Kable News building’s new owner working on restoration, modifications

MT. MORRIS — John Russell has been getting a lot of questions lately, many of them about the plans for his recent purchase in downtown Mt. Morris — the former Kable News Company building.

Russell, whose purchase of the 132-year-old building was finalized on March 1, said his goal in a nutshell is to have a landmark building that people can use.

“Everybody knows this building,” he said. “It is, by far, the most Mt. Morris building of Mt. Morris, which is kind of cool.”

During an interview with Shaw Media, Russell touched on at least 10 different potential uses of the space, including a visitors bureau, chamber of commerce, offices for small businesses — the first tenant was set to move in May 1 — a medical clinic, a farmers market and multipurpose flex space.

Looking at the size and layout of the building, there are “just endless possibilities,” said Russell, who lives about 10 minutes northeast of Mt. Morris.

“My goal would be to make sure we don’t do anything to complicate that [historic] half of the building, but I still want to modernize it so that it has access for people that aren’t able to otherwise access it,” he said, pointing to the need for things like a stair-lift and ADA-compliant bathrooms. “Things that would be easy to do, but still have the ability to not tarnish what’s currently there.”

Located at 16 S. Wesley Ave., the building was constructed in 1890-91 to serve as Mount Morris College’s College Hall. When the school closed in 1932, twin brothers Harvey and Harry Kable purchased College Hall and founded the Kable News Company, through which they distributed many of the publications printed at their other business, Kable Brothers Printing.

Kable News Company since has expanded into several similarly named parent and subsidiary corporations, which currently are owned by Michael Duloc. The company moved from Mt. Morris several years ago.

“Everybody knows this building. It is, by far, the most Mt. Morris building of Mt. Morris.”

—  John Russell, owner of the former Kable News Company building

Russell bought 16 S. Wesley Ave. from Kable Product Services Inc. for $125,000, a price that comes out to about $6 or $7 per square foot.

“Yeah, it’s not a lot of money, but immediately there’s a lot of work that wasn’t put into it for a long time,” he said. “We call it deferred maintenance. It’s just not worth it unless you need that much space, and I needed enough space of it to justify the mortgage.”

Russell is using the newer half of the first floor and the basement as storage space for his Rockford-based business, Skills On Point, which provides ongoing medical education for health care professionals. Russell is a nurse practitioner and has a doctorate of nursing practice, among several other certifications.

The medical supplies used for Skills On Point’s training courses include medical beds and other large items that require climate-controlled storage, he noted.

“Literally what I was spending in storage units offsets my entire mortgage [for the Kable News building],” Russell said. “So immediately, it was a cost effective thing for me to grow into for my business, should I need to.”

But he doesn’t need the entire building for himself, and that was part of what drew him to it, Russell said.

“We definitely are set up so that everyone else can benefit,” he said.