Crookston Real Estate Developer Jeff Evers has announced that he is getting ready to develop the former Glenmore Facility just East of Crookston on Highway 2.
The 55,000 square foot facility will be the home to 21 new apartments, which will take up about 32,000 square feet of the facility, with the other 23,000 available for lease as commercial space. “Basically, the West end of the building is where we are going to make apartments. We will spend the next year or two getting the landscaping and the outside grounds done,” says Evers. “The schedule we have this on is for the spring of 2028, and finishing that year. Then the commercial space, I really don’t have a plan for it right now. I would be open to talking to people about it, but we will start with where the housing is and creating the 21 apartments.”
The building has been closed for over eight years, but it is in good condition, and Evers says that converting the patient rooms into apartments will be a relatively easy project. “The biggest hurdle with that is switching the HVAC and adding bathrooms,” says Evers. “There is not too much other construction for the whole project other than that.” The facility has two modern elevators functioning that service all floors. The facility is currently run on a boiler, and Evers would like to get away from that, as keeping a licensed boiler operator on board can be very expensive. By switching out the units in each apartment, tenants will have a unit that can control both heat and air conditioning.
The property’s grounds are beautiful with lots of tree cover and natural prairie grasses. With a little TLC and the addition of some outdoor structures, Evers is hopeful he can create some spaces that draw people out. “We might be building some stuff in the back courtyard, new concrete pathways and stuff like that,” says Evers. “We will be doing a lot of the landscaping, like I said, over the next couple of years, so the more expensive things that I have to save my money up for will be in 2028. I think it’s a pretty good project. It will go pretty well.”
Ever is somewhat limited in the size of apartments that he can renovate due to the layout and the need for a private bathroom in each. “They will be like a one-bedroom with their own kitchen, a new kitchen, new kitchen cabinets, everything in there will be new,” says Evers. “The restroom, the shower, the bathtub, and all that are what we have to add, so that will all be brand new. It will feel pretty modern and newer. It won’t feel like an old building, especially with the lobby and the main walkways being super modern, clean, and already updated.”
There will be a lot of traffic out at the facility over the next few years as Evers works on the landscaping and grounds, so he felt this was a good opportunity to let people know what is going on out there. “That way, people know what will be happening, and it’s not like what’s happening out there. Well, we’ve got a plan now,” says Evers. “It’s just a matter of taking a little time and implementing it over a couple of years. Once we get it done, I think it will be a pretty big asset for the town. There will be a lot of people living here, and there will be a lot of commercial space that could be, who knows what it could be, but at least it won’t be empty.” The apartments will cover two floors of the west end of the building, and the commercial space will be available in the lower level of the building and in what was the church/chapel space when the Sisters of St. Joseph called the facility their home many years ago.
Evers believes this is the best use of the property for the people of Crookston and thanks all the interested people he has met with recently. There will be more to this story as the project takes shape.
