That office building has been vacant for about a decade. A nearby Land O’Lakes feed mill was demolished in 2011.

“Everyone in town has been driving past this once-beautiful property for the last few years watching it sit empty and decay before our eyes,” said Todd McCubbin, one of the leaders in the Better Way Project. “In its day, the building was home to a successful company contributing great jobs and a super positive impact on our community. Since Land O’Lakes left, it’s just sitting there vacant and the last owner was able to buy it online from his apartment in New York for pennies on the dollar.

“To make matters worse, last winter the heat was never turned on, which caused pipes to break and now our first project is going to be remediating the mold inside the building,” he added. “The property still has great bones, good mechanical systems and a ton of potential, it just needs someone to roll up their sleeves and get to work. And that’s what the Better Way Project is all about. We’re doing the things that need to be done.”

Scott and Katie Underberg, leaders of the Better Way Project and owners of Cornerstone Property Management in Fort Dodge, will help oversee the building’s revitalization.

“Cleaning it up is obviously a priority,” Scott Underberg said, “as well as getting security in place to ward off the vandalism and vagrants. We’ve already had to replace several broken windows.”

“The future of this property is still unknown, but there are a lot of potential new uses that we are exploring,” he added. “We have a working concept for some public/municipal uses that we are going to explore first, and will then look at marketing the property as potential corporate offices to bring jobs and economic stimulus back to the area.”

Katie Underberg, who handles the majority of daily operations for Cornerstone, said the former Land O’Lakes building would make a great home for one or more companies looking for new and affordable office space.

“Once it’s cleaned up, the building is really quite nice and will show well,” she said. “The space is flexible and can easily be divided into more than one suite of offices to accommodate different users. It’s centrally located near the Corridor Plaza commercial district and there’s plenty of on-site parking. We’re super excited to get this building back into production in Fort Dodge.”

Better Way Project leader Matt Johnson added that if anyone in the community has potential users or ideas for the future of the building, to contact the group and share their vision.

“This whole project is all about making the Fort Dodge community better than ever, and we for sure can’t do it alone,” he said. “We of course don’t have all of the answers, and we don’t have all of the resources, but what we do have is the drive and the passion to make positive change and get momentum moving in the right direction. We’re not afraid to work, and we’re not afraid to take risks. Our hope is that as we continue this mission that other people will join us in order to make Fort Dodge an amazing place for our kids and grandkids to grow up in.”

Those interested in learning more about the opportunities available with the former Land O’Lakes property or The Better Way Project are encouraged to email hello@thebetterwayprojectfd.com or call Cornerstone Property Management in Fort Dodge at (515) 408-4323.