Welcome to Gorman :: News & Awards

When developer Gary Gorman was first approached about buying the Red Brick School in Oregon a decade ago, he passed on what would’ve been a commercial business venture. But when his company, Gorman & Company, a leader in urban infill housing, was looking for a new headquarters, Gorman recalled the building and realized not only would it be an interesting space to work in, but would also showcase the company’s skills as renovators. “It’s very difficult to make the numbers work on something like this because it costs an awful lot of money relative to the value once it’s complete,” says Gorman. “When we were looking for our own space, then it did make sense.” Gorman’s intentions to buy the building sparked controversy. The building, built in 1922, shared strong emotional ties with many in the community. More than 1,000 people attended an open house after the $3 million restoration was complete. Many people who attended, says Gorman, fought back tears. “A lot of people have fond memories of buildings like the one I’m sitting in right now,” he says. “Some were choked up about going back to a building where they’d spent so much time either as a teacher or student. I think it adds to the richness of the community and adds to maintains peoples’ connection to the community. The open house, held in early November, gave the public a chance to tour the 20,000- square-foot building, which now has a lower level gym, first-floor offices and a second-floor bar. For 70 years, the building was used by the Oregon School District, until it became a storage facility for the district in the early 1990s. In 1998, shortly after the school district put the building up for sale, it was placed on the National Registry of Historic Places. Several proposals had been put forth over the years, but until Gorman & Co. had outgrown its Park Street headquarters inMadison, nothing stuck.

“It’s an interesting building and we were hoping to create a space that would show what we do as a company and would also be a fun space for our employees,” says Gorman.

Steve Staton, Oregon village president, calls Gorman’s renovation work “amazing.”

“It’s a wonderful addition to the community,” he says. “I’m very happy with the result. There’s lots of history preserved there.” Staton has worked for the school district for nearly 30 years, first as an administrator and now part-time as an alcohol and drug coordinator. Staton says he was surprised by how well Gorman was able to preserve the tone and character of the building. “It’s as nice a building as you’ll find in Dane County,” he says. “He’s certainly raised the bar.A school is the hub of what happens in a community. A lot of people worked very hard to keep it from being torn down or misused.” The building was on the market for nearly a decade and was of little use to the school district prior to that. Parting with old buildings is often a slow and difficult process for school districts.

“They remain abandoned by the school districts, and the districts often try to put them to other use and tend to hold them for a long time, and they sit empty until they’ve reached the conclusion they aren’t worth much,” explains Gorman. “Then they sell them at a price where someone can actually afford to do some renovation and adaptive reuse.”
The renovation took nearly a year to complete.