With new siding and windows, a new roof and covered porch, brick steps and a concrete parking lot poured the last week of July, the former Clay Insurance building on Institute Street has undergone a dramatic transformation over the past seven months.

But the renovated circa-1961 office is still at least a week away from seeing tenants move in, according to its developer, Mark Hall.

Hall has subdivided the building into two offices, one totaling 1,102 square feet and the other at 570 square feet.

Voices for Kids CASA Program of Southeast Virginia, a nonprofit organization that advocates for abused and neglected children in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the cities of Suffolk and Franklin by providing court-appointed special advocates, or CASAs, will open its regional headquarters in the larger space, Hall said. The smaller space, he said, will house RM Designs, a custom screen printing business that’s in the process of relocating from the shops at Smithfield Station on South Church Street.

Hall purchased the 1,500-square-foot property in mid-2020. It was initially built as a doctor’s office and later became Clay Insurance Agency. When the late Bob Clay retired, the building sat vacant for nearly two decades and fell into disrepair.

The building still lacks electricity. Its wiring had to be brought up to modern building codes and buried underground to comply with Smithfield’s historic district regulations, Hall said. Dominion Energy, he said, told him a new utility pole on Grace Street would be needed to accommodate the building.

“We need about three days after we get electricity to finish,” Hall said.

Some of the remaining renovations include adding new flooring, which Hall said needs to be installed in a climate-controlled environment.

Hall, who recently submitted a bid to purchase the town-owned Smithfield Times office on Main Street, owns multiple commercial properties in the downtown area, including the circa-1939 firehouse on North Church Street he purchased and renovated into commercial storefronts and second-floor apartments in 2012, and an early 1900s canopy gas station at the corner of Main and Grace streets he acquired in 2021.