Posts in St. Paul Issues Forum
At Dave Thune's encouragement, I've spent some time compiling the names and contributions of the many people who have shared their talents to get this project and plan for neighborhood revitalization so far. These are the people and faces behind the project, and I've been deeply privileged to have the opportunity on several occasions to be their very poor stand-in in places like this. It has stretched my personal abilities at times, and you may have noticed that I've taken that job very seriously. So very many people have contributed in so many unique ways to making the project a reality, but sometimes that's not obvious to outsiders. Successful projects are the ones that draw out the talents of so many in the community and bring those together in a common direction, and this project is unusual in the depth of excitement it is generating. Certainly, this is a beginning and not an end for the transformation of the neighborhood, but it is an important moment for reflection. So, here's a partial list of people who individually and collectively deserve credit in helping elevate the plans for the Penfield and shaping the direction of the surrounding neighborhood. I'm sending out this email to most of them in a parallel format. I'm sure I've left out people, so my apologies. Building a community is a team effort indeed, and many new friendships and connections have been forged. THANKS TO ALL! Bob CAPITOL RIVER DISTRICT COUNCIL PENFIELD DESIGN TASK FORCE MEMBERS, 2006 ----------------------- BETTY HERBERT - A pioneering downtown resident and relator with deep knowledge of downtown. BUD KLEPPE - Across-the-street-from-the-Penfield resident and owner of St. Paul Home Realty (http://www.yourstpaulhome.com) shared insights, and ended up working for the project for a time KAREN AVALOZ - Graced us with her trademark spunk to ensure design was grounded in neighborhood and district council input, and tirelessly championed the preservation of the Public Safety Building's historic faces. LARRY ENGLUND - CapitolRiver District Council Board Chair during some of downtown's most challenging years of evolution, Chaired Penfield Review Task Force and gave ample support to the Fitzgerald Park Process, and has been a friend and supporter through the best and worst of our work. ROGER SORBEL - Longtime downtown resident, employee, preservationist, Cap-Wigington enthusiast, providing the key momentum to preserve the historic Public Safety Building TIM GRIFFIN - Design Center Director at Riverfront Corporation, who made sure that the already-strong public presence of this building would mesh well with its surroundings. DEVELOPERS --------------------- BOB LUX - Penfield, LLC principal, a developer who genuinely cares about his projects, and whose excitement is infectious. He's modeled the project's structure partly on his successful Grant Park and Carlyle in Minneapolis, but gave the community ownership of the design process. BRIAN GORECKI - The project manager for the new Penfield proposal, who I will be meeting very soon. LUNDS - Smart, local staff who took the time to learn and hear about the community before settling on the project. They do their homework carefully, and know what they're doing! PETER BROWN - Former Penfield project manager. His big grid of interested parties and issues helped him reach a project many thought was impossible. Dedicated, resourceful, maintaining a strong relationship with so many people. SHERM & MARK RUTZICK - Longtime St. Paul father & son developer and principal in Drake Bank has successfully taken on enormous challenges in the past (Great Northern Lofts), and very smartly partnered with Bob Lux to provide great combination of their local know-how and local record with a rising development star. WALTER HUGHES - Bob Lux's intensely talented architect, who joined us almost weekly for design sessions, flying in from Houston. FITZGERALD PARK PRECINCT PLAN TASK FORCE, 2004-2006 ------------------------------------- Helped elvate the idea of a new development on the Penfield site along with creation of Fitzgerald Park across the street. BILL BUTH - Former Director, BOMA - Longtime staff helped our process find its footing, and was open to helping the task force explore a range of ideas. BOB CLOUGH - A resident in Central Towers, who was always prepared for meetings, and had thought deeply about the process and its direction. CARL PEDRO - 2nd generation owner of Pedro's Luggage, and if I've learned anything, an awfully patient person. If this approaching vision for the neighborhood gets off the ground, there should be a bust of him, his building, his family, and/or perhaps a bronzed piece of Pedro's luggage in the Park as testament to his perseverance. Thank you. CHRISTINE PODAS-LARSON - Director, Public Art St. Paul, who helped us think through ways to draw out the artistic spirit already embedded in much of the neighborhood. ELLEN WATERS - Former Economic Development Director, St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce. Went out of her way to resourcefully helped craft us an alternate vision for Fitzgerald Park to help see if we could find a way to get Mayor Kelly's support. GLADYS MORTON - The person who as much as any first connected me with the district council downtown. My three-doors-down neighbor in Gallery Tower, and friend, even if we sometimes disagree about directions. Longtime (and fellow) Planning Commissioner who cares deeply about her city and downtown, whose example and accomplishments I truly admire. GREG HORAN - Downtown Resident and tireless homelessness and housing advocate, who helped support the Renaissance Box project, and who - were he with us today - would be especially excited to have new access to a grocery store. JEFFERY NEFF - Former Minnesota Business Academy Director, whose personal warmth and hospitality in providing the Task Force space for our many meetings made me particularly appreciative of their presence JEFF NELSON - McNally Smith College of Music, and later MPR Community Affairs. Community-minded, and personally committed to helping build bridges where they were both sought and needed. JOHN GUTZMANN - St. Paul Public Housing Agency Director who shed light on their many units in the neighborhood, and handsome new headquarters building. KATH OUSKA - Represented the State Department of Administration insightfully and supported a smart process KAY BAKER - St. Joesph's Hospital Community Affairs Director, Chair of the Fitz Park Block Club, who has recently helped oversee a stunning addition to their hospital, and was there to stand by our Park proposal at its moment of truth on the Task Force. LEE KOCH - Capital City Partnership - Team-oriented business folk who struck a strong chord of collaboration. Lee continues to play a key role supporting Rice Park. MARGE ROMERO - Downtown resident and former legislative employee who brought color to our meetings on countless occasions, along with a unique connections and community-mindednes MATT MEJIA, Co-Chair with me, who was a model of disagreeing respectfully. Who (unfortunately for him) lost our over-the-phone the coin toss on who would serve on the Penfield Task Force. MATT SCHNEIDER - former Produce Exchange Resident, Ecolab employee, and friend who was an early and particularly enthusiastic supporter of Fitzgerald Park PAT WOLF - CRESA Partners - whose interest and visions for their property the south side of Fitzgerald Park (and incredible renovation of the Northern Furniture Building at 7th & MN) helped us explore the complex challenges for Fitz Park and re-envisioning 9th Street, and whose patience has helped to bridge divides PAUL MANDELL - The always-enthusiastic planning staff of the Capitol Area Architecture and Planning Board, (and long-ago WSCO Director) who provided stability and helped us know what was worth fighting for. PETER BROWN - Former Penfield project manager. Dedicated, resourceful, and maintains a strong relationship with so many people, and brings a vast knowledge and experience with urban development. Without him and his savvy, nobody would have had a chance to hear what the Penfield was. RICH PAKONEN & CO - Rossmor, Produce Exchange developer who has thriftily pulled off some great redevelopment challenges and whose staff advised us on our planning efforts ROD HALVORSON - Downtown resident. Without Rod's vision, articulate skill, and persistence, our plan for Fitzgerald Park and the neighborhood would very likely have been reduced to a shadow of itself. A friend and incredible Fitz Park/Penfield supporter. SARA FOSSEN - Capital City Partnership staff who joined the Task Force only for its last meetings, but whose energy and enthusiasm downtown opens up new doors and opportunities. SISTER MARIE HENRI GRENIER - Downtown resident whose quiet support of our work and community-building made our work feel particularly real TONY BOL - MPR Outreach staff who helped us think about the future of MPR's Fitzgerald Theater - which provided the neighborhood's namesake. TRILBY WHITE - Co-Owner, 2 Grrrls. Unfortuantely, their location downtown in the Produce Exchange opened a few years too early, but she grounded our work in a small business perspective. VIRGINIA NUGENT - Former manager of the Great American History Theater, whose work provided a model of connecting the theater physically and socially to the neighborhood around it. PUBLIC AGENCY STAFF
On the day after the announcement, I'm still floored and overwhelmed by all the excitement around the Penfield proposal and what a grocery store will bring to downtown. But I think a friend of mine summed up its meaning best in two words. It shows, he says, that "we've arrived". Indeed, downtown St. Paul has at long last arrived - not just as a great place to work, or go for entertainment. But also as a residential neighborhood. There are so many amenities downtown. And we've spent great time and energy developing other residential-supporting amenities like the Lowertown Playspace or Mears Park. But a grocery store is a monolithic residential amenity, in a league all its own. It's a game changer, and represents a deeply profound transformation in the trajectory of our downtown's history. We've arrived. Penfield Development in St. Paul to have a Lund's http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/35327353.html For Downtown St. Paul, a Revamped Penfield http://www.finance-commerce.com/article.cfm/2008/12/02/For-downtown-St-Paul-a-revamped-Penfield-New-version-of-highprofile-project-includes-a-Lunds Lunds in Works for Downtown St. Paul http://www.twincities.com/ci_11113507 Grocer Lunds Signs Deal for St. Paul Site http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2008/12/01/daily10.html
As a condo owner at the Pointe, I'm absolutely thrilled about this news!
