Nobody wanted a mansion with 110 rooms. After 20 years, he has a new life.

It sat empty for years until Youngblood, a partner in Renters Warehouse, a local leasing and property management company, bought it for $525,000. At first, he tried to get rid of it repeatedly, for prices up to $3.6 million.

In 2019, he decided to change his approach. If no one would want to live there, perhaps a small business or organization would like to rent an office at an affordable price.

He was right.

According to Rich Drake, CEO and partner of Renters Warehouse, all but 450 square feet of space has since been occupied.

One of the largest tenants leasing space is Alvin Community College (ACC), whose main campus is located in Alvin, Texas, just 10 minutes from Manvel.

“As a community college, we want to make sure we provide accessibility to as many potential students or our community as possible,” Stacy Ebert, vice president of strategic initiatives at ACC, told Business Insider. “So having a physical presence in the western part of our service area has been a goal of ours and part of our strategic initiatives.”

The college has leased 14,500 square feet and is renovating to better accommodate students. ACC will initially offer workforce-type training, such as courses for nursing and law enforcement, but will eventually offer general education courses.

Companies lean towards their unique location

According to Ebert, the school isn’t making too much of a statement about its new campus being a mansion — they’re just calling it “ACC West.” However, some of the other businesses in the building lean fully into the mansion aesthetic.

Cullen Fair, owner of Space City Treasure, a store that buys and sells everything from jewelry and designer bags to sneakers and guns, said the mansion helps attract business.

“In people’s mansions, they tend to have valuables, so I said, ‘This is a perfect fit,'” he told BI. “This is a big building. It has a unique location, a unique story, and I could use this building to attract a certain clientele.”

Manvel Manor is home to other businesses such as a barber shop, an insurance firm and a church.

Here’s a look at photos of the enormous and maligned building over the years and a look at its long and intriguing history.