With the old Hair-I-Am salon building at 106 W. Second Street in Montgomery City being vacant for nearly a year, Julie Worsham wanted to do something about it.

So during the fall, the Montgomery City resident decided to turn the building into an overnight vacation rental, where people can get an opportunity to stay there whenever they are traveling for a business function, a wedding or a vacation. The place is called St. Jude’s Night Away.

“I went to the city and talked to them to see if I could do an Airbnb overnight stay on the lower level and a full time rental on the upper level. They agreed to that,” Worsham said. “We’re not supposed to have full time rentals on the lower level because of an ordinance. They said because it’s an Airbnb business on the lower level, they agreed that I could do an extended overnight stay up to 30 days and a full-time rental upstairs. I’m like, ‘Let’s do it.’”

The rental home will include two bedrooms, a bathroom with a walk-in shower, fold out couch, a full refrigerator, space burner, microwave and washer and dryer.

Rental is available from Sunday through Wednesday morning every week. Travelers are encouraged to book in advance if they want to reserve the rental for a weekend.

Worsham said she hopes the rental will open for business by the beginning of April. The new sign was put up on March 1.

“A couple of people know that I’m doing it,” Worsham said. “They have booked it for weddings. Somebody has something going on in October. So I have a couple of weekends booked already because they had a heads up that I was doing it. They are welcome to get in touch with me, but it will probably be April before I put it on the actual Airbnb site.”

The Hair-I-Am building was closed on Dec. 31, 2021 after 19 years. It was housed at 113 W. Third Street before it moved five years later. Sharon Pottebaum was the owner.

“Sharon put a lot of work into the building when she bought it 20 years ago,” Worsham said.

Worsham, who has been working at Milner Agency since 2003, said she signed the contract with Pottebaum in November to take over the building, which sat empty for 11 months.

“I just didn’t jump forward since no one else bought it,” Worsham said. “I didn’t want any empty buildings sitting on our streets, so I wanted to put it to use. I thought, if the city would allow me, that this would be a good thing to have in town.”

Worsham named the vacation rental St. Jude’s Night Away after one of her relatives.

“St. Jude is a patron saint for hope,” Worsham said. “That name popped in my head. It was kind of like a dream. I couldn’t get rid of it.”

A new furnace was recently added to the property. Worsham said the walls need to be painted and the trim boards need to be fixed before the vacation rental becomes available.

“All of it is still in the works,” Worsham said.

For more information on St. Jude’s Night Away, contact Worsham at 573-489-2778 or stjudesnightaway@gmail.com.