Does anyone know what the height of the two new buildings will be?
David Shove wrote:
> They have initiated the procedures to recall Dave from office in a
> special election. Because signatures can be gathered citywide, this
> is a real threat which cannot be ignored.
This is good news. I wish them success.
Neal Krasnoff
Minneapolis
Bob is right. This is a huge watershed for Downtown residential living.
After hearing all the wonderful ameneties that await downtown apartment and
condo dwellers, there was still an obvious gap - the long talked about but
never materializing major supermarket. Not that we don't have other markets,
but this was a void mentioned in every study and taskforce looking at Downtown.
Everyone should thank Bob and all of the others - John Mannillo, Kim Hyers,
Larry England, Mark Karason, David Bradshaw, Rod Halvorson, Betty Herbert, Mike
Fish, Tim Griffin, Karen Avaloz, and many others (Bob, we need a list of the
taskforce members who worked on this) who spent so much time advocating (until
developers and elected officials dreaded their calls :-),way back into the
Norm Coleman mayoral days. When Chris Coleman became Mayor, one of his most
productive sessions was hearing from the Capital River Council in his first
week of office. Their message - bring the Penfield and a supermarket to
reality. He listened, Bob Lux and Sherm Rutzick listened, and very soon the
rest will all be history.
Thanks to the neighbors and developers who made this happen, and thanks to
Lund's for believing!
Of course now we need a park.... ;-)
dave thune
ward 2
(includes Downtown - a true neighborhood)
Finally, it's public! A Lund's, a Hyatt Place Hotel, and an apartment complex are coming to the Fitzgerald Park neighborhood in downtown, it was announced today. It's a huge victory for downtown's future, for the Fitzgerald Park area, and the future of Saint Paul in general. Downtown has long suffered from the perception that it is not a true residential neighborhood, and offered little in the way of residential amenities, which has most certainly held back downtown's residential position in the regional marketplace. This project reaffirms downtown's central place in the life of the Twin Cities. Even with all the merits of downtown housing, turning parking lots into housing downtown is a very challenging proposition. You take the neighborhood's existing assets, try to leverage them, expand upon them, and perhaps most strikingly work through a variety of opinions on how to move the neighborhood forward among all the institutional players who have a stake in downtown. To see this kind of proposal come forward now from this very respected group of people reaffirms the value of the hard work we have done grappling with alternatives to move the neighborhood forward. It has been my understanding that Lund's chose that location explicitly because of plans for Fitzgerald Park, which is slated to be built right across the street. Thanks in particular to Dave Thune, among many others, for his hard work getting us to this point. And the Mayor and City Council and Bob Lux, and on.... I'm lucky to have had the chance to watch this unfold and be part of such a talented group of people. Cheers! Bob = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = DOWNTOWN SAINT PAUL TO GET LUND'S GROCERY STORE http://www.twincities.com/ci_11113507 Upscale grocer Lunds is on the way to downtown St. Paul. Edina-based Lund Food Holdings, Inc. announced this afternoon that it's building a full-service Lunds supermarket at 10th and Robert streets in downtown at the upcoming Penfield. Lund Food Holdings has signed a long-term lease agreement with Penfield Development LLC. The approximately 30,000-square-foot supermarket will be located on the main level of the Penfield, a full city-block development bounded by 10th, Robert, Minnesota and 11th Streets. The development is also expected to include an upscale apartment complex and a Hyatt Place Select Service hotel. Construction is slated to begin next fall. "Lunds is a mainstay for neighborhoods throughout the Twin Cities, and this location will be no exception," said Bob Lux, a partner in Penfield Development.
