Ryan Cross Investing In, Believes In Future of Downtown St. Cloud

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- We told you earlier that BCI Construction has bought the vacant building at 706-708 West St. Germain Street and is in the process of renovating that space.

It turns out that's just the beginning of what the company President and CEO believes will be a multi-phase, multi-year process of helping to create a vibrant, reimagined downtown.

The current project

Ryan Cross's construction company has completely gutted the former Paddy's Game Shoppe building. When the remodeling is done, BCI Construction will have several staff members working out of that building. They will also lease space to other companies that have a similar interest in historic preservation projects.

The 4,000 square foot building will be called the "Red Owl Food Store," a nod to the grocery store that occupied the building for several decades starting in the 1930s.

He's planning to have the first alley patio in downtown as part of the renovation.

Cross has just completed the process of getting the building on the National Historic Registry.

BCI Construction has outgrown its Sauk Rapids office space and has been leasing space in another building downtown, so Cross says it made sense to buy a building and make an investment in downtown.

The renovation of the building is expected to be completed by mid-April.

Past projects

Cross says downtown St. Cloud has been important to BCI Construction, and they have a long history of renovating downtown buildings.

We've touched some of the most historic properties that we have down here, from the 501 West St. Germain Building, the old Federal building is another project where we have a lot of effort and energy, the Regency 912 building, amongst several others. What I find fascinating about the buildings is just the stories.

Future projects

Cross says he wants to lead by example with one project at a time. He doesn't intend to buy more properties, but instead help other people interested in moving downtown. He says his building will be a blueprint to show that historic renovation and preservation can be done, and it is attainable.

You have to understand how your building is going to operate after the construction, between your mechanical systems and your electrical systems. We just want to be a great educator on how we finish it, how we treat it, and they need to plan for it. We think it's a really big opportunity for a lot of groups, and it makes a strong statement for our community.

Cross says the approach will be a slow process that will take several years.

We're trying to support all of the existing restaurants that we have today, and it's going to take more people to support more restaurants. So, we need to get more traffic, getting more than just business people, bringing our families downtown, through walkability and open parks. I think you'll be surprised by how this place will slowly get better and better over time.

He says he doesn't like the word 'developer'. And, he expects there is going to have to be a mix of both historic renovation and preservation of existing buildings, as well as some new construction to fit what a vibrant downtown looks like in the 21st century.

Challenges moving forward

Cross says a big hurdle is that there are too many buildings that are unoccupied right now.

It just creates this complicated confusion of which property is right for them. And, it might be an unpopular scenario where it might mean some buildings might need to come down. But we also want to make sure we talk about how to respect the historical facilities that we already have.

There are also a lot of people working somewhat independently. He says networking and connecting people will be a key to success. Cross is complementary to the people who have already invested time and money into revitalizing downtown, and he says he doesn't want to take away from that, just help be a part of that momentum.

Another challenge is that a lot of the buildings are two or three stories with 20,000 or 30,000 square feet, which is too big for most of today's retailers.

We're going to have to look at the properties differently. How can we make sure retail is successful on the first floor? How do we make some of those second and third floors successful for potentially some housing, some condos and apartments, those types of things? Get people downtown and set everybody up for long-term success.