By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

The Old Ten Center has stood on Centennial 84 Drive since the street was still a part of Highway 10 thus giving the office building its current name. In fact, the building’s history dates back to the Front Street era (Centennial 84 Drive’s initial name) and originally opened as the New York Mills Co-operative Company store in 1938 after a fire destroyed their first structure in the same location. The building was then remodeled and greatly expanded in 1959 to accommodate the Co-Op Shopping Center.

Since that time, the former shopping center has been remodeled to outfit office spaces within the building and was recently sold to Caleb and Brittnee Monson, who closed on the building on June 30 in hopes of continuing on the building’s legacy as a fixture of the city.

“I’ve always wanted to get into the business world a little bit,” said Caleb. “This building was for sale for a number of months. It started out as a conversation with my brother-in-law, really. We always talk about business ideas. We looked at the building and it’s a very valuable building to the community, just because of how many businesses operate out of here that the community uses and needs, so that was the main thing of wanting to get into it. I know it’s an important building to keep going here.”

Brittnee took a bit of convincing at first, but after seeing the building, she agreed that it was a positive investment.

“It helped that the front was already full, well-maintained up here,” said Brittnee. “That was kind of the selling point, because in the back, it was like, ‘what are we going to do with all this?’ He’s the dreamer, I’m the cautious one,” she laughed.

After closing on the office center, the Monsons set to work renovating 3,000 square feet of formerly-unused space in the back of the building. What once was scattered storage, soon became a state-of-the-art bike shop and storefront for County Cycle Pit Stop, an upgrade of six times the amount of space of their former location.

“It was filled with stuff, kind of scattered around,” said Brittnee. “It’s hard to pay attention to what you’re looking at, what could this look like in here? Then as things started coming along, like ‘wow!’”

“When I first looked at the building, I instantly saw it,” added Caleb. “This could easily be retail.”

Other minor updates included covering a fading paint job, updating signage and fixing some lighting issues. A parking lot resurfacing project is slated for next spring. Otherwise, the major work has been completed on their refurbishment process.

“Overall, the building is in great shape, so it’s really just doing minor things and then the back part of the building not being used,” said Caleb. “And now the buildings completely full.”

The Old Ten Center houses several businesses including Ameriprise Financial, Northern Lakes Veterinarian Supply, Schik Engineering, Studio Pink, Nourished Counseling & Wellness, County Cycle Pit Stop and the New York Mills Dispatch.

With a baby on the way and a due date of October 6, Caleb promised Brittnee they would be done by October 1.

“I told her it would be done October 1, so we were done by September 30,” Caleb said, both laughing. “I got it done just in time.”

The Monsons, who only live about five blocks from their new office building, make it a point to call NY Mills their home.

“People are invested in each other in Mills,” said Brittnee. “And businesses, they like to know what is going on and usually everyone is very encouraging.”

“We have all the opportunities of a small town,” added Caleb. “I think NY Mills has a healthy business community that all want to work together and I’ve already seen some of that come into play. Even the opportunities of being involved. If you want to see something happen or something change, it’s not too hard to get involved.

“We’re just glad to be able to continue to offer this space to not only businesses, but the community as well,” said Caleb.