Former Buick dealership being remodeled

RITZVILLE – Resident Keith Graham is remodeling a building at 114 W. Broadway Ave., next door to the American Legion Hall.

The building formerly housed a Buick dealership called Rogel Motor Co., according to a 1960 Journal-Times.

Graham noted that roll-up garage-style doors on the Broadway side of the building were replaced by large windows.

County records show the building's current owner is Kurtis Graham, brother of Keith Graham.

Keith Graham said he plans to remove most of the building frame, moldy sheetrock and dilapidated ceiling tiles.

"First, I just want to make it look better, so it's not an eyesore," he said.

According to county records, Maurice Frizzell, registered agent for the former Whispering Palms Restaurant, owned the property in October 2001.

The property was sold to Sonflower Craft and Tearoom that year, and Ronald and Jackie Hascoolidge bought it four years later.

They transferred it to Troy Ryan for $55,000 in 2018 and last year Kurtis Graham bought it for $85,000.

Dean, a friend of Keith Graham, is a collector who uses the space for storage. At the back of the drafty structure are two treasures: a pair of cement sphinxes made in France and brought by ship to America.

According to Dean, teams of 4-5 people constructed about 450 of these sphinx pairs during the Egyptian revival following the discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922.

Graham expects remodeling to take several years.

He will lean on decades of experience remodeling residential and commercial structures.

As a teenager, Graham worked in the building trades. Later, he and his brother "flipped" houses in Tacoma and revamped "Street of Dreams" houses in Seattle.

For now, Graham will strive to strengthen the neglected building's basic structure - its "bones" - using recycled lumber to build walls and reframe the ceiling.

"I have plenty of OSB sheeting for the outside, but I'll need to replace one stud at a time," he said.

According to county records, the structure is split into two spaces: a 2,150-square-foot retail store area and a material storage space of 1,950 square feet.

"It's a hard shape to fill in," he said.

Graham envisions the final product as an apartment with a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living room.

"I'm here for the long haul," he said.