mary is the most flexible and giving person, who is very easy to work with,” Hess said. “She’s asking how I’m doing and what I need, and is very active in participating in events. We’re all very collaborative here. Whenever they need a sound system, I lend them one.”

There are currently 21 businesses in The Temple. Among those are Shannon Luthi, of Smokehouse Seven Spice Rubs, and a chef caterer Katy Vinson, of To The Table, farm-to-table catering service, using the first-floor commercial kitchen.

Included among the recent graduates are attorney Tisha Morrical and her legal assistant Crystal Chenoweth. They worked more than 20 years at the Hampton & Royce law firm on the ninth and 10th floors of The United Building.

“When I went out on my own (July 2023), I started at The Temple and used some of their space in the basement,” Morrical said. “It had the space we needed for a reasonable cost. I didn’t want to get into an expensive lease right away. It worked great. They had two conference rooms we could use and we had our own dedicated space and storage area as well.”

Morrical and Chenoweth melded well in Temple.

“Everybody said ‘hello.’ We would check in on each other,” Morrical said. “We went and had coffee with the veterans, and actually still do every once in awhile.”

The Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 809, is among the tenants. one of the leaders of that group, Jim Deister, is a dedicated volunteer.

“Jim does a lot for The Temple,” Morrical said.

Ditto that, Landes said.

“He’s been here from the start,” she said. “We can’t thank Jim enough for the dedication to this project. He helps us in so many ways.”

Just over a year and a half later, during the first week of February, Morrical Legal Services, relocated to 200 S. Santa Fe, Suite one. The family law attorney handles divorces, child support, guardianship custody, parenting time and mediation.

The practice is plenty busy.

“There are not enough attorneys to go around,” Morrical said. “It’s like drinking from a water hose. It’s either turned on or turned off.”

The Temple is where Hess started a friendship with Salinan Isaiah Marcotte, 25, an independent local filmmaker, who was by then a Temple mainstay.

“I helped Jonathan record his first album in my recording studio,” Marcotte said.

They worked together on a number of projects, and got things done.

“We feed off of each other’s energy,” Hess said.

The old palace, protected roughly 86 feet from the ground by 120 copper gargoyles standing watch around the rooftop, is where the budding movie mogul rented space a decade ago.

His initial goal is making a partially animated feature film, titled “Limerence.” With a crew from mid-Kansas sporting various talents, progress is steady and edging toward completion.

“This has been one of the most fruitful experiences. It’s had a lot of ups and downs, and growth,” Marcotte said. “This has been a 10-year journey. I would like to premiere here in the auditorium and then release it for distribution. We want to put Salina on the map.”

With collaboration and encouragement from Landes, a.k.a. “a generous house mother,” and many other colleagues willing to lend a hand or suggestion, Marcotte is jacked to complete the project.

This place, the excited moviemaker said, deserves a great deal of credit.

“Every time I walk in here, I’m immediately inspired,” he said from his second-floor studio — the second location Marcotte Productions has occupied under the magnanimous roof. An obscure window overlooks the handsome Temple entryway, topping an imposing set of concrete steps, albeit leaky and in need of repair.

“You see the architecture, and it feels like your soul is elevated, and you’re ready to tackle anything. Acoustics are amazing and the rent (roughly half of the going rate) is really good. It’s a solid space where everybody can get together to make movies without disturbing other people,” Marcotte said. “The Temple’s my muse. It has inspired a lot of my work, right down to how I design things.”

 XXXThe building was donated in 2017 to a newly formed nonprofit, Salina Innovation Foundation, to preserve and repurpose the then 90-year-old structure. In two years, Landes plans to throw The Temple a big 100th birthday party.

“We are working to set it up for the next 100 years,” she said.

Landes and a mostly-volunteer skeleton crew, set out to revive the burly downtown beacon, by repurposing it in a major way. To pay the bills, some of the 160,000-square-feet of space was rented — at roughly half the going rate — to a group of folks, each with their own set of dreams.

One way to judge the success of the affordable co-working space made available to entrepreneurs, is by how many of those have moved on, or plan to.

The grand plan wasn’t new to the grande dame 

As the middle child of John and Patty and Landes’s three daughters, who grew up in Salina, Mary left home in her 20s, to live in Connecticut.

While working to build a in a graphic design business in Fairfield, CT., a friend suggested she rent co-working space at the Stamford Innovation Center, and thrived there.

“It was a positive environment. People were innovative, trying to make their businesses better,” Landes said.

When she returned after 25 years, calling herself a “boomerang,” Landes held onto the co-working idea, even while working three years as the online interactive director, for the Salina Journal, thinking is was needed here.

“All of the big money here is from people who started with an idea and made it on their own, like Charlie Walker, The Vaniers, Graves trucking and others,” she said. “When I got the Salina Innovation Foundation going, it was kind of a tribute to that.”

A mammoth undertaking to preserve and improve The Temple in downtown Salina, is eight years into a reincarnation, and co-working is a key element.

A new roof, a pond-full of fresh paint, refurbished utilities, modernized, reliable elevators, some decor and other amenities, are essential in the monumental project, and are in various stages of completion.

An overwhelming to-do list still haunts Landes and a skeleton crew of volunteers, as they ponder how to repurpose all seven floors.

“We’re gettin’ there,” she said.

Closeness reigns at The Temple, said Hess, with so many connected to Salina. He intends to continue renting space at The Temple.

“We’re all kind of like family,” he said, “and I feel lucky that I get to make my amazing parents proud.”

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FACTOID: Isaiah Marcotte’s movie title “Limerence,” is defined as “a state of intense infatuation or romantic desire, often described as an involuntary and obsessive attachment to another person, known as the ‘limerent object.’ It’s characterized by an intense longing for reciprocation, obsessive thoughts, and a fear of rejection,” according to a Google search.

Two other crew members involved in the movie are Bobby Campbell, assistant animator, of Salina; Caleb Voyles, producer from Wichita.

They have begun fundraising for the project. To donate, email Marcotte at [email protected].

FACTOID: Fundraising continues at The Temple, with plans to maintain and upgrade the huge downtown structure. To inquire about co-working space, call (785) 201-3132, email [email protected], or visit the website, salinatemple.com, and fill out a contact form. Those contacts can help in making a donation, or mail a check made payable to The Temple, 336 S. Santa Fe Ave., Salina, KS; online at Salinatemple.com/donate. or add to the Temple’s funds through the Greater Salina Community Foundation.

NOTE: Marcotte hosts monthly silent film screenings in the auditorium, and gives donations to the building. “I think The Temple deserves 100 percent of the funding it needs,” he said.