Commissioners disagree on Stevens building
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, May 30, 2001
Two county commissioners think a vacant building might make a good judicial facility, but others would rather see a new structure built off site.
Wednesday, May 30, 2001
Two county commissioners think a vacant building might make a good judicial facility, but others would rather see a new structure built off site.
Commissioners Dan Belshan and Glen Mathiason spoke in favor of exploring uses for the Stevens building, which the county bought last year with plans to tear it down. The building is just across East Pearl Street, south of the courthouse.
&uot;We never dreamed of this as a possibility,&uot; Belshan said at a county board workshop Tuesday. &uot;But it keeps a presence downtown and renovates an existing building at a lower cost.&uot;
Engineers estimated that older buildings have been remodeled for $50 to $150 per square foot. Using those figures, the 37,000 square-foot structure would cost $5.55 million to renovate if the cost were $150 per square foot.
The county has not ordered a study on the Stevens building yet, however, aside from a structural evaluation that found the building to be sound.
Belshan said he’d rather explore the Stevens option than go ahead with an off-site court building that he said would cost $12 to $20 million, although others disputed those numbers.
Mathiason, saying his constituents can’t afford to pay too much for new courthouse buildings, said he’d support studying the Stevens building.
&uot;I think Dan and I are the only ones interested in doing something with it,&uot; he said.
Board chairman Dave Mullenbach said he’s afraid the county will spend too much time and money studying the Stevens option. &uot;I can just see that mushrooming, and I don’t want to go there,&uot; he said.
Mullenbach said the board must decide what to do with the building before winter.
An engineer from the Minnesota Preservation Office told board members that renovating the existing building would cost about the same as building new, but other professionals have since said the renovation would be more expensive, said Roger Steinberg, who is mediating the courthouse discussions.
Commissioner Mark Behrends said using the Stevens building isn’t practical.
&uot;We’ve got an old barn at our farm that’s structurally sound and nice to look at, but it doesn’t serve any purpose anymore,&uot; he said. He could spend the money to fix it up, but it wouldn’t be worth it.
Commissioners did not agree on whether to pay for a study of the Stevens building, but will wait until they see numbers on projected jail populations from the Minnesota Department of Corrections. They plan to use the numbers to help assess the county’s jail and court needs.
The county set another workshop for June 15 to continue the discussion.
Also at Tuesday’s workshop, board members reported that the Wal-Mart building in Skyline Mall is no longer an option for courthouse facilities.
Commissioner Dan Springborg said Wal-Mart will continue paying rent to the corporation that owns the building, even after the store moves to is planned new location on the other end of town. The owners are not willing to sell the building, he said.