In late 2014, the owner of Clark Memorial Hall, Ken Solmonson, walked into our small business (Maggard Razors) on Maiden Lane, inquiring if we might be interested in renting a portion of the first floor. We were on the verge of hiring our 6th employee, and had over 1500 products in the store – and operating in only 900SF. We were out of space! I told Ken that I wasn’t interested in renting only a portion of his first floor – because I needed more space than that to justify moving our store. I also told him that I’d be more interested in purchasing the building. This sparked a period of research and investigation, and I hired a lawyer to help out with the legalese. Eventually, we submitted a formal offer for the building, with a large number of contingencies.
Photo credit: Jim Allen (July, 2014)