The Approach

The team assembled for the Kasson School Reuse Study offers unparalleled experience in the assessment, rehabilitation, and adaptive reuse of historic buildings. Team members have also demonstrated their collective commitment to community-driven, process-oriented planning through past participation in more than two dozen historic properties reuse studies, nearly a score of Minnesota Design Team visits, and a host of workshops and design charrettes intended to capture the imagination and vision of community members. Key team members meet the Secretary of the Interior’s Professional Qualification Standards for History, Architectural History, and Historical Architecture.

The reuse team has sought to design a process that is thoughtful, thorough, unbiased, and transparent, with an emphasis on discovering a practical solution to the school issue. We will explore a full range of alternatives for disposition of the building, including full demolition/redevelopment of the site; stabilization/mothballing; partial or phased rehabilitation; and full rehabilitation. We will simultaneously explore the factors that work for and against reuse of the building. To accomplish this, we will conduct a thorough condition assessment of the building itself, evaluating its structural system, integrity of the building envelope, condition of mechanical, and electrical systems, compliance with accessibility, life safety, and building codes, and need for hazardous materials abatement.

Once the building assessment has been completed, we will engage in an intensive and systematic period of information gathering in an effort to tap the collective knowledge and wisdom of local residents. This will be accomplished through a series of confidential “topical” interviews with individuals and groups representing a variety of constituencies, as well as through a series of public meetings/workshops and a web page designed to keep local residents informed about the process and to maximize opportunities for participation in the decision making process.

Once the team has gathered the raw information, we will use it to identify and analyze a set of issues that seem likely to affect the potential for reuse of the school building. Issue areas are likely to include, at minimum:

-Building condition issues

-Site issues

-Design issues

-Community issues

-Political issues

-Preservation issues

-Sustainability issues

-Economic Issues

-Ownership and management issues

Once the issue analysis has been completed, the team will outline a range of possible disposition alternatives (demolition, mothballing, phased rehab, full rehab) as well as several scenarios for reuse. We will then identify the options that offer the highest potential for success, outlining the rough costs for rehabilitation; identifying potential sources of revenue, including lease/rental payments, grants, low-interest loans, tax incentives, etc. that could be used to offset the costs, and creating a simple pro forma to demonstrate cash flow.

The team will compile its findings into a draft report that will be summarized at a public meeting and submitted to project sponsors for review. Comments and corrections will be integrated into a final report that will be published and presented at a public meeting.

The team will conduct all work on the project in conformance to the standards outlined in A Primer for Historic Properties Reuse Teams in Minnesota.

Principal Investigator

Master of Arts,

Historic Preservation Planning,

Cornell University

John Lauber will serve as principal investigator for the Kasson School Study. Since beginning his historic preservation career in 1991, John has amassed unusually extensive and varied experience in the field, completing cultural resource surveys, designation studies, historic contexts, documentation projects, reuse studies, and Federal Rehabilitation Tax Credit applications for historic properties located throughout Minnesota and ten other states. He has served as an intern for the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission, and has worked for a private cultural resource management firm, a large engineering company, and the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office. Since 1993, he has served as a guest lecturer at the University of Minnesota’s College of Design. He established an independent preservation consulting practice in 2003.

A strong proponent of community-based planning and problem solving, John has participated in more than twenty historic properties reuse studies, including those for the Red Wing Central High School, the Morris School, Chaska High School and the Baker-Backus School complex in International Falls. He has been an active member of the Minnesota Design Team, participating in four team visits and three screening visits. In 2003, he was selected to participate on an international town planning team that worked with the village of Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex, England.

During his tenure at the MnSHPO, he also planned, publicized, and presented a series of presentations on the preservation and adaptive reuse of schools for the 2001 State Historic Preservation Conference. Held at the former Glenwood High School, the conference featured from Artspace Projects, Metro Plains Development, and the Minneapolis and Duluth Public School Districts, as well as the School Facilities Specialist from the Minnesota Department of Children, Families, and Learning. The keynote speaker for the event was Rob Nieweg, who spearheaded a nationwide school building preservation effort for the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

John meets the Secretary of the Interior’s Professional Qualification Standards for History and Architectural History.

We have designed our process to be highly transparent and explicitly collaborative. In addition to the public meetings outlined in our detailed work plan, the team is committed to providing regular progress reports to study sponsors and SHRAC, including daily briefings during the on-site components of the visit.

