Lourdes demolition in full swing
Apr. 14—ROCHESTER — The walls of the former Lourdes High School are coming down.
While work crews had already been removing some exterior elements of the building, full demolition of the 84-year-old building at 621 W. Center St. began Monday, a little more than a year after the Rochester City Council created a path for the work.
Mayo Clinic, which owns the building, obtained a demolition permit in September to make way for a new logistics center as part of its "Bold. Forward. Unbound. In Rochester" expansion. The West Logistics Center, designed to manage and distribute critical supplies through service and utility tunnels to future clinical buildings, is expected to be completed in late 2027, according to Mayo Clinic.
The former Lourdes site is the latest demolition connected to the $5 billion expansion. The overall project is expected to be completed by 2030.
"Mayo Clinic purchased the property in 2013 for the explicit purpose to re-develop the site for future expansion to meet mission critical activities," Mayo Clinic Facilities Services Division Chairman Tim Siegfried wrote of the former Lourdes site in a Feb. 22, 2024, letter to the city. "The new facility planned for the site will serve as a state-of-the-art circulatory system for the new Bold. Forward. Unbound. clinical buildings — moving supplies and equipment to clinicians and patients in need."
The property was purchased for $5.8 million in 2013, after the high school moved to 2800 19th St. NW.
Father Jerry Mahon, a member of the Rochester Catholic Schools Board of Trustees, told the city Heritage Preservation Commission in 2024 an estimated $12 million in repairs would have been needed if the building had remained a school.
The commission recommended the building be given landmark status, but the Rochester City Council opted on March 19, 2024, to remove the site from the city's list of potential landmarks, which opened the path to demolition.
The decision followed years of discussion and debate, with the building originally being placed on the city's list of potential landmarks in 2019. The Heritage Preservation Commission later agreed to remove the newest portion of the building from consideration, but the older sections faced added review before demolition was approved.
With a variety of community input and sentiment around the decision to demolish the former school building, Mayo Clinic announced plans to reclaim architectural elements of the building for use in a planned park area alongside the new logistics center, creating a transition between the Mayo Clinic campus and nearby residential neighborhood.
Additionally, Katie Arendt, a Mayo Clinic obstetric anesthesiologist serving as a physician leader for the Bold. Forward. Unbound. Project, said the cross on the building's steeple was donated to the Diocese of Winona-Rochester for use at its new pastoral center in northwest Rochester.
Limestone lining the exterior walls, slate shingles from the roof and existing plantings have also been recovered for future uses.
With the former Lourdes building coming down, construction of the planned logistics center — one of five buildings planned to be built in the expansion — is expected to begin as early as this year.
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