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You are here: Home / Archives for Kay Lyons

Kay Lyons

Ranching Descendants Doing the Heavy Lifting to Preserve History

August 3, 2023 By quadcities Leave a Comment

Vibrant Building Solutions saving old homes, keeping material out of landfills.

The same characteristics that pioneered the West, like rugged determination, a strong work ethic and a can-do attitude, are easy to spot in Arizona ranching family descendants Garrett Denny and Vince Fornara. Denny is a fifth generation Prescottonian, whose family raised cattle at the Fort Rock Ranch in Seligman from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. Fornara is a third generation Arizonan, whose relatives owned dairy farms in the Verde Valley. Today, the men are business partners, making their own mark in Arizona history with their Prescott-based company, Vibrant Building Solutions, which moves entire houses.

Recently, the men were called upon to work with members of another long-time Arizona ranching family to save a home built around 1920. Helene Babbitt, with her husband, the late Jim Babbitt, owned a historic two-bedroom, one-bath bungalow in downtown Flagstaff. She loved the location, but wanted to build a new home for herself that wouldn’t require a lot of maintenance. She contacted the Townsite Community Land Trust, a nonprofit organization that preserves historic homes and makes them available through its affordable housing program.

Townsite CLT Executive Director Duffie Westheimer was thrilled with the donation, marking the nonprofit’s sixth historic home. She found a lot for the house nearby, but moving the house would require more support. That’s when she called Vibrant Building Solutions.

“That house was built very well,” said Denny. “It has a very strong structure.”

A Historic Move

After months of preparing and securing the house, Denny, Fornara and team members Anthony Collum and Sean Timlick began the slow and precarious journey of moving it, starting at 6 p.m., Wednesday, June 28.

“The size of the house wasn’t very big, but the route was very challenging because of how tight the homes and trees were,” said Denny. “The logistics were a bit challenging. At times we had only six or seven inches of space on either side of the house.”

“The movers were just incredible. These people are so talented,” said Helene Babbitt, who watched with nostalgia as Vibrant Building Solutions carefully drove the century-old home off her lot. “The house was stalled for about an hour when they had to move the wheels underneath by hand in order to change the direction of the rig. They did that twice. They were never worried. It was an incredible feat.”

The historic bungalow was delivered safely to West Birch St., only about a mile away from its original location; however, the move took nearly 10 hours.

Honoring an Old House

Through the years, the home had four owners. Members of three of the families came out to witness the move and share memories made in the old house. Among the small gathering were three generations of Babbitts: Helene, her son Charles, along with his wife, Traleigh, and their four daughters, Britania, 7, Isla, 8, Kalista, 14, and Stella, 17, who was born in the house.

“This meant so much to my grandma [Helene],” said Stella Babbitt, who will be attending Arizona State University this fall, working toward her goal of becoming a high school history teacher. “I’m really close to her and I wanted to support her and watch it go. Every time we had family gatherings at their house across the street someone would say, ‘Stella was born in that house!’ Seeing it go felt so unnatural but it’s really good that it will be preserved.”

The home was built by Will and Ann Marlar. “Will was a pharmacist, an undertaker and a state senator,” said Westheimer. “He had a funeral parlor, a dance hall and built an auto garage. He built 20 homes in Flagstaff.”

Around 1924, the Marlars sold the house to Frank and Louise Wolf. Their grandchildren, Martha Wolf Jacobson and her brother, Tom, had fond memories of visits there. The two came out for the move and stayed through the night until it was set down in its new neighborhood at nearly 4 a.m., June 29.

“It was really emotional for me,” said Martha. “My brother and I would spend two weeks every summer there for 15 years while we were growing up. I almost cried when the house was being taken off the lot. I know my grandmother just loved being in Flagstaff.”

In 1974, the home was sold to Eleanor Raudebaugh. “I’ll be honest. When I first saw it being lifted up, it was really, really emotional for me. I have so many wonderful childhood memories spending time there with my grandmother. I lived with her in the summers as she got older.” said Terry Gochanour, Eleanor’s granddaughter.

Gochanour and her mother, Mary Lou Raudebaugh Morrow, happened to drive by the house when it was being prepared for relocation. “It was incredibly heart-warming to learn that it was going to be preserved and brought to the neighborhood where my mother grew up,” said Gochanour. “To see that it’s going to be around forever made my heart very, very happy.”