The team considers public participation and transparency to be crucial components of the reuse study process. We will seek to publicize the process and maximize opportunities for public participation by working closely with local sponsors to actively engage the local media. Examples may include:

-Sending press releases to the Dodge County Independent, the Rochester Post Bulletin, KTTC-TV, Minnesota Public Radio and other print and electronic outlets to announce the selection of the reuse team, and to provide a brief overview of the process.

-Invite media representatives to accompany team members on a building tour.

-Making team members available for interviews.

-Enlisting the aid of local cable access producers to provide coverage of public meetings.

The team will also create a project website that will document the reuse study process as it unfolds, and will also provide a mechanism for residents who are not interviewed, or who may not be able to attend a public meeting , to provide input for the reuse team.

Historical Architect

Master of Architecture, Yale University

Steve joined SMSQ Architects in Northfield in 1976, and became a principal in the firm in 1987. As lead architect with the firm, he has completed an impressive list of projects reflecting his expertise in historic preservation, religious architecture, and the design of theaters and libraries. Steve has spearheaded a number of previous reuse study efforts in Minnesota, including two studies for the Northfield Middle School, a study of the Ah-Gwah-Ching State Tuberculosis Hospital in Walker, the Owatonna Fire Hall, and the Northern Pacific Railroad Depot in Wadena.

With extensive experience in the rehabilitation of religious, public, and institutional buildings, Steve is a skilled facilitator and consensus builder, recognizes the importance of transparency and participation in community decision-making. In addition to his other experience and skills, Steve brings to the team his extensive knowledge of and dedication to energy efficient design.

Steve meets the Secretary of the Interior’s Professional Qualification Standards as a Historical Architect.

The team assumes that there are at least four aspects to developing a sustainable solution for reuse or redevelopment of the school and its site. These include:

-Conserving the embodied energy contained within the existing school building by seeking to rehabilitate it for a new use.

-Selecting sustainable and energy efficient materials/technologies for rehabilitation work.

-Identifying “green” tenants—individuals or organizations who are engaged in efforts to conserve resources, develop green technologies, etc.

-Making a conscious effort to increase the environmental friendliness of the school site by preserving green space, minimizing hardscape, controlling runoff, etc.

Drawing on the expertise of individual members, our team will explicitly consider each of these ways of achieving sustainability as we make our way through the study process.

Historical Architect

Master of Architecture, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Steve joined the staff of SMSQ Architects in 2000. His work at the firm has encompassed a number of historic preservation projects, including a condition assessment and master plan for Christ Church Lutheran in Minneapolis, and rehabilitation of a historic warehouse in Faribault. He has participated in reuse studies for the Gehl-Middlestadt House in rural Carver County, the Northfield Middle School, and the Northfield Historical Society. Steve also serves as the firm’s resident expert in sustainable design and selection of historically appropriate building materials.

Steve meets the Secretary of the Interior’s Professional Qualification Standards as a Historical Architect.

Real Estate Development Specialist

Bachelor of Arts, University of Minnesota

Since beginning his professional career as Manager of Facilities for the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, Tom has amassed more than twenty years of experience and expertise in public policy and real estate development. From 1987 to 2003, he served as Vice-President of Properties for Artspace Projects, Inc., of Minneapolis. In that capacity he was responsible for developing the organization’s $200 million portfolio of real estate holdings, while also administering Artspace’s Real Estate Development, Consulting, Asset Management, and Property Management divisions.

In 2003 Tom established an independent real estate development consulting practice, completing projects for both non-profit and private clients. He served two terms on the Minneapolis Planning Commission, and is currently president of the Minneapolis Park Board.

Tom has been involved in the successful reuse and redevelopment of several historic school buildings in Minnesota and elsewhere, including the Franklin Junior High School in Brainerd; the Washington School in Duluth, and Central High School in Red Wing.

Urban Designer, Facilitator, Web Master

Bachelor of Architecture,

University of Notre Dame

Peter is a passionate and accomplished advocate for the creation of human scaled, historically and environmentally sensitive town planning that reflects the collective will and vision of community residents. An expert in facilitation and collaborative planning, Peter has served on more than a dozen Minnesota Design Teams, and participated in more than forty public design workshops and charrettes throughout the United States. He has also pioneered the use of the internet as a tool for participatory planning. His previous experience with historic buildings includes conceptual designs for the Morris School, a master plan for the Festival Theater in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, and planning for the rehabilitation of Turner Hall in New Ulm.