SPIF Jeopardy. There's a post title - you provide the post. Some useful reference points: http://tinyurl.com/5vlvrk http://tinyurl.com/6jpvdg http://tinyurl.com/kth3e Bonus points available for those who are able to show the intellectual capacity to critically analyze specific decisions by specific public safety individuals, while giving hearty testament to the overall truly laudable service performed by individual police officers and sheriff's deputies.
Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:19:50 -0600
From: Rhoda Gilman <rhodagilman@earthlink.net>
Subject: Letter in Villager
Several people have asked me to post the letter from me that has been
published in the current issue of The Villager. Here it is:
To The Villager:
³The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against
forgetting.² Those are the words of Milan Kundera, a Czech writer who was
exiled from his country while it was behind the iron curtain. In the wake
of the Republican National Convention, St. Paul should listen to him.
We have a lot to remember here in our city, where the sacred mounds of
ancient people share river bluffs with Victorian mansions and the twin
domes of church and state. Families have lived here for generations,
leaving their French, German, and Irish names. It is a storied place.
I remember Chris Coleman¹s heart-tugging recollections when he was
campaigning for mayor. They were about his boyhood in St. Paul, For that
matter, I remember his father, who, in the 1960s and 1970s, was the most
powerful politician in the Minnesota legislature. Chris may feel a
certain sense of entitlement, but I have no reason to doubt that he loves
this place, just as many of us do.
But now a lot of us have other memories, too. We remember long ranks of
black-clad, faceless troopers, tall iron fences shutting in peaceful
protesters, clouds of tear gas, screams of pain and fear, doors being
kicked in, sirens wailing, bridges closed. We remember a week when St.
Paul yielded to becoming a military zone, where a bicycle and a bandana
were enough to get one detained and perhaps beaten. If anyone doubts it,
let them see the film ³Terrorizing Dissent,² put together by journalists
who were on the streets and not ³embedded² in police cars.
And now our mayor and council want us to forget. The streets were cleaned
up immediately. The fences disappeared as if by magic. And Chris writes
to his shell-shocked constituents: ³On a national and international
stage, our city shone in the spotlight, and Saint Paul stands to reap the
rewards for years to come.²
Sure. But I and many others will have a hard time forgetting the
experience of being an occupied city. On my window sill there sits a
memento -- a broken set of plastic handcuffs that I picked up from dozens
scattered across the floor of the RNC Welcoming Committee's convergence
center at 627 S. Smith Ave. The place was relatively quiet when I got
there on the day after the sheriff¹s men had broken in and terrorized 50
people. I noticed on the wall a warning that the occupants had agreed to
keep the space sober and smoke-free. Quite a bunch of rowdies, I
concluded. The real damage from the week was not broken windows or a
couple of vandalized vehicles. It was the destruction of our sense of
freedom and of trust in our own city officers.
No, Chris, we still have questions, and we won¹t easily give up the
struggle of memory against forgetting - not next week, not next month,
not next year. The wound is deep, and for better or worse it has become a
part of Minnesota¹s history as this 150th year of statehood comes to a
close.
-- Rhoda Gilman
This isa reminder about the workshop Monday evening. Michelle Fure of theState
of Minnesota will be giving us a personal tour ofits website and the many state
agencies that can be accessed from this siteand be taking our questions about
the site. Please, consider joining us for this unique opportunity.
Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2008 18:50:02 EST
From: <email obscured>
Subject: Dave Thune
During the many years I've known him, St. Paul Ward 2 City Council member
Dave Thune has been a thoughtful, fair and creative member of the Council.
He believes in the US Constitution and the rights it spells out for all of
us. But, Lately, because of his strong stance on freedom of speech and
assembly at the RNC, as well as his authorship of St. Paul's smoking ban,
he is being targeted by a number of individuals. They have initiated the
procedures to recall Dave from office in a special election. Because
signatures can be gathered citywide, this is a real threat which cannot be
ignored.
Please join Dave, his wife, Sue and me at a fundraiser to raise money to
rekindle the successful campaign we all thought was behind us for the next
three years.
It will be held on Thursday, December 4, 2008, at 275 Summit Avenue in St.
Paul from 5:30 to 7:30 PM.
Together we can fend off this rash effort to silence voices of people who
stand up for what is right.
Please join us on December 4th,
I fully welcome and support the soon to be relocated Shalom Home. People
who make Shalom Home their home will have a beautiful campus with beautiful
views of the river bluffs. Transportation will be ideal for residents with
mobility, for their families coming from the airport and for employees that
earn their living by providing care.
