A Question

I wonder what exactly those people are doing with the Old Schoolhouse down by main street. It was an old dilapitaded building, and OAT (Ozark Actors Theater) used it for storing their sets. Now some guys have bought it up and are making some sort of fancy bar thingie. I'm not exactly sure what it is...  I could understand it if they kept the building as it was, after all, its an historical building. But they aren't keeping the character of it at all. Totally new front, stone fence, knocking in holes for windows and adding on in the back. If they aren't keeping the building for its history, wouldn't it be cheaper to just knock it down and build a whole new building?