Gregg Meisenhelter started with a house

“People have the need to call me and ask me (to weigh in on their ideas) and I don’t know why,” Meisenhelter said. “I was an art major (at Millikin University). I never took a business class.”

Still, you can’t blame them for asking. While only 34 years old, he has compiled a rather impressive resumé in a very short time.

He is part owner, with his mother, of United Waste Services, a business that has been in the family for 35 years. And since 2008, Meisenhelter has overseen a major transformation of Oakland Avenue between Main and Wood streets and recently purchased Katz in downtown Decatur.

The Oakland Avenue project has included the addition of several new businesses and the expansion and renovation of existing ones. Meisenhelter said the changes are designed to make the area a destination for college students, neighborhood residents, business people and families, alike.

For Meisenhelter it’s all part of a natural progression that started with the 1997 purchase of the home in the neighborhood.

Meisenhelter had just graduated from Meridian High School and was attending Millikin. Faced with living at home instead of on campus, Meisenhelter cashed-out a life insurance policy his parents had taken out on him and used the $3,000 proceeds to buy a house near the college. He used the rent he collected from friends that lived with him to make the house payment.

By the time he graduated in 2000, he was the owner of 11 houses. Today, his housing stock stands at about 40.

Which brings us to the Oakwood development. After Eichenauer Services moved from the area, Meisenhelter saw an opportunity to purchase and convert the east side of Oakland Avenue into retail businesses that would complement his college student renters and others.

While in the midst of the renovation, Meisenhelter got a visit from one of his neighbors. Jim Gresham, the owner of Lock Stock and Barrel across the street, asked if he would be interested in buying his business. While this went against his original plan to just renovate and rent property, Meisenhelter decided to buy the business and the buildings on the west side of the street.

While he can only remember going to Lock Stock one time while in college, Meisenhelter said he once joked to his wife, Dana, that he would own the business one day. Dana’s mother had worked at Lock Stock for several years, so she was very familiar with the business.

Gresham said Meisenhelter has “exceeded” any expectation he could have had about the person who would take over his business.

“He’s just an impressive person,” Gresham said. “He’s not looking at tomorrow. He’s looking beyond tomorrow.”

Back on the east side of the street, there was talk that the building housing part of The Winery might be for sale. This was important news to Meisenhelter since he owned the part of the building where the Winery’s pool tables were located.

While not necessarily wanting to own another business, Meisenhelter was concerned about the future of the building and the neighborhood bar/restaurant.

So he and his brother, George, along with another partner, made it their mission to acquire the building and eventually the business.

Meisenhelter said being the owner of the restaurants with more than three dozen employees that count on him for their livelihoods has been the most challenging part of the entire process.

“I’m not a pro at the business things,” he said. “But I’m learning fast and I’ve learned a lot.”

He can’t imagine how things would have turned out if the two previous owners — Gresham and Keith Boaz — hadn’t stuck around to assist with the transition.

Aside from the detours into business ownership, things in the Oakwood area have gone pretty much as planned. Most of the spaces have been filled, and in each case, the businesses came to him wanting to be a part of the progress that was taking place.

New to the neighborhood are Donnie’s Homespun Pizza, Blue Eggs and Ham, Lana’s Cakewalk (which moved from the other end of town), Mosaic and Ralf’s West End Market.

Two existing businesses, Capital Comics and Games and Spin City Cycles, moved from established locations in the neighborhood into buildings Meisenhelter owned that offered more space, among other benefits.

Nate McKean is one of the newcomers to the area.

“Millkin University and the West End are like their own little community,” McKean said. Sensing something good was taking shape, he wanted to be a part of it.

Noting the lack of a breakfast place in the area and a restaurant that was open on Sundays, McKean opened Blue Eggs and Ham in 2011. He then jumped across the street a few months later and opened Ralf’s West End Market.

“You can see the changes,” McKean said of the neighborhood, in both its appearance and the renewed sense of excitement about what the future may hold.

McKean upped his stake in that future by purchasing the building that houses his market, Mosaic and Entler’s flowers from Meisenhelter.

Meisenhelter said he is confident someone will come along with ideas for filling the remaining vacant spots.

Which brings us to his latest venture.

“If (the city) is putting in that much effort to make downtown look that good, I want to be a part of it,” he said.

Like his other projects, this one seemed like a natural progression.

His original intent was to tap into the downtown housing market as a way of providing living options for some of his former renters who had decided to stick around town after graduation.

Instead, he came away the owner of another business. But unlike his previous purchases, this one didn’t come with engaged owners and a solid reputation.

And unlike the previous businesses, he began making changes immediately with more to come. He also has teamed up with a group of Millikin business students to determine what some of those changes will be.

One constant through all of this has been his wife, Dana. They have been together since high school and have three children — twin boys, ages 8, and a girl, age 4.

While she is pleased with how business ventures have turned out, she admits to being a little apprehensive along the way.

“It has been scary for me,” she said. “It’s not just us we need to think about. We have kids.”

But she has grown to trust her husband’s instincts and the people he looks to for advice.

“At first, I used to think there would be an end in sight,” she said. “Now I know he will never stop. He’s always thinking ahead.”

So where does he go from here?

“It’s gone a lot faster than I thought, but it’s nowhere near what I want it to be,” he said. “I still have a couple ideas about businesses I’d like to see down here, but I’m waiting for the right people to approach me.”

He said some of those plans might mean replacing some of his rental houses with retail buildings and areas for additional parking.

“I’d hate to knock down pretty good investments (the houses),” he said, without a promise of something in return.

He also hints at a major project unrelated to the Oakwood area that will be announced very soon.

When pressed, he quotes the famous line from “Field of Dreams.”

“If you build, it they will come.”