I fully welcome Trader Joes. Finally, after 30 plus years of that troubling
corner, a new vitality added to the West Seventh Community. Healthy
food and possibly even living wage jobs.
Even as construction proceeds way past the point of no return, I hope that
we can learn from these projects. Both projects totally obscure the
beautiful river bluff views from strategic locations. The corner of
Randolph and Lexington had the most beautiful panoramic view of the bluffs.
Over the past 30 years, each time I passed through this intersection, my
spirits were lifted by the beauty all around me. The breathtaking views of
the bluffs balmed and nurtured my spirit. Trader Joes, three stories high,
sited right next to the sidewalk, totally obscures the natural amenity of
the river bluff views. It did not have to be that way. The Trader Joe's
site could easily have been pivoted so as not to obscure the public
good/the amenity of the site. The same is true of placement of the building
on the Shalom Home site. Shalom Home now blocks the view of the bluffs. The
West Seventh Community, with her streets connecting to the diagonal West
Seventh at right angles, has spectacular views of the river bluffs from the
streets of West Seventh, no matter how far from the river. I use to be able
to walk out of my house, walk to the end of the block of Watson and Milton,
and see the river bluffs. The awe at this natural beauty never failed to
astound me. Now the building juts right up to the sidewalk and totally
obscures the river bluff view. Two of the best reasons for living in the
Middle Ground neighborhood of the West Seventh community are gone forever.
Two more sacred spaces gone, sacrificed for development. The unfortunate
thing is it did not have to happen this way. Two terrific projects that
could have just pivoted the location of the buildings and not have led to
this loss.
Saint Paul needs to consider amenities like river and river bluff views
when considering/approving site plans. These views are lost. All that is
left is learning from these sitings and incorporating these lessons in any
future siting.
I give thanks on this thanksgiving for all my blessings, the beauty all
around me, our human capacity to learn from mistakes,the opportunity to
dialogue in our contemporary new public square,the cyber commons. I give
thanks for Shalom Home and TJs, and extend my welcome to both.
I fully welcome and support the soon to be relocated Shalom Home. People
who make Shalom Home their home will have a beautiful campus with beautiful
views of the river bluffs. Transportation will be ideal for residents with
mobility, for their families coming from the airport and for employees that
earn their living by providing care.
I fully welcome Trader Joes. Finally, after 30 plus years of that troubling
corner, a new vitality added to the West Seventh Community. Healthy
food and possibly even living wage jobs.
Even as construction proceeds way past the point of no return, I hope that
we can learn from these projects. Both projects totally obscure the
beautiful river bluff views from strategic locations. The corner of
Randolph and Lexington had the most beautiful panoramic view of the bluffs.
Over the past 30 years, each time I passed through this intersection, my
spirits were lifted by the beauty all around me. The breathtaking views of
the bluffs balmed and nurtured my spirit. Trader Joes, three stories high,
sited right next to the sidewalk, totally obscures the natural amenity of
the river bluff views. It did not have to be that way. The Trader Joe's
site could easily have been pivoted so as not to obscure the public
good/the amenity of the site. The same is true of placement of the building
on the Shalom Home site. Shalom Home now blocks the view of the bluffs. The
West Seventh Community, with her streets connecting to the diagonal West
Seventh at right angles, has spectacular views of the river bluffs from the
streets of West Seventh, no matter how far from the river. I use to be able
to walk out of my house, walk to the end of the block of Watson and Milton,
and see the river bluffs. The awe at this natural beauty never failed to
astound me. Now the building juts right up to the sidewalk and totally
obscures the river bluff view. Two of the best reasons for living in the
Middle Ground neighborhood of the West Seventh community are gone forever.
Two more sacred spaces gone, sacrificed for development. The unfortunate
thing is it did not have to happen this way. Two terrific projects that
could have just pivoted the location of the buildings and not have led to
this loss.
Saint Paul needs to consider amenities like river and river bluff views
when considering/approving site plans. These views are lost. All that is
left is learning from these sitings and incorporating these lessons in any
future siting.
