Downtown St. Cloud’s Latest Renovation Honors Rich History

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- Renovation of a vacant building in downtown St. Cloud is set to begin soon.  BCI Construction President and CEO Ryan Cross says the remodel of the building at 706-708 West St. Germain Street will begin soon.

That building was most recently Paddy's Game Shoppe.

Back in August, we told you that they received state money in the form of a Downtown Revitalization Grant from the St. Cloud EDA.

Read More: St. Cloud Grants Support Downtown Revitalization Projects |

Cross says,

Once the project is complete, the tenants will be Fluid Interiors, Commercial Real Estate, and BCI Construction.  He says all of those businesses focus on the conversion of space for commercial uses.  Also, all groups are extremely committed to central Minnesota and a healthy ecosystem in downtown St. Cloud.

History of the building

According to the Stearns History Museum archives from 1937, A.J. Daniel opened a furniture store on the site in 1881.  Before that, it was a blacksmith shop in the 1860s. The Daniel company remained there for several years until they moved to their location on 7th Avenue North.  The site was then the home of a jewelry store until 1916.  In 1921, it was leased to Red Owl Stores Incorporated, which was still operating there in 1937.

Perhaps the most interesting discovery is an article from 1924 about plans to build a 'sky-scraper' on the 706-708 site.  The newspaper article says, "The only thing lacking to make St. Cloud the metropolis of the northwest was a real sky-scraper." A man by the name of Morris Fink had invested in the Granite City and planned to have the construction of the tall building start by 1927.  At the time, the building was occupied by Becker Confectionery on one side and Red Owl on the other side.  Their leases were set to expire in 1927.  Fink wanted to build an eight-story office building, which would have been St. Cloud's tallest building.

Of course, we know the 'sky-scraper' never got built.  And, we also know that Red Owl didn't leave that location in 1927 when their lease expired because they were still there at least until 1937.