2004 Year in Review

Community State Bank undertakes remodeling

Specialized Construction remodeling new offices in the east-end of 230 East Main Street.

Construction is going on all along Main Street. Morrison is getting two new restaurants, Main Street Market and Maria’s Pizza, and the new fitness center, Fusion Fitness for Women.

Here at TheCity1.com we are in the middle of changes too. Community State Bank owns our building at 230 East Main Street next to the bank. Bob Vaughn rents the building from the bank and then it is subdivided into suites as an incubator or office space.

Bob Vaughn owns two businesses in the building: his rebar design business, The City Rebar, and TheCity1.com. Joy Tegeler, Mel Kenney, Gail Austin, George Clark, and Bob Bees all rent suites for their businesses.

Community State Bank has been in their Morrison location for seven years. When they purchased their existing building, the corner lot and building (the old Super Wash building) came with it. Small offices make it hard to have loan closings with more than three people and this month they have added a third Commercial/Ag lender to the staff. A closing room was needed and will be constructed in 230 East Main Street along with a large meeting room.

Construction began before the New Year with the removal of a wall in an unused bank office that will eventually be the doorway into the new area. A secure armed door will divide the two buildings when the project is complete and drywall with steel mesh will reach the ceiling. Nothing of a secure nature will be kept in the new addition.

The basement was cleaned out and painted. New lighting was added and a storage area is being built. The City Rebar will use this room for estimating rebar on large construction projects.

The second phase of the project began by moving all the businesses into the west-end so they could remove and rebuild new offices in the east-end. Kenney, Vaughn, and Clark have all been moved.

After the new offices are built Tegeler, TheCity1.com, Austin, and Kenney will move to the east-end of the building. Then the work of removing their offices and building the 16 x 18 foot closing room in the north-central part of the building will begin.

A 34 x 34 foot open area will also be built and used for training, the Royal 50 Club, staff meetings, and other community activities. Currently Community State Bank has no facility with a meeting room large enough to accommodate all their employees in all their banks. They have to rent a room for large staff meetings and training.

The new rooms will be carpeted with oak trim. There will be two entrances into the new area: the east-end entrance to the building, which will be handicapped, and the secure entrance from the bank.

Specialized Construction of Coleta, Illinois, is doing the construction. Jonathan Bush of Morrison is doing all the electrical and phones. Russell Hubbard, the supervisor on the construction project, expects the east-end offices to be completed in a couple weeks. As soon as Tegeler can be moved they will start on the new closing and meeting rooms. He anticipates the project to be completed in just a couple weeks after that or by the end of March.

by Barb Benson, theCity1.com
January 16, 2004