Finally tonight, a long forgotten building in downtown Monroe is getting a new chapter.

What started as a passion for preservation has turned into a place built on family, risk and reinvention.

Carolina Impact's Chris Clark shows us how history helped spark something new.

(bright music) - [Chris] Since 1947, the corner of Stewart and Lancaster has been where Monroe comes to fuel up.

Unlike its neon blasted interstate cousins with 24 pumps and a mile of asphalt, this place is a time capsule, old school pumps out front and Dino the Dinosaur standing guard.

- It kind of caught my eye, that's why I wanted to come over here and check it out.

- [Chris] These days, the difference is what they're pumping.

The product isn't measured by the gallon anymore, it's measured by the shot.

Welcome to High Octane Coffee where the pumps are quiet but the corner still fuels the town.

- The community received this place with arms wide open.

- [Chris] The transformation from gas station to coffee shop didn't happen overnight and it wasn't a straight line.

Originally, this building wasn't meant for cappuccinos at all.

- I was looking for a location to house my corporate headquarters and my business and my shop.

- [Chris] Antiques dealer and fine arts appraiser Peter Carlin built his career preserving American history, so when he found a historic 1947 gas station in Monroe, it seemed like the perfect fit, but the station he found looked nothing like the one standing here now.

- It was a disaster.

It was basically falling apart.

The roof was caving in, there was water coming through the ceiling and I'm a real history geek, so I was like, you know, the old gas station is cool, I'd like to renovate it.

- [Chris] And that's exactly what he did.

One pump, one can and one sign at a time.

- The one that everybody wants to buy is the old Welcome to Monroe, North Carolina, We're Friendly Folks sign and it used to be and somewhere posted on the outskirts of like as you came into town, it was one of the original signs.

- [Chris] Once the restoration was finished, the place looked spectacular, but the building wasn't alive.

His work had him on the road a lot, which presented a problem.

- People would come up and I would see 'em on the security alarms like looking in the window and people were like, when is this guy open?

I'm the antique store that's never open.

- [Chris] Instead of becoming a gathering place, it sat locked behind glass.

Full of history, but empty of people.

- It was a glorified storage unit, that's not really great for the community.

You know, it's like I wanted this to be something that the community could enjoy.

- [Chris] And as fate would have it halfway around the world, the answer was already taking shape.

Peter's sister-in-law and her husband were ready to walk away from successful banking careers in Columbia and bet on a dream of their own.

- Every time that we had the chance to on holidays, vacation, the first thing that we do is go to these cozy places to get a really good cup of coffee and some pastries.

During pandemic, we start thinking that we love that.

Why don't we start our own business?

- [Chris] Oscar and Adriana didn't stumble into coffee, they chased it.

They traveled across Columbia meeting farmers, learning the craft from soil to cup, even training as baristas.

The plan was to build their dream back home until a family trip to North Carolina revealed where their Columbian coffee truly belonged.

Here.

- We went to mountains, Boone, Asheville, and one day we came to Monroe.

We see a couple of places like brewery, these kind of places, but we say-- - Why not?

We can share about our culture, coffee culture with other community.

- [Chris] Monroe gave them a town and that town led them to a corner and that corner led them to an old gas station ready to run again.

- We're talking about doing a food truck kind of just morphed into, well why don't we just make this the coffee shop?

- We didn't have the name for the business, but when we see all the gas pumps, High Octane Coffee, the perfect match for the energy, the vibe, the coffee.

- [Chris] After months of renovation, the doors finally opened.

An idea is easy to dream, but harder to trust.

Every new business carries a quiet fear of what if no one comes?

On opening day, Monroe answered and they haven't stopped showing up since.

- It was crazy, but it was nice to see all the people.

- My daughter, she really loves coffee and I love the atmosphere.

- [Chris] And inside, the menu has its own crowd favorite.

- Yeah, the waffles.

- [Chris] It's tough to go wrong with a hot waffle on a cold day, especially with this assortment, even the building's original owner stopped by to see what his shop had become.

- He started telling me the whole story about the downtown area, how he buy this property, all this story behind this.

We have customers that used to work here when this was a gas station.

- [Chris] Sometimes the restoration is so convincing, people still think the pumps are working.

- We don't block the gas pumps like now, and the people is still coming, parking there asking for gas.

- [Chris] For a corner that once ran on gasoline, the energy now comes from people.

- The community has been very warm, very helpful with us.

- [Chris] And nearly 80 years after this station first fueled Monroe, it still does just one cup at a time.

For Carolina Impact, I'm Chris Clark.