The Faber Building

There she is, The Faber Building.  To many, it may be just an old building, maybe an eyesore, maybe some even have memories of buying shoes in the building as a kid (I know I sure do!).  To Tammy and I, The Faber represents nearly 2 LONG years of all work and no play.  When we opened Vertical Runner in 2012, we did so whole-heartedly yet apprehensively.  So many questions; Is the running community vibrant enough to support a store? What if nobody wants to shop at VR-Wooster?  Do we even know what we are doing?  Why had nobody thought of it before if it's such a "great" idea?  All very valid questions, and the exact reason why when we were looking for a home for our new venture, we settled on the small but very appropriate space that we are currently located in.  Our current home is attached to a cool little boutique hotel named The St. Paul who is technically our landlord, but actually so much more!  They've not only been great as landlords, but have been impeccable neighbors, friends, and supporters of VR-Wooster since we move din.  There's no doubt we would not have the success we've had up to this point if not for them.

If you fast forward to 2016, Tammy and I were having a "business meeting" which we often have as we don't discuss business during our Husband-Wife time nearly as much as you might think, and we both started to dream about what it might be like to have more space.  Maybe it was time, since the local running community had made their commitment to us, to make a commitment to the local running community. With additional space, we could host larger group functions, add some services that we'd always dreamed of but never had the space for, and make sure that VR-Wooster had a home in the community for years to come.  We both lovedthe idea, but where?  Enter:  The Faber.  I remember walking the sidewalks of Wooster in 2012 looking in the windows of every empty building trying to find a first home for the store, and when I walked past The Faber, I was mesmerized.  Incredible entry, perfectly placed display cases,interesting first floor character for retail space, and empty.  Why? Before we settled on the location we are in now as the appropriate home, I did some due diligence on The Faber and ended up empty handed...the owners simply had no interest in selling.  So now here we are, nearly 5 years later ready to buy a space, so I contacted friend Mike Mariola, a local business owner, who I knew had investigated the Faber Building himself, and asked him for everything he knew about the space, including a phone number for the current owners.

After numerous calls to the current owners, I finally set up a meeting to discuss purchasing the facility.  Well...I thought it was a meeting, but honestly, it felt more like an interview!  The owners loved the space and were historians themselves.  It was important to them that whoever purchased the building intended to restore it to it's original intent, keeping history in mind. I had no idea what that actually meant, but would soon find out.

The Business Plan

Purchasing a facility to move your business into requires a business plan.  Anyone can buy a building, but for it to make sense there has to be some sustainability, and to even get a bank to talk to you, you need a business plan.  I'm not some real estate tycoon or billionaire businessman, but I understand business enough to know that upon first evaluation, The Faber Building is/was a HORRIBLE investment!  It's a 2300sqft building with 3 floors above ground and a very rough dirt floor basement.  It's been empty for nearly 15 years with very little improvements.  The roof leaks (real bad), the plaster is falling off every wall, the tin ceiling is rusted and falling down, and it's infested with bats, pigeons, and so many little critters that you lose count. To build a brand new building of this size with very nice amenities, it would cost about 60% of what it would cost to renovate this 130 year old building.  Like I said, HORRIBLE investment.  In other words,PERFECT!

I think potential is an underrated quality.  In 2008, I weighed 215 lbs and was incredibly overweight and out of shape.  I made a life changing decision at that point and signed up for the Akron Marathon without having went on even one training run.  It was likely a pretty nutty decision, but I needed to make a change and I've never shied away from a challenge, so I was not concerned.  After a few training runs and some research, I quickly realized that I needed some advice on proper footwear, so I stumbled into a specialty running store near where I worked at the time and asked for some help.  The young fella behind the counter and his co-worker ignored me,maybe they didn't see me, but I finally flagged one of them down (I was the only customer in the store) and asked for some advice.  They asked me what I planned to do in the shoes, a very good question, and when I told them I planned to run the Akron Marathon I saw them look at each other, gulp, and then tell me "we have the perfect shoe for you".  They got me a Nike Pegasus, size 11.  I bought it.

I ran 335 miles over the next 5 months in those Nike Pegasus, and toed the line on race day at 165lbs.  It was not a dream day, and I had some very rough patches, but Iran every step of my first marathon and finished in 3:18 and change.  This is not meant to be a blog about my running past, but back to my original statement "potential is an underrated quality".  When I told the youngsters at the running store that I was planning to run a marathon, they likely took a look at me and thought I was crazy.  I immediately lost all credibility with them and they didn't see the use in investing their time in me.  They didn't see my potential.  Likely, if I would have been 165lbs and told them I was a 3:18 Marathon Finisher, they would have been more than happy to spend some time fitting me up and chatting about running. But they didn't.  By the way...I need support shoes, of which the Pegasus is not one, and I'm a size 12.5.  That explains the black toenails!  

Regardless, The Faber Building has potential.  Tremendous potential.  For nearly 15 years it has sat empty with no life, but being a person who has always found potential in the most unlikely of places, I could not allow the fact that it was a horrible investment to keep Tammy and I from making this the next home of the local running community.

Realizing its Potential

Ok, here you have an amazing space in downtown Wooster, originally built in 1890, that is filled with History...HISTORY!  With just a little bit of research I quickly found out that downtown Wooster has a Historic District and The Faber Building is registered in the National Registry of Historic Buildings!  With this interesting piece of information, I was pointed in the direction of a fairly unknown program called the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit Program. Put plainly, there's money set aside by the State of Ohio for spaces just like The Faber Building because they know restoring buildings of this age is not a good investment from a business plan standpoint, so if you are willing and able to front the money to bring them back to life, they will help by reimbursing a percentage of your rehabilitation costs to bridge the gap between the reduced price of tearing down and building new and the higher cost of keeping the piece of history and restoring the building.  Sounds perfect, the only snag is the grueling application process!  Amazingly, after 6 months of research,long nights, and bugging the good folks at the Ohio State Historic Preservation Office in Columbus, I submitted the application for Tammy and I. Incredibly, we were awarded the first Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit in the history of Wayne County.  The Faber Building was currently a 215 lb Brian Polen, but with this Tax Credit now on hand to help it realize its potential, it was poised to run a Boston Qualifying time in the Marathon! Potential! 

OK, Let's get this thing started

Armed with the State and Federal Tax Credits, and with the support of our local friends at First Knox National Bank, we were ready to get moving, FINALLY!  The final piece of the puzzle was the perfect contractor; enter Vince Mariola of Vince Mariola Construction!  Certainly this project is not a cookie cutter type of project and it is going to require a lot of flexibility, creativity, and a certain skill set that will allow the contractor to deal with this Historic monster in the proper manner...Vince is perfect.  After nearly 18 months of working very closely with Vince, hitting every stumbling block along the way, and being asked nearly 30,000 times "when are you starting on the building" by family, friends, customers, and community members, we finally started the project on April 1.   We will be working hard over the next 6 months to transform this lost space into a marquee of downtown and i'll do my best to use this space to keep everyone who is interested up to date.  For now, follow along and be excited because we sure are!