TOPOLA — Owners Shadly and Brittany Nelson are remodeling the former elementary school in Topola in phases. Their future plans for the site include a sandblasting workshop; an area where they can apply spray foam to ships; external and internal storage; and even fourplex.
“It’s a work in progress as far as money allows,” Shadly Nelson said. “My wife and I own a small industrial paint business and we’re slowly trying to get this thing together as our home base.”
Maria Lockwood / Superior Telegram
Their company, Nelson Industrial Coatings LLC, is currently not operating out of their home in Bennett. The company employed up to 12 workers during its peak last summer, Nelson said. The business offers a range of services from sandblasting, painting and foam spraying to polyurea coating.
The couple bought the Poplar Elementary School building a year and a half ago, Nelson said, and bought the warehouses behind the school about six months later. The initial stages of remodeling the former school included pouring concrete, creating storage space for the company’s equipment and installing security cameras. Nelson said they are waiting for a state permit to install doors on those spaces.
“Slowly by spring you’ll see things start to move around here, like a light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.
The building of the former Topola school was a landmark of the community shortly after the village was founded in 1917. The initial foundations for the brick building were laid in 1921, according to the centennial book published by the village in 2017, “100 Years of Poplar.” The structure cost $22,000. An addition to the school – the Richard I. Bong Hall and Trophy Room – was dedicated in 1955.
“Even my brother played basketball here through the RBA (Rookie Basketball Association),” Nelson said. “They used to play basketball here and stuff like that. They had tournaments here on Saturdays. I mean, I remember that.”
The elementary school was closed when Northwestern Elementary opened for the 1998-1999 school year, but it became the district’s first charter school, Richard I. Bong Memorial Academy, in 2000. The academy was closed after five years.
Most recently, Poplar School was used as an apartment building from 2008 to 2014. The Bong Memorial Apartments closed after the state declared the building uninhabitable due to building code requirements that the owner failed to meet and the loss of sewer for non-payment of past due bills.
The next incarnation of the building should be a place of business. Nelson said village officials supported him.
“We’re just a little family trying to get something going,” Nelson said.
Residents can expect more work at the site this spring and summer. Those interested in renting space on site can contact Brittany Nelson at 715-919-3274.
Nelson said his wife also plans to put storage units behind the Dollar General store in Poplar.
Maria Lockwood / Superior Telegram