Latest news with #RobinSteinke
CBS News
2 days ago
- Business
- CBS News
Luther Seminary seeks to sell historic St. Paul campus
By Sadie Jones, WCCO intern Luther Seminary's board of directors voted unanimously to sell its campus in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Tuesday. The seminary has not identified a sale date but said it would operate its campus through the 2026-2027 school year. The change comes as the seminary said it wants to manage its resources "with a more nimble model." "Our mission to educate leaders for Christian communities remains as vital and necessary as ever," Luther Seminary President Robin Steinke said. "To remain sustainable over the long term, how we fulfill this mission will be transformed going forward." In addition to selling its campus, the seminary will lay off 10% of its staff. Officials said the decision was not made due to financial need. "Luther Seminary is in a strong financial position," said officials in a news release. Of the student body, 70% engage in online coursework, according to officials. Luther Seminary, part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has been operating for more than 150 years. For the last 120 years, it has been based on its campus off Como Avenue, just west of the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus. The seminary is seeking a new space in the Twin Cities area that will better meet its teaching, learning, scholarship and community engagement needs. It said it remains committed to "strategic, periodic in-person learning."
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Luther Seminary to sell St. Paul campus after 120 years
Luther Seminary to sell St. Paul campus after 120 years originally appeared on Bring Me The News. Luther Seminary's campus in St. Paul, which has operated for 120 years, will be vacated after the 2026-2027 school year, seminary leaders have announced. In a statement Tuesday, Luther Seminary President Robin Steinke said the seminary will be seeking a new space in the Twin Cities area and "shifting to a more nimble model" as 70% of its current students choose online education. 'Our mission to educate leaders for Christian communities remains as vital and necessary as ever,' Steinke stated. 'To remain sustainable over the long term, how we fulfill this mission will be transformed going forward." The seminary's Board of Directors voted unanimously to begin the transition, which will involve seeking a buyer for its 10-acre upper campus in the St. Anthony Park neighborhood. The seminary's lower campus is already under contract to be sold to Edina-based developer Lifestyle Communities. Board Chair Carlos Peña said the seminary is taking "bold, faithful steps to meet the needs of the global church and our students while continuing our dedication to theological depth and academic rigor." "We will continue to deliver faithful and high-quality online education experiences alongside strategic in-person learning, all in service to Christian communities around the world," he continued. Founded in 1869, Luther Seminary is the largest seminary in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). This story was originally reported by Bring Me The News on Jun 10, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Luther Seminary plans to vacate its St. Paul campus
After more than 125 years in St. Paul, Luther Seminary is looking to lean into online education and relocate to a much smaller physical campus. Where will it land? Undetermined. The seminary, an accredited graduate school of theology based in the St. Anthony Park neighborhood, was founded in Afton in 1884 and moved to St. Paul in 1893. In a written announcement Tuesday, seminary officials said their board of directors voted unanimously to transition to a more 'nimble' model and 'initiate a process to seek new space in the Twin Cities area that aligns with its needs going forward.' The seminary is to remain in St. Anthony Park through at least the 2026-2027 school year, though a transition to a new campus could take longer. 'We're don't have a timeline on that yet,' said Luther Seminary President Robin Steinke, in an interview Tuesday. 'We've got a lot of investigative work to do. That depends on where we find a home and the kind of repurposing that best serves the needs of this neighborhood … and helps us prioritize our mission.' The seminary spans 370 degree-seeking students, though some 8 million users annually access its resources from across the world, including daily online devotion, Bible study and sermon preparation. Currently, about 70% of students primarily take their courses online while engaging in ministry in communities across the United States, while visiting campus for week-long intensive courses. Its degree programs, which include graduate degrees, masters of divinity and doctorates, are offered 100% tuition-free through the seminary's endowment and fundraising, but growing maintenance costs associated with the more-than-century-old campus have become a burden. 'We need less property if we're going to be a school without tuition,' Steinke said. 'We're 95% philanthropically driven. We have increased our endowment. … It's the deferred maintenance. It's the snow in the winter. It's the roof repair. It's the boiler repair. It's the water repair.' Steinke said the goal is 'to remain sustainable over the long term' and 'steward our resources more effectively and serve students and learners from all walks of life.' In an era of hybrid online classes, that includes 'strategic, periodic in person-learning,' she said. 'The way students learn and prepare for ministry has changed. Now is the right time to align our resources with that reality and evolve how we deliver on our mission,' she said. The seminary's active uses are concentrated on the north campus — spanning 10 acres — which consists of three major administrative buildings, a small chapel and nine single-family homes for students. The seminary, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, entered into a purchase agreement this year with Lifestyle Communities, which hopes to buy the entirety of the 16-acre lower campus, which has land parcels in both St. Paul and Lauderdale. The property includes Northwestern Hall, Stub Hall and Breck Woods. That transaction is in its due diligence period, and closing on the purchase is expected in 2026. The Edina-based housing developer previously opened the Zvago Cooperative, a retirement community, next to Gullixson Hall at the east end of the seminary campus in St. Anthony Park. In 2022, Luther Seminary announced a previous deal to sell the lower campus was on hold, given cold feet from developer Inland Development Partners, which the school said had blamed increased construction costs and the city's then-new rent control policy. Under community opposition, Luther Seminary last year canceled a separate arrangement with Ramsey County, which had planned to lease the long-vacant Stub Hall dormitory and use it as an emergency 'Safe Space' shelter, which would have provided 64 men's and women's beds through a partnership with Model Cities. Chroma Zone mural festival returns to St. Paul for sixth year St. Paul: Sharrett's Liquors to briefly close as longtime owners retire
