The massive retail building at 15th and Main in Great Bend was originally the Sears store. Then, it was divided and housed Dollar General, the Goodwill store and, among other things, the Christmas Craft Mall.
As it stands today, the only occupant that remains is Goodwill, but that may soon change, if a group of investors has its way.
Northwest Concepts Inc., headquartered in Belgrade, Mont., recently purchased the structure and is remodeling it to meet a new clientele. “They are re-configuring it to be more user friendly,” said Roger Sell of Coldwell Banker Sell Real Estate of Great Bend.
“It’s been completely renovated,” Sell said. Goodwill will remain anchored in the center, but the remainder of the space has been divided into four suites.
These suites range in size from 1,700-8,500 square feet and are ideal for retail or professional office use. Three of the locations are accessible via a new breezeway on the north end of the building.
C&K Construction of Great Bend is handling the project and work on the interior and exterior has been going on since this past fall. “They’ve made a substantial investment,” Sell said of Northwest Concepts.
New paint, design elements, light fixtures and other features highlight the new, up-to-date style.
Northwest Concepts invests in commercial and mixed use holdings across the United States, he said. They purchase, renovate, and hire professional local management to lease and maintain their real estate holdings that are specifically located in downtown main street markets.
According to information from the company, it generally targets properties in markets that have a strong base of revenue in one or more of the following categories – agricultural, commodities (oil), recreational/resort areas, or business and technology driven areas.
In visiting Great Bend recently, one thing that impressed the company was the city’s establishment of a downtown district revitalization program, demonstrating that Great Bend understands the value of partnering with real estate owners to participate in improvements that promote pride of ownership in the core downtown area, Sell said.
Northwest Concepts goal is to maintain under market rate rent for their properties to help maintain downtown occupancy levels, he said. “Newer growth areas of town tend to compete with the downtown market, but the newer big box areas of town are thus more expensive to lease.”
“The real home run is when we can offer ‘post renovation’ move in ready spaces at under market rental rates, then everyone wins,” a statement from the company reads. “In the case of our present project we are very excited to have accomplished this goal.”
For more information on the soon to be available spaces for lease, interested parties can contact Sell at Coldwell Banker Sell Real Estate at620-792-2566.