Do you have an idea to share or just want to stay up to date business or otherwise on the happenings at the old Company Store at Broadway and Fourth? Then head on down to the new Facebook page “Sytech 4th Avenue,” created and maintained by new building owners Julia and Sergey Sytsevich to engage the community. Julia is a Stanley native, having graduated from Stanley-Boyd with the Class of 2006 as Julia Lane, before spending eight years in the military. Both she and Sergey are now truck drivers. They recently sat down together to answer questions and share the vision they have for the property most recently known as Don Smiths. First though, there was the need to purchase the building!

The old Don Smiths building went up for auction Monday September 14, having been put up for sale by business partners Harley Oemig Jr. and Sarah Abbot, who purchased it in May of last year, then deciding to sell the property this year after the novel coronavirus and other unexpected events got their plans for a wedding venue sidetracked. The auction went fast, starting

Photo by Joseph Back.

at 5:30 p.m., when people began arriving to take one last look at the inside of the property, and concluded just before 6:00 p.m., when Sergey “Serg” Sytsevich made the winning offer of $17,000, with a previous bid by someone else being turned down after a brief chat between the would-be buyer and co-owner Sarah Abbot.

Local auctioneer Jerry Andrews told those gathered to bid or just watch that the winner was expected to have $2,000 “earnest money” to put down that night, and that the building was being sold “as is,” with no warranties either on it or the use of it. That didn’t scare away Sytsevich or his wife Julia, who have two children and sometimes team drive together. Sergey himself has more than ten years of experience in the truck driving industry. Years of traveling finally brought the two back to Stanley, and they own a home in the community. Being a team, it was natural that they showed up to answer questions together when we set up an interview.

“We want the community to succeed and grow,” Julia said of her and Sergey’s plans for the old Don Smiths building located at 101 West Fourth Street. “We would love to give jobs to this community.”

Asked what their plans for the building are, Sergey said that the old S. M. and P. rail addition would be a warehouse with the floor filled in and would be used for his shipping company. In addition to being a truck driver with more than 10 years of experience, Sergey owns two businesses: Sytech Express as of February 2019, and Sytech Brokers. The first has a Facebook page under Sytech Express Inc, while the latter is a freight brokerage company now in the final phases of opening. So what’s a freight broker?

“It’s called ‘broker’ but it has to do with freight,” Sergey said of the potentially unfamiliar term. “That’s mainly when companies have a lot of materials or product to ship.” A broker’s job is to find a trucking company to transport the freight for delivery. “We ship other people’s products,” he said of the freight broker’s job. With the old S. M. and P. warehouse taken care of, what about the rest of the property?

“It took a couple days for us to settle down on what we wanted to do with it,” Julia said of the old Don Smiths property. “We went and measured it.” The couple said they plan to lease out space on the first floor of the building for offices or other use, while the second floor could one day have high-end apartments. Among their first goals for now though, Sergey shared, was to uncover the windows that are currently boarded up. He said that they would check with the city but were also thinking of doing storage units on a detached parcel by Sunset Homes, or else would keep the area as parking. The two haven’t decided yet on just what the basement might become.

“Give me ideas,” Sergey said of community input on the future of the leased portion of the Don Smith’s building and what the community would like to see happen. “Tell me what you want.”

“We’re inviting anybody from the community,” Julia added of sourcing ideas for the historic property.

Once again, those interested in sharing their ideas with the couple can do so via Facebook, through a group page entitled “Sytech 4th Avenue.”

Community members outside thee old Don Smith’s building at the recent September 14 auction. New owner Sytsevich and his wife Julia, a Stanley- Boyd alum, plan to use the property for their trucking business and also lease space out on the first floor.

The former Don Smith’s building as seen from the clock tower.