As new construction projects rise in downtown Rochester for a Mayo Clinic expansion, a group of people who fear the loss of historic buildings has redoubled efforts to save them.

A consultant will soon deliver an interim report that makes the case for creating a historic district in downtown Rochester, a move that some preservationists hope will be a bulwark to protect historic buildings from the red-hot property market that Mayo’s expansion has created.

Meanwhile, emboldened by a new historic preservation ordinance that was years in the making, the city’s Heritage Preservation Commission, which itself is only four years old, will hold a first-of-its-kind public hearing next month to determine if a local hotel building warrants historic designation.

And local historians like John Kruesel, an antiques dealer, and Kevin Lund, a local district court judge, have given public talks listing the buildings that have been lost to sudden demolitions to help others see the value in preservation.

It’s a change from years past, when most of the city allowed the Mayo Clinic to operate as it pleased, even if that meant losing an architectural gem for the sake of a parking lot, said Kruesel.

Rochester today has 15 properties on the National Register of Historic Places, several of which have ties to the Mayo Clinic. Those properties are well-known, but preservationists say another crop of lesser-known buildings could be in jeopardy as market values and the long-term plans of the Mayo Clinic drive a slate of new development in the downtown core.

A city-generated inventory of notable buildings includes some 13 “landmark” properties and 61 properties under consideration for landmark status.
Distributed by Tribune News Service.