Workers began replacing the roof on Selma’s vacant Tepper’s building Tuesday, marking the start of a long-awaited renovation project.

The building was purchased by the Freedom Foundation in 2007 after sitting vacant for more than four decades.

According to the Freedom Foundation’s website, the nonprofit group plans to renovate the building to be used as a community development center.

A.J. Page, a community development volunteer with the Freedom Foundation, said there is a great deal of work to be done before the project is complete.

“Right now we are doing roofing work on the building, and after that there will be structural re-stabilization done to the structure and the interior,” Page said. “Then we will do some historic renovations to the front of the building. The bones of the building are in good shape, and we are ready to bring the rest up to date.”

On Tuesday, workers from Montgomery-based Interstate Roofing were beginning to remove metal panels from the building’s old roof, before installing a new rubber roof and insulation.

“The roof itself looked fine,” said Interstate Roofing owner Glenn Reid. “The metal roof panel system looked ok, I just know the slope probably wasn’t enough for a metal roof, so it had to be replaced.”

Reid said he expected his company would be finished with the roof replacement within 60 days, depending on weather conditions.

Page said he is optimistic about the structural integrity of the building

Page said the Freedom Foundation does not currently have a date they are expecting all the work to be completed, but that work should move forward at a steady pace now that the planning and fundraising stages are complete.

“The Freedom Foundation is a nonprofit, so we have to wait on donations to work on projects like this,” Page said. “We have been getting design work and construction documents done, and we’ve gone out and got the funding to get the project started. And while don’t have a deadline for the project, we are hoping to have all the work completed sooner rather than later.”

Jim Creech, a pharmacist at the Pilcher-McBryde Drug Company that sits across Alabama Avenue from the Tepper’s building, said he is excited to see work beginning on the site.

“If they can follow through with the work, I think it will be great for downtown,” Creech said. “It has looked like that as long as I’ve been here, and I think it would be refreshing and encouraging to everyone that passes through the downtown.”