Building an empire

SANDUSKY — They're truly building toward a better future for Sandusky.California couple Rick and Meghan Hogrefe purchased yet another underused historic downtown structure in their ever-growing property portfolio.Their latest acquisition: The Romnick Building at 174 E. Market St., which sold for $1.6 million. It's sandwiched between the Feick Building and Value City Furniture. Spouses Rick and Meghan Hogrefe recently bought the Romnick Building, located at 174 E. Market St., between the Feick Building and Value City Furniture. They want to maintain the apartments and living spaces on upper floors and entice retailers into unoccupied commercial spaces on the street level. Rick explained his dual plans for the property:• Residential: "The top two floors are apartments, and the top is a single apartment of 7,500 square feet. The (past) owners have offered that apartment for short-term rentals. We intend to continue with their model for all of the apartments at this time."• Commercial: "The ground floor will be all commercial. One (storefront) is already rented out to Blink Optical. We will be remodeling the others with specific purposes in mind. We have one neat idea, but I need to flesh it out before we disclose it."Spouses Rick and Meghan Hogrefe recently bought the Romnick Building, located at 174 E. Market St., between the Feick Building and Value City Furniture. They want to maintain the apartments and living spaces on upper floors and entice retailers into unoccupied commercial spaces on the street level. Bolstering the buildingsMeanwhile the couple continue to transform their many other properties. Their private investment, when factoring in real estate acquisitions and improvements to date, collectively totals about $13 million.Among some updates on projects, as explained by Rick:• The Schottenstein Building, now going under its original name, Schmidt Apartments, at 246 E. Market St.:"It will have eight two-bedroom apartments, four on both the second and third floors. One upgrade will be a roof on the top deck. The neatest part of that building is the intact multi-level atrium with stained glass windows overhead. We are going to turn that into a little garden with sitting areas for tenants and their guests. There are two commercial spaces on the ground floor: One is almost 5,000 square feet and perfect for a little grocery store for downtown. We will see if we can find a chain willing to come into town or, perhaps, a local merchant would like to move downtown."Earlier this year, spouses Rick and Meghan Hogrefe recently purchased the Schottenstein Building, located at 246 E. Market St., next to Value City Furniture. It's their intention to remodel and upgrade the building for a mixed-use development, with apartments above businesses on the street level. • The Cooke Building on Columbus Avenue and Market Street:"As promised, an elevator is being added as is a grand staircase. We are going to return the facade to as close to 1875 as we can. We hope to begin construction early next year. My hope is to have the facade done this year. We are going to turn the second floor into four large suites of approximately 2,000 to 2,500 square feet each. The third floor will be the belle of the city, returning to its musical past with the ballroom and theater fully restored. The theater, originally a Masonic temple and largely intact from that era, is a thing of beauty already."Earlier this year, spouses Rick and Meghan Hogrefe bought the Cooke Building on the corner of Columbus Avenue and Market Street in Sandusky. They want to transform the space for residential and commercial purposes, which includes reactivating the building's theater.• The Huntley Building, which is the former home of The Hero Zone and has multiple entrances, including on Water Street between Columbus Avenue and Wayne Street:"The first major change will be the connection of the Huntley to the Cooke through the Market Street entrance. Both buildings will share a lobby. The Huntley will be converted to a small downtown mall. Don't think the standard mall with Nordstrom but more of an indoor peddlers' alley. The mall will have small storefronts along an interior aisle as well as space for small vendor kiosks. We want to bring Sandusky businesses to downtown and maybe give some new businesses an opportunity. There will be a small food court with an area for local restaurants to have small kiosks and show off their wares. That way the food court is not competitive with local restaurants but cooperative instead."Spouses Rick and Meghan Hogrefe recently bought the Huntley Building, which is the former home of The Hero Zone and has multiple entrances, including on Water Street between Columbus and Wayne avenues. They want to transform the space into a mall and food court for local vendors.They also own:• 201 W. Water St., also known as Waters Edge Apartments, near H.D. Tony's, which they'll maintain its current residential and commercial usesEarlier this year, spouses Rick and Meghan Hogrefe bought the building at 201 E. Water St., known as Waters Edge Apartments. They'll maintain the structure's current uses and plan on making its penthouse their summer home.• 305 E. Water St., located next to Facer Park by New Sandusky Fish Co., which they'll create "a commercial enterprise, bringing summer and winter family fun to downtown"Construction work continues on a building spouses Rick and Meghan Hogrefe previously purchased at 305 E. Water St. near Facer Park in Sandusky. They want to create "a commercial enterprise, bringing summer and winter family fun to downtown."• 335 Central Ave., which they'll maintain as apartments and enhance those existing living spaces into more modern living spaces• Two Bay View properties: the former Moose Lodge on East Bayview Drive and the old Dairy Queen:"The lodge was held up in the permit process for a while, but is back on track for an opening by hunting season, we hope. The property at 701 E. Bayview Drive, which was the old Stan Dairy Bar, will eventually offer ice cream again as well as join the Paddle and Climb family next year. We are actually exploring a near-term conversion of part of the building to a laundromat, at the request of a fellow villager. Folks in the village have to drive all the way to Sandusky to find a laundromat. I intend to answer that request. Eventually, I hope to build a permanent facility nearby, but this temporary use will serve two purposes: fill a building and, more importantly, fill a need.Earlier this year, spouses Rick and Meghan Hogrefe bought the former Moose Lodge on East Bayview Drive with plans to transform it into a hunting lodge. Rick formerly lived in Bay View. A special placeRick — the CEO of California-based company TriLink Biotechnologies, which offers cutting-edge services — explained why he continues pouring his family's resources into his hometown."Sandusky has about anything a town could want: history, a waterfront, a huge local draw," he said. "We also saw a wonderful opportunity to help rebuild Sandusky. The Cooke Building is a project very dear to our hearts. We can't wait to restore the theater and ballroom. I am a firm believer these are the right moves. The city is ready to transform. We want to be a part of it."Meghan, who previously didn't have a connection with this area, might be more of a believer than Rick."Maybe the biggest reason we keep investing is that she fell in love with the city and its people, and they have embraced her in return," he said. "She is making new friends everywhere she turns in town. She even goes to Ohio without me just to hang out at Daly's, where we got engaged, by the way."Spouses Rick and Meghan Hogrefe have purchased many abandoned, blighted and abandoned buildings in Sandusky and Bay View this year. Their private investment, when factoring in real estate acquisitions and improvements to date, collectively totals about $13 million. The two plan on making Sandusky their summer home. They'll stay in a penthouse atop Waters Edge Apartments.Rick and Meghan specifically credited local developers Nikki Lloyd and Ryan Whaley as an encouraging factor to invest in Sandusky. Lloyd and Whaley own several businesses in downtown, including Hotel Kilbourne, Volstead Bar and Green Door Mediaworks."When we initially took them on a tour of the hotel, we were telling them about all the changes going on right now," said Lloyd, who's also a city commissioner. "Anytime we talk about Sandusky, we get so excited about it, and they picked up on that."Sandusky officials overseeing economic development activities labeled these purchases as major milestones in pushing forward the city's ongoing rejuvenation efforts."We're very excited by Rick's and Meghan's commitment to reinvest in Sandusky," city manager Eric Wobser said. "We are excited to work with them to bring new life to these older buildings and to position them for a bright future."Reach reporter Andy Ouriel at ouriel@sanduskyregister.com and follow him on Twitter @AndyOuriel.