Many people are rightfully anxious about the Tuttle School facility and the plans for its future. We wish we could provide answers that are more concrete at this time, but the school board's own process has been slower than expected. Here is a brief synopsis to date:

• This spring the school board approved a contract with Urban Design Labs – a consulting firm - to work with the district and communities on repurposing vacated buildings (there may be at least 10 locations up for discussion).
• Their first charge was site assessments, meaning that they would pull together information regarding structure, zoning, locations issues, building condition and anything else deemed relevant to future discussions.
• After this phase was completed, they are then charged with connecting to the communities and discussing possible reuse scenarios.
• In the meantime, the school board had to come up with criteria for the Urban Design Labs to use in this discussion – what would or would not be allowed in a district facility. The school board finally approved a set of criteria August 14th.
• These criteria left the discussion open to a case-by-case basis, including the possibility of renting to another school program, other public reuses, tearing down buildings or even selling – although they state the last two options should only be used as a last resort. (A copy of the criteria will be at the SECIA office)
• SECIA members met with district staff and the Urban Design Lab in a preliminary discussion about process and public input. We asked that they help host a public input session as soon as they are ready to proceed.
• We have yet to receive concrete information on the district's general expectations of what they believe they will need from any reuse, such as rental costs, maintenance and utilities issues.
• The district continues internal discussion about reuses of some of their facilities for other district purposes, and as such may make alternate decisions about vacant facilities at any time.

There has been informal brainstorming sessions amongst SECIA members, sub-committee members and others to form a list of possibilities. A few of these have been pursued a bit further to determine viability but nothing has been decided about any option. Based on this limited feedback, there does seem to be a consensus so far that prioritizes the reuse of the facility still with a K-12 focus and ideas with positive connections to the local community. We are still building a list of ideas and welcome your suggestions. In addition, there has been some outside interest expressed in the facility. The following are some of the more significant highlights to date:

• We were approached by a charter school that expressed interested, but due to the districts delays they may no longer be an option.
• Two separate religious organizations have expressed an interest in the facility.
• Discussions were had with the Minneapolis Library. They were not interested in temporary relocation and permanent would be a long shot but they agreed to leave it on their list of possibilities for a relocated Southeast Library.
• There is a lot of interest from a number of directions about early childhood services and/or expansion of the University Daycare (located at 15 th and Rollins) since there are waiting lists. This idea is dependent on resources and costs.
• The University of Minnesota is doing a building “forensic analysis” to determine if this facility would be a possible location for University programs. They currently do not have a list of possible reuses in mind, as that discussion would occur upon completing the analysis. We have expressed concern that when or if they reach that point that they work with the community.
• There has been some exploration of the possibility for other forms of K-12 educational options to be created on the Tuttle building, such recreating the University Lab School model or charter school options.

This is just a few of the more prominent options that have come to our attention. We are monitoring the situation as much as possible and in all cases, SECIA's position has been the need to bring this conversation to the public once the district is finally ready to move forward with individual community dialogues and that no option should be approved without community input. We will keep you informed, as we know more.

Consider Writing a Letter to the Minneapolis School Board

The Minneapolis School Board will be determining the reuse parameters that will be given to the Urban Design Lab consulting firm. These conditions will directly impact what the future of the Tuttle School building will be. There are several options that have been explored by interested parties, including the possibility of one or more charter schools sharing space in the building. Other potential reuses could be expanded child care, office space, or eventually a community center. The key to the process is allowing the consultants to do their job by allowing them to analyze all of the potential reuse options.

Please consider writing the Minneapolis School Board and asking them to keep all of the options for the future of the Tuttle School Building on the table. The more they hear from concerned residents, the more likely they are to open the process and examine all potential uses.

The MPS Board contact information:

Minneapolis Board of Education

John B. Davis Educational Services Center

807 N.E. Broadway St.

Minneapolis, MN 55413

District still trying to entice tenants for recently-closed schools

By Gail Olson , The Northeaster

What to do with empty school buildings? After the Minneapolis Public School board closed six school buildings in the last two years and another six--five on the North Side and one in Southeast--at the end of last school year, the district has an excess real estate problem.

On May 22, the board voted to hire Urban Design Lab (North Side architect Paul Bauknight is the president and CEO) and J.B. Realty to come up with a strategic plan for each of the properties.

In the meantime, school board member Tom Madden said that might not be the end of the school closings. "The last round of closings was part of the North Side Initiative. We still have more buildings than we need." He added that projected enrollment for the 2007-2008 school year shows another large drop in North and Northeast and a small drop in Southwest.

He said that he knows some of the buildings, such as Holland School in Northeast, have been sitting empty going on three years now. "I’d be furious if I lived near a closed school. Nobody wants that, they want something done with the buildings. We’ve got to move on this, and we can’t sit on all these buildings."

MPS Director of Planning and Facilities Dan Hambrock said Urban Design Lab will be coming up with a strategic plan to follow for each of the properties. "They will not be dealing with the disposal process," he added.

The final building list might change if they find a use for some of them in the meantime, he added. So far, Friends of Hope Academy has purchased Philips School (the former Mt. Sinai Hospital) in South Minneapolis.

The school district is using Webster Open School, 425 5th St. NE, for administrative offices; it houses special education, psychologists, social workers and the multi-cultural department. A part of the building is reserved for a professional development center.

The City of Minneapolis is leasing Hamilton School in North Minneapolis to house its regulatory services department, Police Athletic League offices and the police department’s STOP program.

In Northeast, Putnam School, 1616 Buchanan St. NE, and Holland, 1534 6th St. NE, are closed. In North, recent closings (at the end of this school year) include Shingle Creek, North Star, Jordan Park, Lincoln, W. Harry Davis Academy, and Franklin Middle School. In Southeast, Tuttle School will close.

Hambrock said the school board needs to develop some parameters of what it will and will not accept. "The last time around, there were guidelines based on the viewpoint that the buildings might be valuable, and the marketplace might find them interesting."

The previous search to find lessees, however, was not particularly successful. Only one group showed interest in Holland, for instance, and after several talks with district staff and one community meeting, the group cut off contact with the district.

"Last time, the vision was maybe not feasible. You don’t have a theater arts building in a modest residential neighborhood without some sort of zoning change, for instance. I think in many cases the buildings are just too big and their locations are not where people want to be. Most are nestled into neighborhoods, where zoning and regulations won’t allow businesses. We also didn’t allow charters or private schools, which would have been the easiest ones to put in these buildings."

Hambrock said the district demographer reports that the number of children is declining in Minneapolis. "We’re not reproducing our population. Home ownership in the city is one of the highest in the nation for single occupants; 40 percent of the households are occupied by a single person living alone. In Minneapolis, we have smaller houses, many with two bedrooms. While they used to be inhabited by large families, they aren’t considered big enough for families anymore."

Hambrock said the board is expecting Urban Design Lab and J.B. Realty to be finished with their analysis in early fall.

Kou Vang, of J.B. Realty, said that Bauknight brought his company in to do the asset analysis of the buildings and determine potential uses. "We’re so early in the process, just data gathering at this point. We have to follow chronological steps and look at different factors."

Posted: Mon, 06/11/2007 - 22:04