Longtime Detroit Shoreway fixture the Bruno Casiano Gallery has finally opened its eyes, so to speak, courtesy of a storefront renovation.

The gallery, which is located at 5304 Detroit Avenue, is filled with natural light after more than 50 years without front windows. The two new windows, which were installed last week, occupy spaces that were bricked up at an unknown point in the building's past.

"It used to be a speakeasy, this place," says owner Bruno Casiano, adding that the structure dates back to the 1930s and also housed a boat business for many years during the mid- to late-1900s.

The $22,000 renovation included removal of the brick, installation of two eight-foot by eight-foot windows, new awnings and improvements to the front stoop, including new tiling. The project will be part of the city's Storefront Renovation Program, by which up to 40 percent of costs are reimbursed, with a maximum of $25,000 for an exterior upgrade, after the work is complete and the bills are paid.  

"That's a big investment for a small company like me," says Casiano of the $22,000 tab. "To get something back? It really helps. It's a really good program."

Casiano purchased the 2,500-square-foot building in 2001.

"It had been abandoned for so long. It was a mess. It took me two years of sweat equity. I really worked." He installed new floors, bathrooms and dry wall before opening the gallery and subsequently leasing the space. Tenants included a music recording and photography studio and Wall Eye Gallery before Casiano reopened the space as Bruno Casiano Gallery in 2013. He occasionally displays his own work, but it's mostly the work of others that adorns the 1,500 square feet of display space.

Born in Gary, Indiana, in 1960, Casiano and his family moved to his family's hometown of Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico when he was nine. He studied art in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic before coming to Cleveland in 1994 to earn his bachelor of arts in illustration at the Cleveland Institute of Art. His work, which has been described as "strongly Puerto Rican in essence," has been displayed at dozens of shows across Northeast Ohio, as well as in Puerto Rico and Chicago. He has also been commissioned by the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Fort Wayne Museum of Art and the Hispanic Business Association.

Casiano began working with the city and the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization in April to bring the project to fruition. He expects the finishing details to be complete in time for the gallery's 2014 Christmas Show, which debuts on November 14 with a reception from 6 to 10 p.m. Casiano is looking forward to showing off the space's transformation at that time.

"The artists will be around. We'll have hors d'oeuvres. It will be fun."