Construction Solutions & Consulting Group, LLC announced this morning that it has finalized an agreement with the Friends of the Sedalia Trust to purchase the historic Sedalia Trust Building in downtown Sedalia.

CSC Group President Brian Smith plans to transform the landmark into the CSC Construction Group, LLC, corporate headquarters, as well as provide opportunities for commercial office lease spaces.

Smith said purchasing and restoring the Trust Building to its former grandeur as a business and commercial center has been an idea of his for a few years.

“We are both humbled and excited to have the opportunity to rehabilitate this unique and historic building” said Smith in a press release. “Our hope is to help in the revitalization of the downtown area, save an important local landmark, and provide much-needed quality office space at the same time.”

Smith and his company came into the picture about 18 months ago and has worked with FROST and other agencies, such as the DNR, to be able to make Friday's announcement.

“Our plan is to put our offices on the fourth floor, and look for some tenants for the second and third floors. The first floor is still open,” Smith said Friday, adding that he would like to see a small retail business occupy that space, like maybe a “snacky-type” restaurant.

Renovating and bringing back the building to code will be challenging, Smith admitted, but he said he firmly believes that will happen 100 percent. A non-working elevator will be replaced with a modern-day, ADA-compliant elevator shaft. A new electrical and sprinkler system will be installed, as well as new windows.

The property, previously renovated in the 1980s by Robert and Betty Koppen and family, has been fastidiously monitored and preserved from deterioration since 2014 by the eight-member Friends of the Sedalia Trust (FROST), a non-profit of dedicated Sedalia business people following the loss of the roof in a 1997 fire and subsequent efforts to market the building.

FROST Board President Aric Snyder said he was delighted for Smith and downtown Sedalia, and noted that his group's role in the process was to save the building and get it ready for a developer. “We were never going to develop it ourselves,” he emphasized.

When asked if this means FROST is now disbanded, Snyder replied no.

The stabilization, preservation and sale of the building has been the goal of a unified effort of a wide range of agencies and individuals throughout the past 20 years. The State of Missouri State Historic Preservation Office, City of Sedalia, Pettis County, Central Business and Cultural District, Sedalia Downtown Development, Inc., FROST, TIF Commission, and countless volunteers have been resolute in their efforts to save the historic structure.

The Sedalia Midtown TIF District provided the funds for stabilization of the property beginning in 2015. Under the terms of the purchase agreement, CSC Group will be rehabilitating the building according to the Department of the Interior’s “Standards for Rehabilitation.”

As for turning a profit with the Trust Building, "we are not looking to make this a profit center, this is a stature acquisition for CSC. Smith, who grew up in nearby Smithton, said he is interested in giving back to the community. "There is no monetary reason to do this," Smith responded when asked why his construction wouldn't simply build from the ground up for their HQ. CSC was actually looking at another property when it was sold to someone else. That's when the Trust Building idea came a little closer to reality.

Once the project is complete, CSC world headquarters will be located in the 140-year-old Trust Building. Smith estimated that it may be Christmas, 2020 before CSC can occupy the historical structure.

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