Do you value architectural history, small-town living, and a metric crapton of garage space?
If so, there's a one-of-a-kind house waiting for you in the central Minnesota town of Blomkest (population 145). Built in 1937 as a schoolhouse and reimagined as a single-family home around 2000, 115 Main St. S. hit the market late last month for $379,900.
"There are no comps for this place. Absolutely zero," says listing agent Kristi Jo Block with eXp Realty. "To appreciate what this family has invested and put into this building? I mean, it's in a small, small town but you have a solid brick building, a really well-done conversion. If you were to build this today, it would be a couple million dollars."
There's... a lot going on throughout the three-bedroom, three-bathroom, 6,720-square-foot property, which includes a bonus 5,184 square feet inside the heated/air conditioned garages. Inside, you'll find three fireplaces and several neat structural clues to its past life as a school. Outside, you'll find that the current owners "spent a ton of money landscaping, it's really beautiful," Block says. The owner once had the place zoned as mixed-use to accommodate their trucking business and residence, she adds. Though it's now zoned as residential, Blomkest city officials have signaled their willingness to restore commercial zoning.
"There's great mixed-use potential," Block says. "That garage on the main floor is just massive with in-floor heat—they did not spare an expense during remodeling. You can back trucks up to the garages. I envision a small-business buyer, maybe they do a lot of online sales. This would be ideal."
Zillow Gone Wild, KARE 11, and, yes, Racket have all inquired about the ol' schoolhouse for house-peeping journalistic purposes, and Block says interest is booming despite the hyper-specific nature of the property. "I don't think it's going to last very long," she says.
And if you're wondering about Blomkest, you should know it's about 20 minutes south of Willmar and just under two hours west of the Twin Cities. It "shines through in its hometown values and hardworking community," if we're to believe Kandiyohi County Economic Development. Nearby Cosmos, population 500? It's lousy with wacky outer-space lore.
Let's take a photo tour of 115 Main St. courtesy of eXp Realty and Ali Jacobson Photography.
