Lovin' old commercial buildings

There is something about old-west mining era commercial buildings. There is a generous serving of these buildings across the Western portions of the US and Canada. Unfortunately, many of the areas with these buildings have dying communities where the younger citizens head towards the big cities for education and jobs.

This is my place in Bellevue, Alberta. I bought this in 2006 - basically with no idea of what to do with it but I couldn't stand to see it unappreciated and deteriorating (and the area is basically beautiful and inspiring.)

The original portion of the building was constructed in 1927 by an Italian stone mason with the last name Brazoni. This is one of a couple masonry/brick constructed buildings in Bellevue - the owner had seen much of the town burnt to the ground twice in the previous 25 years.

Since buying the building Andrea (my much better half) and I have started to try to breath some life into the exterior of the building. A frustration I still deal with daily is that the building, if placed in any trendy shopping district would be appreciated, dressed up and making us money. Unfortunately, Bellevue's old downtown is moving toward being a ghost-town. If I had millions of dollars I would buy all the buildings, restore them to their former glory and I'm sure could make financial sense of it all because the town could be such a great tourist trap (while hopefully passing along an appreciation for the history and beauty of so many of these types of towns).

So this is what the building looks like now. The building is my big red & tan bank account - as in, that is where I put my money. Still no "grand plan" but like my business, I can't help but feel like anytime you do something based on passion the money will follow eventually. I'm definitely not working on this place to sell it - much more imagining the place being restored inside and out and hopefully inspiring the surrounding building owners to do the same. At the moment, plans have us converting the space into 4 residential suites with a small commercial space (maybe a gallery/studio) in the front. What time, economic recession, money, trades-workers and dreams will allow is the big unknown.

Hopefully this blog gets some direction

What the heck am I doing here blogging. My business website needs updating and I'm the only person I can afford to do it - so I really should get my ass in gear and do that. I don't know if, after looking at a couple blogs, I feel like I need to pay back the blog world with some words of my own. Who knows.
In the future I imagine whining about owning a bicycle shop, then being thrilled by it. I might talk about how I hate our throw away society and constant push to own more stuff, bigger stuff, stuff that needs plugging in. Then to throw a wrench into the works I'll talk about my love of old buildings - especially commercial buildings and how if I could I'd buy them all, restore them and help budding entrepeneurs put together awesome business plans then occupy my old buildings and put the malls and box-stores out of business.
My thoughts are a tossed salad - one day you get lettuce the next you get tomatoes then cheese then onions. My life is awesome.