MANKATO — Erin and Tammey Gatchell epitomize the spirit of hope, potential and sweat equity permeating Old Town Mankato.

When they eyed a deteriorating old corner building four years ago, they decided to take the entrepreneurial plunge. Their vision: a quaint business offering soups, sandwiches, coffee and ice cream.

“I think Old Town is fantastic,” Tammey says. “I think people see a lot of potential and have a real desire to improve the area and make it a place to go.”

Before opening a business, the North Mankato couple had a monumental task in renovating — much of it themselves — an old building.

“We knew it would be a monstrous project with an 1850s building — and it has been,” Erin says. “It’s been almost four years. But we want to do it right and do it as we can afford it.”

Old Town, part of the original commercial strip of the city, has some of the best preserved examples of turn-of-the-century buildings. The North Riverfront Drive area has been the target of revitalization efforts dating back to the 1970s — efforts that brought limited success.

This time, property owners and city leaders believe a convergence of public and private investment and a unified plan is transforming Old Town into a unique and vital business district.

Public investment
Paul Vogel, community development director for Mankato, says past revitalization plans were good but lacked cohesion.

“The current effort has buy-in from all sectors. With Envision 20/20 and the City Center Partnership, the private sector and public sector are working in partnership on this. I think that will be the key to success,” Vogel says.

“It was a broad-based planning initiative. Business owners and property owners in the area participated. That’s the key.”

Cathy Brennan, of Brennan Construction, is a City Center Partnership member and says the group’s goal is to support private businesses in a variety of ways. The city center encompasses all of downtown. The partnership has produced city center maps, placed banners around the city center, and is working on an economic profile of the city center’s strengths and weaknesses.

“The businesses in Old Town are uniting themselves like the businesses over on Belgrade (Avenue) are. There’s some active people in Old Town, and they’re getting things going. It’s a neat area.”

Steve Meyer, who has invested nearly $400,000 in a new building for his Corporate 4 Insurance Agency, gives high marks to the city.

“Overall, the city has done a fine job on planning and putting incentives up. You can look at all of the remodels down here because of those incentives.”

Lots of activity
Those public investments, say Old Town entrepreneurs, have spurred private investments. Indeed, up and down the several-block stretch of Old Town, buildings are being renovated and new businesses opening.

When Katie Engelmann looked for a space to expand her Behind The Lens Photography business out of her home, she settled on the former Inferno bar/Venus Lounge building in the 600 block.

“It needed a lot of work, but you could see it was a diamond in the rough,” says Engelmann, who just opened her studio. Complete renovation of the building was a year-long

project.

While many business owners are renovating existing buildings, Meyer’s new construction ties in well with the historic architecture of the area.

“I like old architecture. I did a lot of research and checked things out in the library in old books, and I kind of patterned it off the old Saulpaugh Hotel. There is inch-and-a-half maple from the Vernon Center gym on the first and second floors, white woodwork, metal-looking ceiling — a 1920s look,” Meyer says.

“I think people realize you can build new and make if fit in a historic district.”

After years of renovation, the Gatchells are much closer to a finished building and plan to have their Mom & Pop’s Riverfront Ice Cream Cafe open next year. (www.momandpopsicecream.com has a photo gallery of the building’s renovations.)

They’ve been working on everything from finding coffee and bread suppliers to picking furnishings for the new store.

“We want to be ready when we open,” Erin says. “First impression means everything. You have to have good food and make it friendly and local.”

He thinks the area is nearing a critical mass of unique businesses that will make it a destination.

“I’d like to see Old Town be a place people come on a Saturday afternoon and walk around and stay for a while. There’s a nice variety of unique businesses coming in.”

Tammey will run the cafe while Erin operates his Gatchell Imaging business.

While the couple has experience from running the imaging business, the new venture is a big investment and risk.

“We just roll with things and take chances,” says Tammey. “If you don’t take chances, you don’t know if it would work or not.”

Says Erin: “We have a small fortune going into this, so it’ll either be the best thing we ever did or we’ll have a problem.”

While many new businesses have or are opening, Julie Guse is one of the veteran business owners in Old Town. She opened Little Red Shed nearly seven years ago, just before several area businesses, including the popular Harpie’s Bazaar, closed.

“Everybody left but me. I hold my own; I have loyal customers,” Guse says.

After witnessing hard times in Old Town, Guse is optimistic for the area, particularly when the economy improves.

“It’s looking much better. It’s cleaned up, more inviting. I hope it brings more people to the area.”



This story is featured in the November Minnesota Valley Business magazine. To subscribe, call Free Press reader services at 625-4451.