University of Minnesota expected to sell Eastcliff to U Foundation

The University of Minnesota is slated to sell its historic Eastcliff mansion, which has served as the U’s presidential residence and event space for six decades, to the University of Minnesota Foundation for $2.2 million.

If the sale is approved by the Board of Regents on Thursday, the U will retain ownership of the property’s 1.62 acres and will lease the house and other structures along the Mississippi River in St. Paul from the foundation for a 40-year term. The U will pay no rent but will be responsible for maintenance and operating expenses.

The anticipated sale comes at a time when the U is confronting difficult financial decisions. Earlier this summer, the U approved steep tuition hikes and budget cuts that slashed academic programs, raised tuition and will eliminate hundreds of jobs across its five campuses.

The U also announced it was selling a 141-acre site in Falcon Heights that includes the historic and beloved Les Bolstad Golf Course.

In a joint statement about the Eastcliff sale, the U and Board of Regents Chair Doug Huebsch said the transfer “deepens the partnership” between the U and the foundation and “allows the university to continue its fiscally responsible stewardship of public dollars while also ensuring that Eastcliff remains an important gathering place for the University community for many years to come.”

The Eastcliff sale appears on the consent agenda for the U’s Board of Regents’ Finance and Operations Committee meeting on Thursday. Approval of the consent agenda means approval of the transaction.

Regent James Farnsworth said he expects the item will be taken off the consent agenda and discussed, adding that he’s still reviewing the details and doesn’t know where he stands on it yet.

A task force recommended the transfer of the “operating and capital funding for Eastcliff from public resources to philanthropic support that would be raised by the University of Minnesota Foundation (UMF)” in 2024, and the Board of Regents approved the plan at that time.

Now, both parties have determined that selling the property to the foundation is the best way to ”achieve the transition," according to the Thursday meeting documents.

In late 2022, the U had considered selling Eastcliff — the number of events held there dwindled during the pandemic, and a group tasked with providing recommendations on its future said public money spent on keeping up the historic property could be better spent elsewhere.

The Board of Regents approved a recommendation to hold on to Eastcliff as the president’s residence and an event venue and “redirect funds currently spent on its maintenance” toward other U goals, a U news release from 2024 said. Operating costs and some one-time capital costs were to be covered with an endowment fund “created by philanthropic support.” Oversight of the property was supposed to be streamlined.

The stately white house on N. Mississippi River Boulevard was built in the 1920s by lumber magnate Edward Brooks Sr. in the colonial revival style. It was donated to the U in 1958 by the Brooks family. Since then, it has hosted famous guests, including the Dalai Lama and Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder.

In a 2017 American Council on Education survey, nearly 40% of university executives reported that their contracts included terms related to a presidential residence. Many of these homes were given to presidents as a special bonus in an era when they weren’t paid very well, officials have said.

Eastcliff’s main house, carriage house and historic summer house encompass nearly 20,000 square feet. Ramsey County property records estimated its value at just over $3 million in late 2022. The county estimates its current market value at just under $3 million.