Members of the afternoon session of the first Construction Technology class stand in the basement of the house they and fellow students are building at the corner of Hudson and Roosevelt in Marion. Pictured are: back row Hector Cardenas (junior), Jake Bredemeier (senior); front, Andy Kelsey (junior), Lanna Carroll (senior), Dillon Wildin (sophomore) and instructor Lucas King. Don Ratzlaff
Whether you do it for a living or as a weekend do-it-yourselfer, house construction is always a learning experience.
Marion High School has formalized the learning process somewhat with the start of its Construction Technology program this fall.
James and Gayle Voth recently completed renovating the Ratzlaff Building on East Main Street in Goessel with hope for a better economic future for their hometown in mind. “We like to hope it helps Goessel in general,” James said. The downtown office building has opened with full occupancy. Don Ratzlaff / Free Press<p>
Not every real-estate development is motivated primarily by prospect of short-term financial gain.
James and Gayle Voth say family history and a better economic future for their hometown were the two key factors that prompted them to transform an old family-owned structure into Goessel’s first downtown office building.
If it seems an inordinate number of houses are for sale in Hillsboro these days, you’re right. A street-by-street survey of the community last week revealed 50 yard signs around town.
Local real-estate agents agree the number is unusually high.
“When we moved to town nine or 10 years ago, we had, for the size of house we needed, three or four to choose from,” said Becky Nuss of Real Estate Specialists.
“This year, if someone moves to town, you have five houses to look at just at the $120,000 to $145,000 range. You have so much more selection.”
Houses for sale in Hillsboro range in price from $15,000 to a high of $340,000. The listings and the asking price can be viewed on the Web at realtor.com.
Laura Campbell / Free Press<p>Jim
Cloutier, owner of Shawmar Oil Co. of Marion and Cardie Oil Co. of
Tampa, has purchased the historic Elgin Hotel building in Marion and
plans to turn it into a bed-and-breakfast, restaurant and conference
center. “This is going to have to be a destination place—we’re going to
have bring people from all around,” he said. Click image to enlarge.
Jim Cloutier of Hillsboro has more square feet to renovate than he ever expected—15,000 of them, actually.
What’s more, they make up the historic Elgin Hotel that some may never have expected to be used once again for its original purpose—bringing in out-of-towners for a luxurious stay in downtown Marion.
Cloutier hopes to perform the unexpected, he said, by reopening the three-story hotel as a bed-and-breakfast, restaurant and conference center by the 2008 Old Settler’s Day weekend next September.
An $800,000 housing project is being built at Washington and Grand, site of the former Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church, which burned in 2004. Plans call for 10 units—two four-plex units and one duplex. The first phase—constructing one of the four-plexes—is under way and scheduled for completion in September. Click photo to enlarge
Workers level concrete for the first four-plex structure to be constructed at Washington and Grand. Martin Rhodes, building inspector for Hillsboro, is project manager for the construction. Rhodes is under contract with Solomon Langley of San Francisco, Calif., who is financing the $800,000 project. Ron Dirksen of Dirksen Construction, Goessel, is the general contractor, and most of the materials for the project have been purchased locally or in the immediate area, Rhodes said. Don Ratzlaff / Free Press. Click photo to enlarge.
