Team Results

Historic remodels are projects of passion and this one was no different.  Albert Gideon (AG) Whitney opened his title business in near 1880 in Sauk Centre, MN.  After years of success, he moved to St. Cloud where he started a similar title business in 1887 with another “soon to be” prominent name in the history of St. Cloud, C. Parker McClure.  The building that eventually became the home of the A.G. Whitney Land & Loan Company near 1900, where he vastly changed the property into something that we see more clearly today.  

With an effort to protect the aesthetic but truly help the building be more functional, BCI, the Ownership team, which included Spring Hill Capital and Inventure Properties, went to work on several iterations of, “what this building could be,” from a physical user standpoint.  After several iterations and many years, the team finally landed their first tenant, JLG Architects who shared similar visions and goals as the other teams.  

The building features a new commercial storefront window system made of modern aluminum and glass (as the original was removed circa 1970), as well as new signage matching downtown Historic Preservation Commission goals.  The facades were historically restored as well as the windows.  Beautiful tin ceilings were carefully removed and reinstalled in a more concentrated pattern as much of it was missing, and the floors were patched and restored.  The addition of modern finishes of tile, carpet, and interior walls were minimized to protect the historic nature of the building, while making it into more functional space.  Lastly, ceilings and walls were covered with simple acoustic features to help with the sound quality in the open office type setting that best utilized the existing building and user’s needs.  

The result is a gorgeous renovation that stays true to the historic nature of the building while providing flexible and functional space that easily be converted from one user to the next for the next 100 years.