The house was purchased by the Babbitts in 1995.

Currently, the house is sitting a little higher than the other houses around it. “When the foundation is built, it will look like it’s always been there,” said Westheimer, noting that Marlar built at least one other house on West Birch.

Moving into their Destiny

As a teen in high school, Denny began moving houses with his dad, Gary, in the family business, G.R. Denny and Son Structure Relocators. When the Great Recession hit in 2008, work slowed down in Arizona but the two were needed in Galveston, Texas, to help lift houses that were flooded from Hurricane Ike. They returned to Prescott and new opportunities in 2012.

“Three houses near Prescott High School were going to be torn down,” said Denny. “We found a vacant lot across the street for sale and were able to save two of the houses. That got us started moving houses that were going to be torn down. We’d set them up and rent or sell them.”

When Gary decided to retire, he offered the equipment to Garrett. In 2014, Garrett joined forces with developer and family friend Vince Fornara to create Vibrant Building Solutions. “My father was definitely into the hard work aspect. He still loves that and my partner, Vince, is the same way.”

“I did all of that development above Willow Lake – Vista del Lago and Vista Verde – with another fellow,” said Fornara. “I ran out of property to sell.”

Fornara went to Prescott High School with Gary Denny. “When I met Garrett, he was young and energetic and I wasn’t ready to quit,” he said. “We do a lot of repurposing of old structures. We’ve moved in the vicinity of 30 structures, four of which were school buildings that we remodeled into homes. It was very satisfying to move the George Phippen cabin and porch slab that now rests next to the Phippen Museum.” Phippen was a sculptor and painter who worked in the cabin studio he built in Prescott.

Currently, the team is developing 16 apartment units near Fry’s grocery store in Prescott. Vibrant Building Solutions also provides dumpsters for contractors.

A Rewarding Move

“What’s most rewarding and also most challenging is moving houses,” said Denny. “You see a house sitting on the ground, you pick it up and move it to a different location, set it down and someone can move into it. The majority of the ones we’ve moved are still in use. It feels very good to save these houses and keep them out of the landfill.” QCBN

By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN

Photo by Kay Lyons: Vibrant Building Solutions owners Garrett Denny and Vince Fornara, with office manager Sarafina Fornara, are thrilled to be able to save old homes and structures and make them available for people to live in, while keeping construction materials out of city landfills. 

Filed Under: Business, Local News Tagged With: Flagstaff, Garrett Denny, Kay Lyons, Prescott, Townsite CLT, Vibrant Building Solutions, Vince Fornara

Motivated to Excellence

January 27, 2023 By quadcities Leave a Comment

Entrepreneur, foodie, business leader, athlete Jamaal McCoy values authenticity.

Jamaal McCoy’s early years set the pattern for his future. The highly successful Prescott businessman began his life as an Army BRAT who traveled widely with his family.

“I was born overseas in Germany, and we were stationed there again on two separate occasions,” McCoy said. “I have lived all over this great country, because home is where the Army sends you.”

After high school and college in Colorado, he moved to Las Vegas, where he lived for nearly 20 years, and where his business life began. Although involved in various businesses while in Las Vegas, McCoy said he spent the majority of his time in the automotive industry.

Before moving to Prescott with his wife and daughter, he was the general manager of Findlay Chevrolet. “The opportunity of relocating to Prescott was presented to me when the Findlay Automotive Group bought Tim’s Auto,” he said. “The idea of moving our family to a small town for a change of pace was appealing to me, so I made the leap.”

His 21 years with Findlay Auto Group, with five-and-a-half years in Prescott, included starting his career as a salesperson and advancing through the ranks to ultimately becoming a general manager and a partner within the group.

McCoy thinks highly of Toyota automobiles. “I actually own three of them,” he said. “Toyota quality is top of the line. They produce reliable, long-lasting vehicles with the top resale value in the market. Toyota is the No. 1 selling manufacturer in the world for a reason.”

His affiliation with Prescott was solidified by his involvement in the Prescott Chamber of Commerce. He has been on the Chamber Board of Directors for five years and also served as chairman of the board.

“I have been involved with numerous chambers during my career and our Prescott Chamber is head and shoulders above the rest. The Chamber’s mission is to be a leader in the community and provide our business community with the resources to thrive. Whether it is looking for opportunities for businesses to collaborate or helping small businesses develop and execute a business plan, our Chamber is ready to be that catalyst.”

