With distinctive silo, Bloomington’s ‘Rollerblade house’ lists for $575,000

Scott Olson, inventor of the 80s blockbuster Rollerblades, found himself in Bloomington after selling the company producing the beloved in-line skates.

He purchased a home from a friend and built an attached silo, complete with an observation deck on top of it, with his Rollerblade funds, he said. He built his bachelor pad over the home’s garage and rented out two other spaces in the home.

“Ever since I saw silos in the farm country as a kid, I thought I wanted one of those things,” Olson said. “I thought being able to sit on top of one would be awesome. ... It was a dream come true building that silo.”

In 1999, Olson sold the house to current owner Shawn Day. To this day, its connection to the famed Minnesota inventor lives on.

“I get people knocking on my door and everyone stops out front to look at it,” Day said. “Around Bloomington it is known as the Rollerblade house or the silo house.”

Now the 3,793-square-foot home is back on the market for $575,000. With four bedrooms and three bathrooms, it comes with a Jacuzzi and is just steps away from trails along the Minnesota River Valley.

Parts of the home have been renovated over the years, but other parts, such as the inside of the silo, need updates, Day said.

Since the home was put on the market, Olson said he has received calls from friends and family from all around the country who recognized the address and the home’s unique structure. Olson is so taken by silos that he built a similar one at his barn home in Waconia.

“I’d probably still be living in that Bloomington house if I didn’t get married,” Olson said. “My wife said, ‘We’re leaving the bachelor pad.’ In marriage, you’ve got to compromise, and that’s when I had to move on from it.”

Once described as a party house, the most eye-catching and popular part was the silo, Day said. After he fell in love with the home as a renter, he decided to buy it.

Over the years, he has updated the kitchen on the main floor, the front deck and windows on the main part of the house.

Inside the maroon 40-foot-tall silo, a spiral staircase leads through a bedroom, deck room and bathroom to the rooftop deck. Doors on both sides of the silo lead to two lower-tiered decks — one above the garage and the other off the living room.

Day estimates he has around 1,200 square feet between the various decks and front porch.

By the Minnesota River Valley, there are ample opportunities to enjoy nature, Day said.

“If anyone wants a nature lover’s paradise in the Twin Cities, that house is what you need,” he said, “especially when you can walk out your door to all the nearby trails.”

On nearly an acre of land, it’s near a creek, and he has spotted several animals.

“There’s deer fighting in the fall; we’ve got multiple videos. I got all the eagles, and owls, and the turkeys in the backyard, and I see foxes daily. Everything that runs up and down the river valley, they see to come over.”

David Chase (952-201-3539, davidchase@cdre.biz) of Chasing Dreams Real Estate has the $575,000 listing.