For the next few weeks, a Twin Cities firm that specializes in this sort of thing will be evaluating the Western Grocery/Stevens Hardware building, trying to determine what uses are possible for the controversial structure.

Wednesday, September 19, 2001

For the next few weeks, a Twin Cities firm that specializes in this sort of thing will be evaluating the Western Grocery/Stevens Hardware building, trying to determine what uses are possible for the controversial structure. With county board members split on what to do with the building, the future of the historic structure is in doubt.

A precursory glance at the situation suggests that while a future use for the building is still forthcoming, one thing is clear: There would be little point in tearing it down, as some have suggested the county do.

The most popular scheme involving tearing the building down involves demolishing the structure to make way for more parking. But paying hundreds of thousands of dollars, first to buy the building (which the county has already done) and then to tear it down – and to gain nothing more than a slab of striped pavement – doesn’t seem like the best use of the county’s resources.

And it would create a different problem. Downtown’s worst eyesore, a jagged steel electrical station, is now at least partly shielded by the massive Western Grocery building; if the building is removed, there will be nothing standing between the courthouse – once and possibly again the jewel of downtown – and the eyesore, as well as the polluted land near it.

Add to that the historical value of the structure, as well as the assertion by architects that the building can be quite useful, and there’s really no good reason for the county to go to the expense of knocking it down. If some of the courthouse facilities move out of downtown, as some favor, the need for parking will be lessened. If some other solution to the courthouse facility problem is found, a parking solution can be part of that plan.

The county is not obligated to use the building for its courthouse facilities. If commissioners decide there are better options, so be it. But if that’s the case, the county should seriously consider finding a different use for it, rather than demolishing it.

Western Grocery has turned into a rallying point for some concerned citizens interested in downtown. They recognize that saving this building is only the beginning. Success in that goal, however, can be the start of a movement that could preserve downtown’s heritage and increase the tangible and aesthetic value of Albert Lea.