Just-launched retail hub gets first tenant, battling ‘blight of the heart’ on Troost corner

‘We are each other’s bootstraps’

Transforming a long-vacant building along Troost into a space for neighborhood small businesses is about empowering the entrepreneurs already living and working in the east side community, said Father Justin Mathews.

Father Justin Mathews, Reconciliation Services, speaks during a launch event for RS Impact Exchange; photo by Taylor Wilmore, Startland News

The newly unveiled RS Impact Exchange — built within the renovated, 1920-built Baker Shoe Building at 3108-3116 Troost Ave. — serves as a community-centered retail hub, playing host to local merchants and service providers. The 18,000-square-foot space will also house trauma-informed workforce development services in the near future.

“The RS Impact Exchange expands our campus on Troost and advances our mission of community reconciliation,” said Mathews, CEO of Reconciliation Services (RS), which developed and operates the new space. “Our hope is to also drive meaningful community impact by reinvesting all proceeds from this development directly into RS client services and the revitalization of Troost Avenue.”

A late-May launch event at the retail hub culminated with a ribbon cutting for its first tenant, Kuhl.chr Luxury Salon Suites. The building is segmented into individual buildouts for small businesses like the salon.

Healing begins with community

The launch celebration reflected RS’s broader goal of promoting healing and inclusion in an area long shaped by racial and economic division.

“Troost Avenue has been the racial, economic, and social dividing line of our community for literally generations,” Mathews told the crowd. “But our work here is to begin to tidy up that scarred soil and plant something new. I saw someone wearing a shirt that said, ‘Ancestors, we heard you and we understand the assignment,’ and I love that. That’s exactly what this is.”

Mathews described the RS Impact Exchange as a “self-sustaining engine” designed to strengthen the neighborhood. Proceeds from tenant businesses will help fund essential RS services, including Thelma’s Kitchen and the Reveal trauma therapy program.

“We need more of us being together, more shared understanding, more stories and family stories and getting to know one another,” he added. “That’s critical to addressing the epidemic of loneliness that’s plaguing our community.”

The front exterior of Kuhl.chr Luxury Salon Suites at the RS Impact Exchange retail hub; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News

Opening day for its first tenant

Attendees gathered for the ribbon cutting of Kuhl.chr Luxury Salon Suites, a co-op salon and creative studio launched by entrepreneurs Kamill Bankhead and Damon Tucker.

Kamill Bankhead and Brittany Strohm, Kuhl.chr Luxury Salon Suites, pose together outside the RS Impact Exchange retail hub on Troost Ave. during a launch event for the space; photo by Taylor Wilmore, Startland News

“We looked at several different spaces, but none of them felt quite right until this one,” said Brittany Strohm, studio manager of Kuhl.chr. “We knew the vibe and aesthetic we were trying to create could only be achieved here in Midtown.”

For Bankhead, co-founder of Kuhl.chr, crossing the finish line of opening day marked a deeply personal milestone.

“It is just now hitting me,” she said. “I have been working so hard, and I never stopped working. Now I feel very grateful, very blessed, very happy. This is not the end. This is only the beginning.”

Choosing Troost Avenue for the salon was a purposeful decision for Bankhead, she said.

“I want to be a part of building this area back up, giving it a new name, bringing some culture back to this part of the city,” Bankhead said.

RELATED: Push to change Troost’s racially-charged name stalls again, leaving vocal advocates disheartened

A vision beyond beauty

Kuhl.chr brings together 11 individual entrepreneurs under one roof: hair stylists, creatives, and a tattoo artist, united by a shared space and common goals.

“Maybe entrepreneurs around the world will see that someone has to be willing to think outside the box,” Bankhead said. “And with that mindset, be OK with bringing other people on. That’s what keeps the culture, that’s what keeps the fun and originality alive.”

Mathews pointed to Kuhl.chr as an ideal first tenant for the space.

“We’re just excited as could be that they wanted to be the very first to move into the RS Impact Exchange,” he said. “I told them I’m going to have to start getting my beard done over there!”

A view of the RS Impact Exchange from the Reconciliation Services offices across Troost Ave.; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News

A broader vision for the block

With the ground floor now active, RS is turning its attention upstairs. Plans are already under way to introduce therapy and workforce services on the second floor. Mathews also hinted at potential future tenants, including a credit union and a new restaurant.

“If we’re going to have the kind of safety and vibrancy that we want on this corner, we have to address the blight on the block while also addressing the blight of the heart,” he said.

As guests toured Kuhl.chr’s sleek new space, Mathews offered one final reminder of the community support that drives RS’s mission.

“We are each other’s bootstraps,” he said. “And in this climate, we must be mindful of the least of these. We believe we’re called to love our neighbor in that way.”