(Photo by Brandon Stengel of Farm Kids Studios.)

Skyscraping towers and luxury apartments grab headlines, but it's often historic renovations and community projects that grab the heart strings of developers.

Minneapolis-based Opus Group has helped Shattuck-St. Mary's School in Faribault restore an old building on its campus and expanding it into a functioning hospitality and event space.

"The Inn at Shattuck-St. Mary's was an exciting challenge for Opus," said Tim Callahan, senior project manager for Opus Design Build, in a statement. "It was an honor to participate in this project, recognizing the historical significance of the space."

The building, now known as The Inn at Shattuck-St. Mary's, was built in 1871. The storied building has served as a dormitory for raucous teenage boys, an infirmary that weathered a scarlet fever outbreak and, most recently, the site for a Halloween haunted house event.

Renovation of the building included adding about 10,000 square feet of new space to the two-story complex, with meeting and catering services on the ground floor and 12 guest suites upstairs.

The goal, Callahan said, was "to enhance existing structures, enabling those spaces to meet modern-day needs."