After more than 2 years on the market, old restaurant building has a new owner
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RIGBY – Since the Me’n Stans restaurant in Rigby closed in May 2017, many people have wondered what’s happening with the old building.
After being on the market for more than two years, it finally has a new owner.
Andrew and Jorelle McClellan purchased the building in September to open up office space for their businesses. Jorelle is a real estate agent with Silvercreek Realty Group and she and her husband also own a construction company called American Craftsman Homes.
Jorelle tells EastIdahoNews.com they’ll be using 1,000 square feet of office space inside the building. The remaining 6,500 square feet will be rented to additional tenants.
“I get calls about it everyday. Everyone is excited about what’s happening there, which was a surprise to us. The community is very invested in what we are doing,” Jorelle says.
Some people have expressed interest in renting space, Jorelle says, but no contracts have been signed. A remodeling project is currently underway, and that will likely increase interest, she says.
The McClellans both grew up in Rigby and moved back last year when Jorelle signed on with Silvercreek. She’s been using office space near Rigby Indoor Sports for the last year. When they began looking into a new location, Me’n Stans was a huge attraction for them.
“The price (of the building) had dropped $100,000, and it has been sitting (vacant) for a few years. So we just thought it was a great buy. It’s something I had a vision for to see what it could be,” Jorelle says.
They’re also excited about the central location the building provides. They jumped on purchasing it after speaking with Aaron Gerry, their friend in Seattle, who is doing the remodel with the McClellans. Gerry and his wife, Juliet, co-own the building with the McClellans.
Stan Colborn, the owner of Me’n Stans, declined to comment on the sale of the restaurant, but it has a long history in eastern Idaho dating back 50 years. The Jefferson Star reports Colborn first opened a Rexburg location in Aug. 1969. After opening a store in St. Anthony, Jackson and West Yellowstone, the Rigby location opened in the 1980s.
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The closure of the Rigby restaurant in May 2017 wasn’t intended to be a permanent closure, Stan’s son, Donae, told EastIdahoNews.com in April 2018, but when the city started removing street lights in connection with the Maverik gas station construction, Stan, who is 84, made a split-second decision to permanently shut down.
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“(Stan) was getting old and decided he’d had enough of it,” Donae said.
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With more than 1,800 agents statewide, Silvercreek is the largest realty group in Idaho. An Idaho Falls office opened about three years ago, but the main office is in Boise. Jorelle sells commercial and residential property, but her specialty is new homes. She’s excited to open a brand-new satellite office in Rigby.
“It’s fulfilling to go inside and tear stuff out of this old building and expose the bones of the original building,” she says. “It’s rewarding that we bought something that nobody wanted and now that we’re remodeling it, everybody wants it.”
The vision of the remodel continues to evolve every day, Jorelle says. They’re hoping to have it completed and ready to open some time in December.
