RTC buildings eyed for college

By Susan Larson | The Daily Journal

Published Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Parcels A and B of the Regional Treatment Center could become part of the cultural college envisioned for the campus, rather than the housing and office space originally planned.

Since the Minnesota Institute for Cross Cultural Studies (MICCS) will require more land than is available with parcel D (the Kirkbride building), said attorney Kent Mattson, the city’s Kirkbride/RTC project consultant, the developers of A and B have decided to put the land into the MICCS concept (parcel A, 36 acres; parcel B, 19.57 acres; and parcel D, 51 acres). Both will revert to their original plans if the university is not realized.

The city approved forms for purchase and development for both parcels Monday. Parcel A will be closed on within the next couple of weeks and B shortly after, Mattson said.

Hawthorne Development, Fargo, planned multi-unit housing/condominiums for parcel A (the nurses cottage). Goldmark-Schlossman Investments, Fargo, was prepared to make office buildings out of parcel B (buildings formerly occupied by the Department of Human Services, Fergus Falls School District, Early Childhood Family Education and Catholic Charities)

Renovating the Kirkbride and bringing it up to code is estimated at $80 million — all the developers’ responsibility, Mattson said. The property will be sold as is.

“The city isn’t making a dime on it,” he said, “so you’re not taking any risk on it,” Mattson said.

Benefit to the city will come in the creation of construction jobs, permanent jobs and preservation of a historical landmark.

The news was good but and not at all surprising to Friends of the Kirkbride, a volunteer group that has long fought to see the campus preserved in some form.

“I’ve been optimistic since day one,” said Maxine Schmidt, Friends of the Kirkbride founding member. “It will make a wonderful college campus.”

“We’ve always had great visions for this property,” Friends member Laurie Mullen said. “This means great things, like economic development, for Fergus Falls.”