Grand Avenue Business Center

This October, we are spotlighting Grand Avenue Business Center as our Business of the Month! This local Business opened its doors on January 1, 2016 in Charles City. We were able to talk to the owner, Dennis Donovan, to find out a little bit more about his business and share it with our visitors.

1.  When did your business open? The Grand Avenue Business Center opened on the first business day of 2016. I got possession of the building on October 1, 2015 and the remodeling crew started on or about October 5th and worked steady right up to the week before Christmas. Two businesses moved into the North Grand Business Center between Christmas and New Years and one more has moved in since then.Dennis P. Donovan, PC North Star Community Service Prairieland Chiropractic – Dr. Jeanne Staudt
2.  What led you to starting your business? Is there a good story behind how it happened? I moved to Charles City in September 1991 to manage the tax department for another CPA firm. After a few years, the other firm offered to sell me the tax and accounting portion of their practice. Later, I purchased an office building on Gilbert Street to house my practice. At that time, I was pretty much a one man office with some part time help. Since then, I have added three people to my staff. We had just finished the 2014 tax season and I learned that this building was being offered for sale. I thought that the building would make a fantastic office complex for new and existing businesses here in Charles City. The location is great and the structure and the appearance of the building are second to none.
3.  What does your business offer? The Grand Avenue Business Center offers professional businesses an opportunity to rent office space at an affordable price and get the exposure they need to build their business from the traffic entering the business center. There are times that I have a client looking for an attorney to help them with their estate planning or someone with an investment background to help with their financial planning and other areas of concern that it would be helpful to have another professional in the building to meet clients’ needs. One business complements the other. It’s a Win, Win for everyone.
4.  Why do you enjoy serving Charles City, IA? I enjoy working and serving the Charles City area because of the opportunities Charles City has to offer. We are “America’s Hometown” a city with the small town atmosphere with the big city opportunities. It’s people helping people. Last week’s flooding is a perfect example. We survived the flood because of the volunteer efforts of the community. It’s people helping people. I can’t think of a better place to have a business. With today’s technology and our great highways our location is not an issue while working with clients outside of the community.