RTC proposal moving forward

By Susan Larson | The Daily Journal

Published Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Progress is being made on plans to convert the Regional Treatment Center to an international language institute, according to the leader of a cultural studies program.

“We are moving forward,” Daniel Miller, Minnesota Institute for Cross Cultural Studies (MICCS) acting director, said. “We’ve been having meetings but there’s nothing to report yet. I hope in a couple of weeks to have something to announce,” he said, declining to expound on what that will be.

Institute Acquisition Partners, LLC, (IAP), made public in August its plan redevelop the Kirkbride into the MICCS. After buying the Kirkbride, IAP would lease it to MICCS. A privately funded institute, MICCS would focus on language immersion and business studies for Chinese and American students interested in international business and trade.

At the moment, Foss and Foss Associates, Moorhead, is performing a heating and cooling study “to determine the cost in installing a cooling system that makes sense” for the Kirkbride, said Fergus Falls Economic Improvement Commission Director Harold Stanislawski. The former steam system was fueled by burning garbage, which is no longer done.

As early as next week, Stanislawski said, holes will be bored for test wells to determine if geothermal heating (ground source heating pumps) will be feasible for the Kirkbride.

“I expect the study will be done by the end of next week,” he said.

The results, however, won’t necessarily be presented to the Fergus Falls City Council.

“It (the study) was done for IAP,” Stanislawski said. It is being funded by “a private source. Someone stepped up to the plate to cover initial expenses.”

While there are several details to worked out before an exact opening date for MICCS can be set, the city council previously passed a resolution stating it wants a development agreement in place by Dec. 31, 2008.

Interest was expressed earlier in the year by separate developers in parcels A and B on the outer RTC campus. Attorney Kent Mattson, the city’s Kirkbride/RTC project consultant, hopes these parcels will be closed on soon.

“The reason for the delay is title issues,” Mattson said, “but we’re committed to transferring titles by the end of the month.”

Hawthorne Development, Fargo, is interested in parcel A (the nurses cottage) for multi-unit housing/condominiums. Goldmark-Schlossman Investments, Fargo, has earmarked parcel B (the buildings formerly occupied by the Department of Human Services, the Fergus Falls School District, Early Childhood Family Education and Catholic Charities on the east side of the campus) for use as office buildings.

Developers would have to pay for renovations, remodeling and construction. The city would reap the benefits of having a historical site preserved. It would also create construction jobs during the refurbishing, as well as permanent jobs.