RM Construction bought and renovated units in a North Avenue strip mall, including one that will become its new office

Tim Harty, The Business Times

After years of flourishing in the Glenwood Springs and Aspen area as a builder of custom homes, RM Construction & Development decided it was time to put an office in Grand Junction.

RM Construction set up its office at a couple different locations while co-owner Bob Gibson said he looked at different areas of Grand Junction, seeking a property that had rentable space.

He found what he was looking for in the 300 block of North Avenue, where first RM Construction (340 North LLC) bought a property with three commercial units in March 2022. Then, in July this year, RM Construction bought another block with three commercial units in the same strip mall.

The strip mall has some oddities. From the street it looks like one building with everything connected. But the backside tells a different story: separate buildings with varying rooftops. One property in the middle, Gibson believes, was a home built in 1941.

Gibson said of the units he now owns, “We found the building, got it for a good price. It had a lot of challenges – it was rough as heck – but we’re working on it.”

Well, he owns the right kind of business to have that attitude. And he sees something, not just in the building, but in that section of North Avenue.

“We felt like that between First and Seventh (streets) on North has great upside to it,” he said. Because you got the college pushing this way, and everything’s getting redone down there (to the east), and then you got Sam’s Club and all the nice stuff down there (to the west), so it’s kind of sandwiched in the middle. So, we felt like this was a good place to be.”

That’s why he said RM Construction plans to invest more in the area, and he hopes it’s not alone.

“We just see a lot of potential in this area, and we hope the other property owners do, too, and start putting some money into their investments,” he said.

The strip mall in the 300 block of North Avenue has a longstanding, respected tenant in Quality Meat Co., 340 North Ave., and it was a relief to have such an established, reliable tenant. Likewise, IronBeard Vapes, 350 North Ave., has anchored the east end of the building since 2017.

With no worries there, RM Construction could focus on the things that desperately needed attention.

For starters, an adult-gaming business at 342 North Ave., where Kim Kerk Land Consulting & Development now resides, was evicted because the lease listed a different use, and the tenant wasn’t conforming.

Gibson was glad to say good-bye and renovated the unit, paving the way for Kerk.

At the same time, he was renovating the space at 338 North Ave., which he said was “ugly as sin, it was terrible. There was no plumbing, heating.”

There also was no occupant.

“Literally this whole thing was piled high with junk,” he said.

So, RM Construction cleared it out, renovated the interior and gave it a new facade, resulting in a clean, spacious, modern office space. RM Construction operated its office in the unit for a bit, but Gibson admitted it was now a much larger and nicer space than a construction company needed, meaning it could be put to better use. That’s when home-improvement contractor DaBella entered the picture.

“As a construction company, we don’t need that that nice of an office, so we rented it out, and they were the first people to look at it, and they took it,” Gibson said.

RM Construction had its new home available a few doors down at 348 North Ave. with this summer’s purchase of the units at 344, 348 and 350 North Ave.

RM Construction immediately had a new, pressing need: the unit at 344 North Ave. with its charred interior from an arson fire on July 4, 2024, courtesy of two molotov cocktails.

That fire chased away previous tenant Mountain Temp Services, which relocated to Valley Plaza, but what remained, be it a mess, was salvageable.

“Just getting the smell out, first off, that was tough. (Used) a lot of Kilz, stuff like that,” Gibson said. “But the fire, it didn’t do any structural damage, which was nice. They (the Grand Junction Fire Department) got it out pretty quick.”

But the unit needed all new electric, all new plumbing, all new heating and cooling, and it got it.

“Everything’s brand new, because it was just unusable at that point,” Gibson said. “We redid the roof. That wasn’t from the fire, but …”

As of this Business Times edition’s publishing, RM Construction may be moved into the unit. And once it’s out of 348 North Ave., RM Construction will clean it up, paint it and look for a new tenant.

“If you know someone, send them my way,” he quipped.

Whether more renovation is required in 348 North Ave. will depend on the tenant.

At this point, Gibson estimates RM Construction has invested at least $1 million in its units in the strip mall, and the number may be closer to $1.5 million.

There’s more to do with the building, though.

“In the next three years, we plan on redoing this whole little stretch,” he said. “Next year, we’re gonna do something to this whole exterior. To me, it looks boring, bland.”

It’s an old building, and there is some character from yesteryear Gibson would like to retain.

“It’s got to have some character to it,” he said. “I mean, it just looks so bland and nothing now. … We’re coming up with plans right now to where we can bring it back to where it has a little bit of character that looks modern, too.”

The facade will likely continue with the treatment that DaBella’s unit got.

“It’s going to be something very nice, upscale, storefront windows,” Gibson said. “That’s why we put cheap windows in now (at 344 North Ave.) until we do that, because it’s going to look totally different. We’ll do that probably next summer, next spring, somewhere in there.

“And then we’ll start working on a bunch of stuff in the back. We’ve got probably 8,000-9,000 square feet back there we need to start working on.”

When all of that is done, or even while that’s happening, Gibson said RM Construction will be looking for more opportunities between First and Seventh Streets on North Avenue and beyond.

“We’ve got some other stuff we’re looking at,” he said. “We haven’t done a a lot (in Grand Junction) traditionally. … We’ve got some things in the works and subdivisions we’re trying to get approved and things like that.”

What you can do with 100 bucks

Based in Glenwood Springs, RM Construction & Development got its start with a mere $100 in the bank, according to co-founder and co-owner Bob Gibson.

And that along with a whole lot of savvy was enough to turn the company into what Gibson calls “one of the largest builders for custom homes between Glenwood and Aspen.”

“I was a real estate agent at the time, and a friend of mine bought Lakota Golf Course,” Gibson said. “There was a bunch of lots to sell there, a bunch of them, so he had me come up and try to sell them. 

“Well, it was during the downturn, and lots weren’t selling, but houses seemed to, so we decided to build one. And we hired a builder. Halfway through, it was just a total wreck. I mean, he put a used fireplace in there. That was the straw that broke …

“So, we kicked him out, and I decided, ‘Well, I’ll just finish it,’ because I had a background in it. And then that’s how it started. And we went crazy and literally just through luck or whatever – I don’t know what it was – about the last 10 years, there’s one lumber yard up there that has like an 85 percent market share, and we’re always in their top five for production, how much we buy from them.

“So, we do a fair amount up there, mainly through word of mouth. We’re starting to advertise now, but yeah, it’s been pretty good.”