Transcripts

MARISA HELMS: The blast site was home to five businesses-- a pizza shop, two bars, a bail bonding agency, and a law firm. One of the bars destroyed in the blast was Book 'Ems Bar, owned by Dan Wedin.

DAN WEDIN: I got blown to the ground. And all I remember is I feel everything coming down. And then I just covered up. I just put my hands over my head and covered up. And then the next thing I remember is people hollering my name, Dan, are you all right? Dan, are you all right?

MARISA HELMS: Wedin was working behind the bar just before the explosion and recalls smelling gas. His bar was so badly damaged by the blast, it had to be demolished. But he was lucky. He came out with just a scratch on his hand and was able to relocate his business around the corner.

Marshall Weems is Executive Director of the St. Cloud Housing and Redevelopment Authority. He says the HRA was eager to snatch up these parcels of prime real estate and made efforts to buy the land immediately after the blast.

MARSHALL WEEMS: What we had, the situation with everybody that was on that site, is to remind them that we were interested in buying vacant property. We didn't cause the explosion. The HRA said, this is a terrible thing that's happened. But what is the public benefit now that this did happen? So we decided we were going to buy the vacant property and not allow any of the businesses to re-establish the way they wanted to.

MARISA HELMS: The city and the HRA would like to see high-density development downtown. Re-establishing businesses with limited housing on a second floor won't achieve that goal. The HRA would like to put up a multistory business complex.

Only one of the businesses that was on the site before has been invited to remain. That's something that doesn't sit well with a few previous business owners. Weems explains the reason redevelopment of the site is taking so long is partly because it's taken all year just to acquire the property. Some of the business owners had to be persuaded to sell and not rebuild on the site.

MARSHALL WEEMS: Initially, they all said, we just want to rebuild and do something different. But what the city has asked and the county officials we talked to and the HRA board all said it's in keeping with the city's comprehensive plan to build the downtown up and have a higher density of use in the core of the downtown.

MARISA HELMS: The city's development agency has taken the last holdout business owner to court, trying to force him to sell his land. Weems expects the HRA will prevail. Once the HRA owns all the parcels, developers will be asked for proposals. Multistory office suites are what some would prefer for the property. But there are those in the community who envision something much simpler.

KENT ROBERTSON: I don't think they should develop it at all.

MARISA HELMS: Kent Robertson directs the Local and Urban Affairs Program at St. Cloud State.

KENT ROBERTSON: I think they should use it as a much-needed open space in downtown. There really is no park, no public open space in downtown St. Cloud. And any downtown needs that. You need a gathering spot for people for celebrations, for festivals, just for people to hang out when they're downtown.

MARISA HELMS: Robertson says even though green space doesn't generate property tax for the city, it's still an economically viable option because the property values for the other buildings would increase. Sue Childers is Director of the St. Cloud Downtown Development Council, a membership organization that promotes downtown businesses. She likes the idea of green space, theoretically at least.

SUE CHILDERS: We do need green space downtown. And that would be lovely. That would be fantastic. And that would be another possibility to have green space and an office development kind of thing.

But when you have a piece of property, prime property like that, it's hard to see it just be a park. It's more important, I think, for development because that encourages the tax base downtown. It brings more people downtown to shop and eat.

MARISA HELMS: St. Cloud State University Community Studies Professor Art Meyerhoff also has some suggestions for the HRA to consider. He'd like to see public input in a design competition occur before the developers come in. He points out the site is directly across the street from the city's crown jewel, the Stearns County Courthouse, finished in 1922. The courthouse is in the Beaux-Arts style, made of granite and brick, and topped off with a golden dome and polished marble interior. Meyerhoff says whatever is built on the lot needs to blend in with and complement the style and spirit of the courthouse.

ART MEYERHOFF: You know, one could build a contemporary building but still have historical references and use some of the elements of architecture from the past with its columns and Palladian windows, things like that. Well, it's easy to say, this is what I'd like to go here. But people make development decisions based on their preferences and what they can afford. But I just think it needs to be quality design because of the setting.

MARISA HELMS: Parking is another issue that will have to be negotiated as part of the site's development. The Downtown Council's Sue Childers says the city's growth, including the explosion site development, is outpacing the supply of parking spaces.

Childers also says there's a growing interest for a victims memorial somewhere on the site. She says she'd like to see a plaque and four oak trees for each of the four people who died incorporated into the new development. But the HRA's Marshall Weems says he questions the appropriateness of a permanent memorial.

MARSHALL WEEMS: It's certainly a terrible incident in the community. But unfortunately, we have a lot of bad things happen in this world. And I don't know how you commemorate those things. What's appropriate, and what isn't?

MARISA HELMS: There are about 4,000 people working in downtown St. Cloud. The empty lot at the corner of 9th and 1st will continue to be a sad reminder for them, almost a memorial of sorts, until plans are finalized for a new chapter for this corner of downtown. In Collegeville, I'm Marisa Helms, Minnesota Public Radio.