Kay Hegge, Prairie Skyline Foundation27048 310th ST SWCrookston, MN 56716

August 23, 2010

Members of the Crookston City Council124 N BroadwayCrookston, MN 56716

We, the voters have already been taxed for the costs of demolition of the Wayne Hotel and are here to ask you to put this money toward construction, not destruction of our Historic Downtown Commercial District.

Picture this: Let’s assume for the moment that the $600,000 demolition estimate is correct, and the County is willing to give the building and the money over to the City. We have an estimate from JLG Architects, that tells us we can stabilize and clean out the building for an estimated cost of $322,880.50 and still have $277,119.50 left to go toward one or all of the ideas that we will present to you next.

First, I understand that for years you have struggled with the problem of how to “save” downtown and there are no easy & quick answers. We too have been searching for a strategy that can work for historic downtown Crookston. We too were hoping that Metro Plains could pull a funding package together by the County’s deadline.

Over the years, I have become very familiar with the problems that downtown historic building owners, and downtown businesses deal with day to day, and it essentially boils down to this: There is not enough foot traffic in downtown Crookston to provide enough shoppers to support businesses located there. There is not enough income coming into businesses downtown, therefore important building upkeep does not occur.

Second, “The Artspace Preliminary Report said: “We believe that Crookston has the potential to become another Minnesota “small arts town” with a flourishing economy based on the arts, recreation, and tourism. The buildings of the Commercial Historic

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District are ideally suited to such uses, in part because historic districts are themselves natural tourist attractions – as Stillwater and Lanesboro, among others, have discovered.”

Therefore our strategy consists of making Crookston a haven for artists of all cultures, their works, and their creativity. We already have great buildings, great museums, Glacial Ridge; we have many arts groups under the umbrella organization, Valley Crossing Arts Council, and a river. We do not have a Fair, an Artists Gallery, a dedicated theatre performing space, a trolley, or horse drawn carriages, yet. In order to become, the “Stillwater of the North,” there is no time to lose.

This brings us to the larger problem of what to do with this monument of our forefathers.The Bang family had an ice cream and candy shop in the Palace Hotel. Munn’s Jewelry was first located there; the first offices of Northwestern Bell, and the Kiwanis Club, Lion’s Club, Toastmasters and Rotary were originally located in the Hotel Wayne.

We are publicly offering three ideas for the Council to consider before the former Hotel Wayne/Palace comes down in haste and leaves an unattractive alleyscape on Highway 2 and 75 for the world and our community, our children, and our grandchildren to see.

These ideas represent a lot of thought on the part of many people, including the needs of local artists expressed at the April “Artspace Visit.”

1. One idea is the vision of the Hotel Wayne as a shared “8000 square foot center common” covered pavilion space like the “Maple Lake Pavilion.” Complete with picnic tables, a fountain, and a deck for performing, we can gather and intermingle with all ages and incomes for all kinds of community activities or just hang out and brainstorm how to improve our Downtown, our Schools, and our lives.

This is the place for our farmer’s market, our local artists, dancers, and musicians. Events can be impromptu or planned. This is the Center people have longed for and it could be developed in partnership with Metro Plains, or Artspace as well as others. Important too, the Pavilion can serve as a first stage for the next two ideas.

2. We need to remind people that developers like Metro Plains often work on challenging projects like this for five to ten years. A similar building, the Taralseth building in

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Warren stood for ten years with no roof at all before it was remodeled into affordable housing and a community center. It was Polk County’s arbitrary deadline that caused Metro Plains to quit working on the project. They are still interested in developing much needed affordable housing. The housing first strategy naturally brings more people downtown.

3. Last, We also endorse Councilman Wayne Melbye’s idea of a New City Hall in the Palace Hotel. What a grand place for Crookston’s City leaders and staff. Although foot traffic in downtown may not increase as much as the Palace Pavilion idea, it will give people a fresh new pride in their City.

I have three thoughts left to express:

A. We suggest these ideas be given serious immediate attention. These ideas can be put together in any combination and implemented in stages. The first stage of course is the stabilization of the building, which JLG Architects has estimated at $322, 880.50

B. If these ideas do not interest you, I am requesting time to move forward on funding the “Artspace Market Survey,” which will tell us how many live/work spaces can be created and what historic building is appropriate for new development bringing in tax dollars. The grant application to fund the study is due November 10th 2010, and the results of the survey could be known as soon as this Spring.

C. We will work with you and other organizations to make these ideas come to fruition via a recommendation by the “Artspace” developers, a task force. The task force that brought Artspace to town consisted of: a City Council member, Prairie Skyline member, Valley Crossing Arts Council member, UMC representation, Crookston Community Theatre, the Chamber and CVB. Add to this group, a Polk County Board member, plus a couple of artists from the community at large and we believe we can choose grants and programs to recommend to you that will quickly turn around downtown Crookston.

We know the City and County can act quickly if you want to; therefore we beg a written answer from the City regarding moving forward with the stabilization of the Wayne/Palace Hotel by the end of the month.

Yours truly,

Kay HeggeTwo Enclosures of pictures page 3 of 3