This is what a $2.3 million home in Rochester looks like

Erich Fisher, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.
·2 min read

Dec. 9—A Southwest Rochester house that was once owned by the former owners of Michaels restaurant has been renovated into a "majestic" home on the market for $2.3 million.

The six-bed, eight-bath house at 835 Eighth Ave. SW sits on a 0.41-acre lot. The home itself is 5,926-square feet and more than two stories.

"I just think it's majestic," Edina Realty Realtor Melissa Niichel said. "It's perched high up on the hill on the double lot. It's like the wow factor. And then it's got really comfortable spaces within the home. So it's different from other large-scale homes that are just extremely large and you get lost in them. They have very comfortable living spaces within the property."

The home was built in 1943 and was about 3,200-square feet when one of its first owners — the Pappas family, owners of the popular Michaels restaurant on Broadway Avenue — first occupied it.

Three other owners have occupied the house since, making a series of renovations along the way, including a 2,600-square-foot addition. Niichel said the addtion was "essentially another home" and nearly doubled the size of the house.

As for the renovations and historic restorations, "pretty incredible," she said.

Other notable renovations involve the backyard where there's a sunken firepit lounge, a sports court basketball and pickleball, and a trampoline.

The house's southwest Rochester location couldn't be more perfect in Niichel's eyes.

"If you work at Mayo, it's so perfect and proximity to downtown, you can walk to everything," she said. "You can walk to Soldiers Field, walk to downtown, walk to the Mayo campus. It's super convenient... And it's just like a storybook with kids walking to school in the morning and afternoons. It's very sweet."

It's not the location, though, that gives this home its appeal, Niichel said.

"It's the character and charm of the historic home, but also with the modern conveniences of today," she said. "It's pretty an unbelievable property and honestly the people who have toured it say the pictures don't even do it justice. When you get in the house, it's the wow factor."