Schiefer Insurance reopens on four corners

Sarah Ein­se­len — Staff

Story and pho­tos by Sarah Einselen

Inquirer Reporter

The for­mer gas sta­tion on the south­west cor­ner of Port­land Way and Hard­ing Way just got a facelift. The Galion branch of Chris Schiefer Insur­ance and Finan­cial Ser­vices reopened at its new loca­tion Wednes­day morn­ing in the build­ing that up until 2005 was the loca­tion of a BP gas sta­tion. New brick­work and sid­ing on the out­side and an entirely ren­o­vated inte­rior mask the building’s orig­i­nal function.

Before the remodel, “it truly looked like a 1961 gas sta­tion,” said Chris Schiefer, the insur­ance agent whose branch office moved from Uptowne to the four cor­ners. He described a cement-block build­ing left after the same buyer acquired two gas sta­tions at the same inter­sec­tion, this one and the cur­rent BP.

Sarah Ein­se­len — Staff

Schiefer Nationwide’s new office out­side and inside located on the cor­ner of Hard­ing Way West and Port­land Way.

At one time the build­ing was a Sohio gas sta­tion and auto ser­vice cen­ter. The front entrance door and win­dows were set into the old auto bay entrance when the gas sta­tion ceased doing auto repair/maintenance. “When you moved things you found stick­ers,” Schiefer said, mem­o­ra­bilia hark­ing back to the building’s for­mer use.

But why move into a gas sta­tion? Its draw was the loca­tion, Schiefer said, “because there’s 70,000 cars that go through that inter­sec­tion.” It also pro­vided off-street park­ing and room for the branch to expand, should it need the space in the future. Three offices, a con­fer­ence room and a wait­ing area com­prise the sales and cus­tomer ser­vice space, with one of those offices free for a pos­si­ble future hire.

Sarah Ein­se­len — Staff

The Galion Cham­ber of Com­merce cut the rib­bon with Chris Schiefer and asso­ciates Oct. 26.

Schiefer Insur­ance held a rib­bon cut­ting and open house at the new loca­tion on Wednes­day, Oct. 26, to which the 20-year Nation­wide Insur­ance agent invited area busi­ness rep­re­sen­ta­tives. Schiefer asso­ciates Rhonda Molton, Chad Ruhl and Chris Kostel­nik will main­tain per­ma­nent offices in the build­ing, while Schiefer keeps his main office in Tiffin.

Posted by Sarah Einselen on Oct 27 2011. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.