A sneak peek inside the historic Petrie Building (18 photos)

It's taken a lot of time, effort and money, but the historic Petrie Building in Downtown Guelph is almost ready to reopen.

Two and a half years after Tyrcathlen Partners bought the 130-year-old heritage property at 19 Wyndham St., and the adjacent building at 15 Wyndham St., the fruits of much labour are about to be at least partially harvested.

Brothers Brewing Co. and Osmow's Grill Mediterranean food on the ground floor will be the first to open, in between two and six weeks.

Modern Bride bridal boutique is taking two spots on the upper floors, an advertising agency relocating to Guelph and potentially a law firm are also in the mix, said Kirk Roberts, the man whose Tyrcathlen Partners owns the building and the man whose labour of love has forged the complex and costly project forward.

Members of Guelph City Council, city staff and media got a chance to tour the building on Thursday. Members of the public will get the opportunity to do the same during Doors Open Guelph on April 22.

The main floor is close to opening there is still lots of work to be done on the upper floors.

The basement and a new elevator are where much of the money has been spent, Roberts said.

"The scope of the renovation exploded. We will end up spending about $2.5 million on the renovation, not including the purchase of the building," Roberts said.

The building's tenants have put about $1 million of their own money into the space.

A $100,000 fundraising campaign for restoration of the building's facade, led by the Architectural Conservatory of Ontario, continues at www.petriebuilding.ca.

Provincial and city grants have helped make the project viable, Roberts said.

"It became clear that there were a lot of businesses interested in coming to Guelph or growing in Guelph that were willing to pay a premium for a great location to be downtown in a restored heritage structure and the math started to work," Roberts said.

Everybody in the building is either a new business that started growing in Guelph or a company that chose to relocate here.

Anchor tenant Brothers Brewing Co. will be a 70-seat restaurant/brew pub that will also have a retail outlet for the beer brewed on site.

"It's definitely been a long haul, but we're almost there," said Brothers Brewing Co. partner Colton Proveau, adding that it's taken almost 18 months to get to opening day.

The upper floors are still being worked on and the fourth floor, which hasn't been used in roughly 100 years, is still raw.

Old medicine bottles, aged graffiti from the 1930s and even concert tickets from 1895 are just some of the gems unturned during construction.