On Friday May 12 , members of GRO toured the old IGA Building west of US Bank with the new owner Henry Meuwissen and his nephew Chris Manor. Henry and Chris are both entrepreneurs with their fingers in many projects but mainly importing. They are based in St Paul but with a Grantsburg connection, owning other real estate in town. The tour was organized by Nicki Peterson.
“I was walking down main street a couple days ago to take pictures of our empty storefronts and happened upon a couple guys with Larry Ebersold (new Village President). They had recently purchased the old IGA building…. I had been under the impression that this was a terrible, nasty old building that just needed to be torn down. However, I spent an hour and a half with these guys and their team as we toured the space. WOW! I thought it was a jem!
“There is 16,0000 sq ft of space. They want a small piece of it; or none if they find the right tenant…. They don’t want to do anything with it until they know what types of businesses the Grantsburg community would want to attract to town, and then work together to do that.”
Undoubtedly, the building needs repairs and renovation. The first step has been to secure the building against squatters. Repairs to the roof and the northeast corner where the brick siding has come loose from water damage will surely be at the top of the list. The space is large and sound with a good foundation. Three roomy apartments on the second floor, once renovated, would be a great addition to our housing supply in town.
There have been many businesses in this space including a grocery store, sewing shop, ballroom and a Pace Exercise facility. If anyone has old photos of the building, especially interiors, GRO would love to post them to the blog.
Ideas for what businesses could occupy the space are welcome. Email Nicki Peterson your ideas and old photos.
