Chris Gack is shown in his new office, above, in the building on Highway 169 he has been busy rehabbing since last December. For more photos of Gack's office renovations, pick up this week's Faribault County Register.

If Chris Gack writes a Christmas letter this year, he is going to have an awful lot to tell about.

That is because he has had one busy year in 2016. In fact, his last couple of years have been extremely busy, to say the least. But this current year was the topper.

Here is his story.

Gack was working as the admissions counselor at the Elmore Academy when he realized that job might not be around forever and he should start making some other plans.

“I started taking insurance courses while I was still at the Elmore Academy,” he recalls. “So, when it closed, I was ready to move into this career, and I became an agent for Farmers Insurance.”

He started Chris Gack Agency with an office in the basement of his house in March of 2014. Then, in October of 2014, he moved into the former Headlines Plus building on Highway 169 when they moved to downtown Blue Earth.

“I was renting that office, and I really wanted to own my own place,” he says. “And I could see the old empty gas station across the highway that was for sale.”

The trouble was, no one seemed to know who owned it, Gack says. Until finally, it turned out the county owned it for non-payment of taxes.

Gack bought the building in December of 2015, when the city of Blue Earth passed on it because they did not want to have to tear it down.

“I started working on it right away,” he says. “I cleaned it out and then gutted it down to the bare walls.”

Inside was a mess, as the building, which had been a Food ‘N’ Fuel store, had not been open since 1996, Gack learned.

“There were a lot of squirrels living in the space above the ceiling,” Gack says. “When I tore the ceiling down, I could see the squirrels had had a heyday the amount of walnuts was incredible. There were also a few dead squirrels up there and one live one who had not escaped and ran around the place.”

Gack did almost all the work himself, except for the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), an overhead door where the car wash had been, and the front concrete parking area.

“I was a combination insurance salesman and contractor,” he says with a big smile. “And yes, maybe I did get to thinking that perhaps I had bitten off more than I could chew.”

Gack moved into his new office on June 1 of this year. People might think that means he had finished the rehab of the building, but those people would be wrong.

It still is not done.

“I got it to a point where I thought I could move in and be able to have my office there,” he explains. “But I kept right on plugging away on it every day. In between appointments with clients and answering the phone.”

He still has some flooring to install, wood trim around the windows and around some of the walls, and a few other things.

Like, the back room, and former car wash area, which is still pretty well gutted. It is there Gack plans on adding a conference room, space for his other venture (a travel agency) and space for putting a workout area, sauna and tanning bed for his wife.

“My wife, Amy, has Lymes Disease,” Gack explains. “She was bitten by a tick when she was four. And, she has been battling it since. Part of her treatment involves exercise and purging the chemicals in her body by using the sauna, and much, much more.”

The Gacks have those items in their house at this time, but they could use some extra space at home.

When Chris and Amy were married, she brought four children into the marriage. Since that time, the couple has had two more, for a total of six. All six have been diagnosed with Lymes since birth but all are in remission, Chris Gack says.

“We have had a very, very busy household,” Gack says with another big smile. “There just is never a dull moment.”

The children are: Kalon, 22, in the military; Brayden, 20, who works in Mankato; Jalyssa, 18, who graduated from high school last year and attends South Central College in Mankato; Bricen, 13, who is a seventh grader at Blue Earth Area Schools; Cayden, 7, a first-grader; Cael, 5, in preschool in Fairmont.

Gack says his new venture has started off with a bang, probably because he marketed it hard the first year to get it started.

“I have had a lot of community support,” the Blue Earth native and graduate of Blue Earth Area High School says. “Support from my clients, letters of support from many people, and support from the city and EDA (economic development authority).”

Things have been going very well since he opened up his new insurance agency, Gack adds.

“I have written 40 policies in the past two months, 100 in the last quarter,” he says. “And 40 to 45 business insurance policies so far.”

He handles all types of insurance, from homeowners to auto, from farm and business to workmans’ comp.

Gack says his territory can cover from Albert Lea to Worthington, and he is licensed in Iowa as well.

He has done so well that last year he was named “Career Agent of the Year” for the Farmers Insurance’s Rochester area. And, he is trying hard to get the award again in 2016 despite working so hard as a construction contractor on his building.

“I love to help people, help them find out what is available for insurance and what they should have,” he says. “Many people don’t know what they should have or what it should be costing them.”

As far as the big leap of faith of going into his own business, buying an old, abandoned building and then remodeling it virtually by himself, Gack has this to say.

“I just believe that if you have an opportunity, you just have to go for it,” he says. “Say a few prayers and believe God will provide.”

Would he tackle another remodeling project like this one?

Gack says probably not. But he admits he jokingly told his wife, Amy, that maybe he should take on buying and remodeling the Three Sisters in downtown Blue Earth next.

“She didn’t think much of that idea,” he says, once more with a really big smile. “Not much at all.”