McCoy has also reached out to help others as a motivational speaker, which he says he really enjoys. “I believe that there are no limits to what we can achieve. If we have reasons, such as purpose and a why, they will be the foundations to develop our core values. Our core values will define how we operate in life and what decisions we make. If we follow up with meaningful goals, the compass will be set to create the life of our dreams. I believe our book of life is being written, but it is our choice on whether or not we are writing it ourselves or if someone else is writing it for us.”

McCoy has a variety of other business interests focusing on the food industry. He is a member of an umbrella company, Krave Restaurant Group, which houses different brands and concepts. “We believe we have strength in diversity and leverage as a group. We have had the fortune of utilizing the knowledge attained from each restaurant independently to use it for the good of the entire organization.”

McCoy and Krave currently own four restaurants. “Our first purchase was Nana’s Café, which was formerly known as Café 10, and serves breakfast and lunch. Breakfast has always been my favorite meal of the day and I was a frequent patron of the restaurant before we purchased it. Barbudos Mexican Grill & Cantina was our second purchase. Our family loves Mexican food and always thought Barbudos was one of Prescott’s best kept secrets.”

Additional acquisitions included Vibes Juice Bar, specializing in cold-pressed juices, smoothies and acai bowls, and the recent purchase of Lucy Dee’s BBQ, with “amazing” flavors in their smoked meats. “I do consider myself a BBQ snob, growing up with parents who refined their BBQ skills while we moved across the South, including Mississippi, North Carolina and Texas,” McCoy said. “Barbecue has always been a dream of mine and we have big plans to expand our BBQ footprint.”

Both he and his wife are fascinated by food. “I would consider myself a food lover and my wife a foodie,” he said. “That combination has allowed us to set specific goals for food quality while refining the menus within our restaurants. As for my role, I consider myself a consultant to each business. We look for the right person to manage the day-to-day and back them up with a strong kitchen. My involvement is culture, processes, systems and profitability. My wife manages the menus and restaurant ambiance.”

In addition to the food endeavors, a different kind of business has recently been added to McCoy’s business portfolio: Prescott Fit Body Boot Camp. “As a former athlete, I know the impact that working out has on not only your physical health but also your mental health. The formula at Fit Body Boot Camp is 30-minute guided sessions that challenge the body and deliver results in a positive, supportive atmosphere. We combine High Intensity Interval Training with active rest and nutritional guidance.”

Where I Find Inspiration

My inspiration has been, and always will be, my family. Specifically, my mother and grandmothers, who I watched work tirelessly to provide for their families. They instilled in me the drive, determination and focus to achieve at the level that I have. As for a role model in business, I am a huge Simon Sinek fan. He is more of an author than a businessman but his philosophies and teachings I have used as blueprints for how I operate in business.

Favorite Leadership Book for Entrepreneurs

I have three books that I always recommend for various stages in the journey. I start with “The Carpenter,” by Jon Gordon, then “The Go Giver,” by Bob Burg, followed by “Infinite Game,” by Simon Sinek.

Favorite Places to Visit

My favorite place to visit is D.C. because of its thought-provoking architecture and history. My favorite place to vacation is Cabo, Mexico, due to the relaxation, beautiful beaches and amazing food.

Favorite Game

Monopoly, hands down. I love that the average game is going to take you a few hours to play, which means more time with family and friends. I also enjoy the ability to watch how different personality types process decisions to make, whether it is buying property, homes or hotels. Monopoly also teaches how certain financial decisions can affect the game’s final outcome.

Most Admired Character Trait

Authenticity. The true value one can give is one’s self. Authenticity in business results in conveyance of intentions through words and actions. Transparency and understanding build trust among associates. QCBN

By Betsey Bruner, QCBN

Photo by Kay Lyons: Business leader and serial entrepreneur Jamaal McCoy drinks from the well of possibilities as an owner in local restaurants such as Vibes Juice Bar. 

Filed Under: Business, Community Profile, Spotlight, Tourism Tagged With: Findlay Chevrolet, Jamaal McCoy, Kay Lyons, Lucy Dee’s BBQ, Prescott Fit Body Boot Camp, Vibes Juice Bar

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