I give thanks on this thanksgiving for the beauty all around us and for our
human capacity to learn from mistakes. I give thanks for the opportunity to
dialogue in our contemporary new public square, the cyber commons. I give
thanks for Shalom Home and TJs, and extend my welcome to both.
m@ry
Mary C. Zanmiller
Andrew, you are soooooo subtle! Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Diane Gerth
West End and Downtown
Ground was just broken for the new "Fire Station 101" and the new Clinic
("The Peter") is almost finished. See 8 photos taken this sunny morning by
clicking on the link. For fun, see if you can spot the hidden theme in
each of the photos!
Have a lovely day,
AMH
Rive Gauche
http://picasaweb.google.com/amhine2/NewClinicAndFireStation
Both Rich Kramer and Chuck Repke have pointed out to me in private that it's incorrect to suggest that JAJ Elementary is "new" construction, because the original facade, "the structure and all the outside walls, window locations, etc. are still the same as when it was built in 1910." It was also an error on my part for not clarifying that I was describing the inside of the building when I mentioned that "all that remains of the original building, I believe, is one stairwell and entrance." I guess my thinking was that if the entire interior of a building is gutted and rebuilt, as well as an addtiion put on to connect to the adjacent YMCA, it's not wrong to suggest that it's a "new" building, but in fairness, I should have described the building as "extensively remodeled" or "rebuilt" in the past decade rather than as "new." My apologies to Eric Mitchell and anybody else on the East Side who may have offended by my inexact choice of words. For those who are interested, Rich Kramer also provided me with a link to a document that describes the plans for remodeling JAJ, along with several other schools across the country, at http://www.epa.gov/dced/pdf/SmartGrowth_schools_Pub.pdf. Tom Goldstein Hamline-Midway In a message dated 11/22/2008 12:57:39 A.M. Central Standard Time, <email obscured> writes: Actually, Eric, the building is new--built within the last decade. All that remains of the original building, I believe, is one stairwell and entrance. So, while you're correct about a school on this site not being new, the current elementary building is relatively recent construction. Tom Goldstein Hamline-Midway
I encourage folks to attend this presentation. This is the second workshop in a
series of 4 workshops designed to help folks better understand the diversity of
government information and services that are available on the web. Last week,
we had a personal tour of the city website by the city webmasters. We were able
to ask questions about the city website and offer feedback. It was a very
interesting presentation. I was a bit surprised about the ability for citizens
to watch city council meetings live via the internet, or watch archived
editions of recent meetings.
See: http://www.stpaul.gov/index.asp?NID=2128
Does anyone use this service? If so, has it been helpful?
This coming Monday, we have scheduled a tour of the county website. While
county government is less understood than city government, Ramsey county is
responsible for a much larger budget and delivers many of the key services that
we all count on. This coming workshop will be a great opportunity to learn more
about what the county does and how to access online information about those
services.
WORKSHOP: Tour the Ramsey county website
Monday, November 24th, 7:00-8:30 PM
Rondo Community Outreach Library
in the Electronic Classroom
University & Dale (Free Indoor Parking)
FREE
Questions: Call Tim 651-246-5045
Eric, Your friend has sent you an e-fortune cookie, from Confucion.sino.com.rade: "Man who recall past get many dates" Bonus fortune: "Exclaim boy about girlfriend who remember every Fu king detail: 'She history!'" Xie, xie for the clarification on the school. I guess I still had Withrow Elementary on the brain, which was hardly that posh. For a Roscoe view of the 3M situation, and for stories on these other topics Central Corridor and Historic Preservation Mysteries of the Central Corridor (e.g. Turf Club) Hamline Midway History Corps Fire Station Celebrates Century of Service 3M Plans to Divest the Buildings that Shaped Its Legacy—and Saint Paul’s History Bottoms Up! The Land of Amber Waters: The History of Brewing in Minnesota Frogtown Brick Houses Placeography Happy Saint Paul Cube Customers go to http://www.historicsaintpaul.org/newsroom/publications/journal/spring_2008 Or you can SPIFload the PDF attached here. Gerry, Let's hit the next Port Authority Open House! Searching their website for "open house" yields a 3M reference, oddly enough, and a "commitment to innovation": http://www.sppa.com/economy_rd.asp So that's encouraging. I hadn't thought of building more historic hospitals before, but maybe a VA in Saint Paul is in order.
The following file was added to this topic:
Actually, Eric, the building is new--built within the last decade. All that
remains of the original building, I believe, is one stairwell and entrance.
So, while you're correct about a school on this site not being new, the
current elementary building is relatively recent construction.
Tom Goldstein
Hamline-Midway