Courting future construction to preserve the past

Some see Florence Court as a crumbling pile of brick rowhouses adjoining the 10th Avenue Bridge, worn down by generations of University of Minnesota students.

To others, it's the oldest surviving development of its type in Minneapolis, an example of urban planning. The rowhouses built for middle-class families form an L-shape around a shady courtyard. That won it local historic designation in 1983.

Now developer Clark Gassen is seeking city permission for a bold -- and controversial -- shot at rehabbing 122-year-old Florence Court by adding a modern four-story complex on one side of that courtyard.

His proposal comes before the city's Heritage Preservation Commission today for the first step in a series of required city approvals.

Gassen said that adding 52 units of housing for 182 tenants across the courtyard is critical to financing $2 million in renovations for the time-ravaged Queen Anne rowhouses. Their boiler is shot, roofs need replacing, walls are bowing, and there are leaks in the foundation.

"This is such an amazing opportunity. We're proposing to restore a gateway to Minneapolis," Gassen said.

But the neighborhood association remains unconvinced. It's worried about preserving the courtyard, and opposed to the new apartments without guarantees that the rowhouses are renovated before the new construction is half-completed.

The five houses include the decrepit 1884 brick house built by Florence Court's developer, carpenter Jeremiah Spear, and four frame houses moved there by a later owner, including two that once stood in Dinkytown.

City staff is recommending to the commission that Gassen be required to try to move them. Gassen's consultants concluded that the Spear house would require at least $500,000 to renovate; he wants to salvage its bricks to repair the rowhouses.

Long-time residents leery

Perry Fritz and Becky Dombrovske are Florence Court's most senior residents, occupying separate basement apartments.

He moved in when he moved back to Minneapolis 21 years ago and worked at the nearby gas station while job hunting. He puts up with the inconveniences of having to ask repeatedly for repairs and for having no heat when the boiler gave out last March, in part for the relatively low rent. He pays $660 monthly for a two-bedroom apartment, plus a new $85 monthly utility fee that Gassen is tacking on for rising gas costs as leases expire.

Upstairs, entryways from the court combine fine detailing with make-do repairs. A screen door, for example, may combine plywood, quarter-inch mesh screen, and a richly detailed vintage door handle.

Dombrovske first came to Florence Court to visit her sister, at age 16. She later piggybacked on her sister's lease, falling in love with the neighborly ambience. There are historical details to her unit, such as square nails and limestone walls, that offset lagging maintenance. "Things operate on a different timetable here," she said wryly.

Now 32, she works at the gas station, and knows most residents. She considers the proposed development ugly. She plans to speak against it today.

"I had my 20-year-old, get-drunk-every-night period," she said, and she doesn't care to watch students in four- and five-bedroom units go through their version.

"Any time you change things, people get emotional and I appreciate that," Gasssen said. "We are involved in this project only for one thing, to restore the L-shaped building."