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QWhat would a Hennepin Avenue cultural corridor framework mean for future development strategy along the street?

AOne of the things we're thinking about as we work toward a plan and we get the city to approve it -- which is our goal -- is how will developers see this? When we're talking about hot properties, it might be hot properties all up and down Hennepin Avenue under the guise of this new cultural corridor, of which the theaters are a significant component. A great thing for real estate people about the historic buildings is that they are not going to go anywhere. You can count on them being there for the next 100 years, so one of topics in planning this cultural corridor is that developers will know what the plan is so that they'll have context for their decisions.

QHow would potential developers be affected should the cultural development plan be adopted?

AIf I had a blank slate, if I had a parking lot (on Hennepin Avenue), it would be very helpful for me to understand what can go across the street from me, what can go down the block. And if I knew, oh, "these are all going to be arts and cultural-related uses," at least on the main floor, and there's probably going to be some combination of artist live-work space and galleries, that would help inform my decisionmaking on the kind of property that I might want to develop.

QWhat role did the saving of the State Theatre have in the "cause" of historic preservation here?

AThe State Theatre was probably the watershed case for historic preservation in Minneapolis. People forget the pain that project went through. The developer had not wanted the theater, the city had conveyed the theater to the developer, and they wanted to demolish it to make way for retail. But the city said "no" and eventually got it back. It seems like in many respects that was the first time the community galvanized around a historic building and said, "Nope, we're not going to let this go down."

QWhat's the current environment for historic preservation? Does the introduction of a state historic preservation tax credit help?

AWe certainly need tools to restore these old buildings. They are very expensive to restore. That's because of two reasons. Typically, their maintenance and capital needs have been ignored for many years, so there's those accumulated costs associated with the deferring of those repairs. Secondly, when you have a historic property, you have to abide by certain standards, and that tends to drive costs to some degree. But what I really like about the theaters is that they're not relics, they're living, breathing buildings that we use to house contemporary productions, so it's really an example of taking the past and working with it to meet the needs of the present.

Don Jacobson is a St. Paul-based freelance writer. He can be reached at 651-501-4931.