DILWORTH —The vintage “Starlite Pet Motel and Daycare” sign is up, the interior is almost finished and Katie Olson and Travis Golobich are ready for business.
If all goes as planned, they could open their doors to area pupsters by Nov. 18.
In August, Olson
shared her plans with The Forum
to open the new, vintage-inspired pet daycare/boarding facility on the property also occupied by the iconic Starlite Motel, 900 Center Ave. E., Dilworth. The original motel has become a familiar landmark to Highway 10 travelers as they drive west into Dilworth, and is believed to be one of the oldest buildings in Clay County.
Alyssa Goelzer/The Forum
Olson previously ran Petopia, a pet daycare/boarding facility in Grand Forks, but sold it after relocating to Fargo last spring to be with Golobich, her fiance. When the couple learned space was available to build a brand-new doggie daycare on the Starlite Motel property, they decided to echo the name as well as the midcentury vibe of the original motel.
“Everyone who has been involved with this project has been fantastic,” Olson said.
That includes property owner, Rick Halvorson, who has told them he hopes to add an animal-themed business or attraction to the lot to complement their business.
Halvorson even plans to lend the couple an old phone booth (remember those?) to decorate the front lobby of the 7,500-square-foot pet motel.
Alyssa Goelzer/The Forum
It will look right at home in the new building, which features a sign that would look at home in any 1950s' drive-in and a midcentury-modern aesthetic with Palm Springs-style wall colors.
Prefab walls and Palm Springs colors
The couple says they hope to get married later next summer. For now, their No. 1 focus has been on the Starlite.
“Katie is really good at running the business and in-house daycare stuff, where I am maybe most valuable as helping her through some of the design process and helping her think through the space as far as logistics of the building,” said Golobich, a project manager for Enclave Construction in the Fargo area.
“We have expertise in certain areas and when it comes together, it works really, really well,” Olson added.
Even so, they've faced the usual glitches that arise during any big construction project. Although they originally planned to open the doors Nov. 1, their timeline was delayed as they awaited approval from the Minnesota Department of Transportation to bring power and gas across the Highway from the railyard. But they received approval late last week, so are hoping to open Nov. 18.
The couple opted to build the pet motel with SIPs (structural insulated panels), which are prefabricated building panels that combine framing and insulation into one package. “It’s cost-efficient, energy-efficient and it allows you a little bit more of a different look than a classic pole barn,” Golobich said.
Alyssa Goelzer/The Forum
Inside, the light-blue lobby contains a long, white front desk with a miniature version of the Starlite Pet Motel sign on the front. The floor is a burnished concrete, selected because it’s easy to clean, adaptable if other floor coverings are ever added and durable enough to withstand the clicks of a million dog claws.
The west end of the building houses a “small dogs” space while the east end of the building contains the “large dogs” space. The space for small dogs measures about 1,000 square feet, contains windows and will house cots, beds, kennels and toys.
“It’s pretty much free play all day, so we can send them home nice and tired,” Olson said.
The daycare also contains a separate tub room for quick clean-ups and another small, separate room to help newcomers acclimate to the environment before they’re introduced to other dogs.
Roomy playrooms and dog TV
Behind the building is a 20- by 90-foot, turf-covered play area for dogged pursuit of sun and fun. Olson said they will add toys and play equipment for the doggos.
The chain-link fence around it stands at least 6 feet tall and is topped with three close-set strands of wires to bring the height to 7 feet. This is to ensure the greatest of the Great Danes and the most massive mastiffs can’t escape. “You’d be surprised at how some dogs could clear this,” she said.
Speaking of which, Starlite features a separate room, with large, built-in kennels, for any dog so doggone big it could double as a pony. Olson said they won’t spend a lot of time in here except to eat and sleep.
This room leads into the large-dog play room, which measures a sprawling 2,500 square feet. Regulations require pet daycares/boarding facilities to allow at least 15 square feet per dog, “and we’ve doubled it,” Golobich added.
Both the small-dog and large-dog rooms contain large windows so dogs get natural light and can bark at as many imaginary mail carriers as they like.
The flooring in both rooms is EPDM, a synthetic rubber which is used in roofing. It is ultra-durable, easy on the paws and helps cavorting canines get their grip.
While Olson and her staff will consider physical size when assigning which room a pup plays in, they’ll also consider attitude. Some small dogs rule much larger dogs with an iron yap and some Great Pyrenees are as gentle as the lambs they’re bred to protect.
They also will install an 85-inch TV on the wall, which will air dog-centric programming for any potential couch potatoes in the bunch.
The large-dog play room leads into another kennel room for dogs that are large, but not quite economy-sized, like Golden Retrievers or German Shepherds.
Olson said there’s been plenty of interest in the daycare already and already has reservations in place.
“There’s been quite a bit of interest with the whole thing,” Olson said, adding that the daycare’s unique vintage design and location by Highway 10 have made people take notice.
“I’m ready to have a full house of dogs again.”
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