HOLYOKE — The overhaul may have been three times larger than expected and took three years, but the ribbon has finally been cut at the new home of Paper City Clothing Company.

State and local authorities were on hand late last week to cheer on Carlos and Katy Pena for the opening of the space, and praised them for the patience, tenacity and diligence it took to revive the block originally built in 1856 at 144 High St. — a process that offered challenges raising the needed funding and a slew of structural issues that got in the way.

The owners and married couple founded Paper City Clothing in 2016, and it has been based in downtown Holyoke since, just down the street from their new location. It is a “mission”-focused business, trying to inspire young people through custom printing and creative retail.

“This new chapter is huge for us,” said Katy Pena, who is also celebrating being pregnant with their firstborn, and thanked both family and community for supporting the renovation through its completion.

“It just represents a new everything,” she said to a group of about a dozen last Friday that included Mayor Joshua Garcia, members of the City Council, state Rep. Patricia Duffy, D-Holyoke, Aaron Vega, director of Planning & Economic Development for the city of Holyoke, and a representative from MassDevelopment who were gathered outside the revived space.

Carlos Pena praised his wife for taking care of all the behind the scenes work for the business, “and you know the person behind the scenes always does more work.”

City and state officials could be heard commenting, “what a difference,” and “absolutely amazing,” as they saw the restored condition on a walk through of the 3,000-square-foot community art gallery and event space and the two, 1,000-square-foot commercial storefronts on the ground floor.

Also on the second floor are two studio apartments and a one bedroom.

For the past decade the building, which had been the Fuller Block and is on the National Register of Historic Places, has been empty and was slated for demolition.

To reverse its decrepit condition, the Penas spent a total of $700,000 over three years. About 60% of that total came from state funding, including money from Mass Capital Corporation, the Mass Clean Energy Center, and MassDevelopment. The rest of the funds were raised through private fundraising initiatives alongside other local businesses.

Speaking ahead of the ribbon cutting, Garcia welcomed the couple to “the cool side of High Street,” where more businesses have been springing up in recent years through Holyoke’s Main Street Revitalization initiatives.

“I came across this quote from Ronald Reagan. He said the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘we are from the government, and we are here to help,’” said Garcia, which got a laugh from the dozen or so gathered.

“But honestly, city and state government has done alright ... but it took a great deal of patience on your end,” he told the Penas.

These sentiments were repeated by Duffy and City Council President Tessa Murphy-Romboletti.

Speaking of Paper City Clothing’s new home, Murphy-Romboletti said, “It’s going to be a game-changer on the block.”

Vega said that, “What you have been able to do, to say the least, is very inspiring.”

Vega noted that the couples efforts to revive multiple other locations in the city were unsuccessful, but, he said, “They were diligent, they continued. They had a vision, and we helped them achieve that vision.”

The city’s economic development boss said High Street is undergoing a revival with small businesses.

“Once again, the thing that built High Street originally was small businesses, locally-owned businesses, attractions that brought people downtown. This is what we are doing once again,” he said.

Samuel Gelinas can be reached at sgelinas@gazettenet.com.