A Grand Idea

[mjt]

Well, I'm back.

When we lived at Fix Farrington, my wife had her office in the carriage house. Her company was started by her great-grandfather in 1908 and has always been in Saint Paul. So when we moved to Retriever Ridge, she leased some office space in the city (not far from Fix Farrington). For a variety of reasons, it became apparent that it was time to purchase office space. At the end of October she purchased a building built in 1914 situated on one of the business/commercial avenues in the city. Like the building she purchased, many of the buildings on the street used to be homes but are now businesses. The new building is only a mile or two from the old house and her current office.

So far I've been scraping popcorn off the ceiling where possible and skim coating where not. I also have been fixing the light tragedy - there's a mixture of 4-foot fluorescent fixtures and track lighting in many rooms, which I'll be replacing with recessed LEDs. I'll be re-creating a kitchenette where the kitchen was when it was last a residence. And while the second floor bathroom just needs new flooring, the first floor bath need to be gutted.

So I have a project list to keep me busy between now and end of March.

Grand Ave.JPG (146.47 KiB) Viewed 10985 times

[Gothichome]

MJ! Welcome back. I just knew you couldn’t resist old home projects is there a long term plan for the building?
Ron

[mjt]

Long term plan is that it will be the offices for my wife's business. While originally it was a middle-class home it's been converted to office space for at least three decades.

First floor - what was the original living room and dining room will get re-decorated to look much like that: meeting spaces to present to clients either in a more casual living room setting or a more formal dining room like setting. The old kitchen space is small and will get returned to a kitchenette (no range, but a place for the staff to prep lunch). The full bath will get gutted and replaced with a half-bath.

Second floor - originally a three-bedroom layout with full bath and laundry room at the back. At some point, the walls between the bedrooms had been removed. The space previously occupied by the bedrooms will become the offices for her staff. The full bath will remain as-is and the laundry area will probably become a storage room/secondary break room in case there a lunchtime meeting with a client.

Attic - more offices for my wife and her staff.

[Gothichome]

So bringing a little bit of the old home back but for commercial usage. Is the building in a conservation area or just off the main drag. Being. Commercial enterprise does it have to be brought up to a specific code, door sizes, wheel chair ramps ect?

[mjt]

Correct, bringing a bit of the old home back and continuing its recent purpose as a commercial property. In this case we're not doing a restoration or even a "restovation". For the most part it's repairing or upgrading things that need it, along with some cosmetic renovations. The only exception is that much of the old base molding has gone missing and was replaced with tiny colonial trim. It will probably be too expensive to accurately replicate the original moldings, so I'll be looking to mimic the scale even if I cannot perfectly match the profile of what remains.

It meets all current commercial code, though both the handicap access and fire escape are in sad condition and will need to be replaced. We have someone (my daughter's boyfriend who is an attorney at a municipal law firm...) looking at whether the handicap ramp is actually needed. As my wife's business is not retail and is by appointment only, there's precedent that indicates it is not required. For any clients who have special access needs, she and her staff can meet them via zoom or at their home or business.

This property is only a mile or so from our old house. Where the old house was on the national historic register and was in a local, state, and federal historic district and therefore governed by the local Historic Preservation Commission, this property is only in a state historic district and is not governed by the HPC. The HPC only has authority of exterior work and hardscape, but again, they don't have jurisdiction over this property. We never had issues with them at the old house and don't have anything planned that would materially impact the exterior of this one. The old house was in a neighborhood called Cathedral Hill, whereas this one is in the heart of the main commercial street in the Summit Hill neighborhood.