A look 'inn' at Paper Street Holdings

SANDUSKY — For Paper Street Holdings, its proprietors believe their new property represents a rock-solid investment for the growing company. Made up of the Boesch family — father/husband Ross, mother/wife Michelle and their two young daughters, Amelia and Felicity — Paper Street recently debuted three new adjoining, separate spaces specifically to accommodate guests for overnight stays. The Sandusky residents spent most of 2022 sprucing up a notable property into the city's newest lodge. Not far from the Sandusky Library, they transformed an underused site, once home to a financial institution, at the corner of Columbus Avenue and Madison Street into quaint rentable quarters. Listed on Airbnb, people can book a room or get more information by searching on Google after typing "Stay in the Heart of Vacationland." Those rooms are designated and broken up into colors: red, green and blue. Each of the three units averages out to roughly 900 square feet. They each feature two bedrooms, a bathroom, a full kitchen and other home-like amenities. "Our guests will love it here," said Ross, a 2005 Danbury High School graduate, pointing to the rooms' high-end finishes, like stainless steel appliances and quartz countertops. "It's a quick walk to downtown and not a far drive to Cedar Point, Kalahari and other area attractions. You can vacation here and live like a local since you're staying right in a neighborhood." Paper Street manages several similar properties, otherwise known as transient rentals, including at Chesapeake Lofts. The term "transient rental" is coined for short-term stays where people stay in properties not zoned for hotels, motels and the like. "There is definitely demand for this," said Ross, who works a full-time job as Gundlach Sheet Metal's business manager. "Even though there's been an explosion of them in our area, from 40 just a few years ago to now about 300, we have not seen the demand fall at all." Paper Street opened up these three rooms over Memorial Day weekend, coinciding with Ohio Bike Week's start period. Michelle and Ross continue working on a fourth unit at this very site while simultaneously attempting to land a new anchor business there as well. Meanwhile, Paper Street now acts as the leaseholders of this property and intends on keeping the existing small businesses, located upstairs, in place. "This building is on a main corridor, coming into the city, and sits on a corner of a residential neighborhood and had been neglected for years," Ross said. "We see it every day and thought we could breathe some new life into it. Our hope is that others in the neighborhood will take pride of our property and theirs as well." Ross pegged their overall investment at more than $500,000. Helping offset the difference, through Sandusky's economic development account, city officials provided a $22,500 grant. "This company has a proven record of responsible property management in the city, and they have the right vision for this property," city community development director Jonathan Holody said. "While short-term rentals do not typically create as many direct jobs as traditional commercial uses, it does support the local tourism industry and related business by providing accommodations for more people to visit and experience Sandusky." What's in a name? Ross Boesch, one of the Paper Street Holdings proprietors, explained his company's name. "It's a term used in planning and design, like for a street that is unnamed. Someone laying out a plan will call it a 'paper street' for future plans or designs. It hasn't yet materialized. Plus, it's also a hat tip to the book and movie 'Fight Club,' which I'm a big fan of."