Hot property: Former Iten Chevrolet building in Osseo

Former Iten Chevrolet building 226 Central Av., Osseo

Type: Redevelopment Size: 4,750 square feet Year built: 1950

Developer: Iten Garage LLC

A local real estate owner has struck an agreement with Osseo to purchase and refurbish a one-story building in the suburb's downtown that was once home to the Iten Chevrolet car dealership.

The 62-year-old structure at 226 Central Av. was a showroom for Iten until the 1960s, when the dealership moved to a more spacious site near then-new Interstate 694 at Brooklyn Boulevard in Brooklyn Center.

For some 20 years after, the building housed a medical clinic and was eventually donated to the city by the Iten family. It has been vacant for more than two years as city officials debated what to do with it, Osseo City Administrator Jeffrey Dahl said.

"We considered everything from using it as a police station to tearing it down to putting up a parking lot for downtown businesses," he said. "Ultimately our economic development authority decided to sell it for $85,000. It has a value of $300,000, but it will take $200,000 in rehab work to make the shell usable."

Dahl said the motivation is to bring more vitality to a downtown area that has a 20 percent commercial vacancy rate.

"The more we get businesses to open there, the more we'll get people walking around downtown and boost economic development in the city," he said.

Spanier added he's looking forward to the challenge of tapping the city's Iten Chevrolet heritage to create a unique eatery that could appeal both to locals and to downtown visitors.

"I have a vision of putting in a patio at the rear entrance and really brightening up the alley in back, making it sort of a second main entrance, which is something they've done with restaurants in Stillwater and Northfield," he said. "We want to incorporate the Iten theme throughout the building."