City gives Kirkbride one last chance [UPDATED]

Published 10:48am Tuesday, May 3, 2011 Updated 10:49am Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Comments

The Kirkbride building may only have until late summer of 2012 for a developer or developers to save it.

Under a still-developing phased demolition plan, all but the tower section and its directly adjacent buildings could face the wrecking ball if the city doesn’t get any results in what RTC advisor Ken Mattson called “a last Hail Mary shot to see if somebody will come out of the woods.”

The demolition plan does not have all of the cost estimates hammered out yet, and the Fergus Falls City Council must officially approve it at a later meeting, but the essentials were laid out at the council’s Monday night meeting. In essence, the city would move quickly to knock down several buildings left of the RTC campus that are not part of the historic Kirkbride building and that have been deemed impractical for reuse. This includes the cafeteria, gymnasium, administrative building, and some other outbuildings behind the Kirkbride “horseshoe,” as well as several tunnels connecting the buildings. Such work could start this construction season.

By August of this year, the city would issue requests for proposals (RFPs), which would ask developers to come forward with plans to develop all of or sections of the Kirkbride building. The city could then work with serious developers to make their plans a reality. Parts of the Kirkbride that were not picked up by developers could tentatively then be torn down late in the 2012 construction season and into 2013.

The plan came out of a meeting between city staff, the appraiser for the RTC property and Bonestroo, the city’s engineering firm for demolition of RTC buildings.

“If you want to attract developers, eliminate as many of the unknowns as possible,” said Mattson of the plan’s strategy. He believes that eliminating the tunnels, as well as some of the other buildings, will leave fewer question marks for developers looking for a simple investment in part of the Kirkbride. Since the building is so big, the RFPs will allow for developers to only develop parts of the building if they so choose.

“It’s prudent to break the campus into components to increase the likelihood of a reuse or redevelopment,” said Mattson. “That is, if someone won’t take a whole wing, make it available for developers to take portions of the wings or portions of the campus that are not associated with the wing properties.”

The council will hold a work session on determining what requirements it should have in its RFPs on Monday, May 23 at 4:30 p.m. in an offsite location, yet to be determined. It will seek input on the RFP process from other groups interested in the Kirkbride building, like the Friends of the Kirkbride, the Otter Tail County Historical Society and the Fergus Falls Economic Improvement Commission.

Tags: ,
Comments
  1. gene schmidt May 3, 2011 at 6:49 pm <Link>

    Maybe city staff and/or council should check to see what back buildings are on the National Historic Register before they start the demolition of them. My understanding is if some of them are destroyed, many tax incentives may disappear. Is this worth checking into???

  2. Dave Adams May 4, 2011 at 10:23 am <Link>

    A lot of things being said here, but the bottom line in this article is the word “Serious”. No maybes, or OPM’s or Non Profits wishing for give aways.

    “Serious Developers” step forward or the clock rules, and the City is on the Clock here. National Historic Register does not count here. either a “serious developer” steps up to the plate and buys something, or its coming down.

    Early on, some innovative planning and projects might have saved this place, but imagination was lacking and the will was not there. Everyone else “hoped” for a sugar daddy to step forward and save it. That did not happen. Business Savvy individuals are only interested in the land and that potential, not old run down buildings that cost big bucks to take down.

    Now, you can’t blame the current City Council for the lack of initial planning and imagination, that was the past City Council’s fault. Now the clock is running down and there is not much to do unless someone steps forward with their own money….

Editor's Picks