Successful development projects by the team that wants to buy the old St. Louis County Jail were cited on the team’s letter of intent as examples of their ability to revitalize and reuse the jail.

By: Candace Renalls, Duluth News Tribune

An old school in Plymouth, Minn., that was headed for the wrecking ball now bustles with a private school, child care and community and athletic programs.

A remodeled century-old building in downtown Fargo is now the home of a popular restaurant.

A historic 1880s townhouse near downtown Minneapolis — part of a rowhouse that was billionaire J. Paul Getty’s childhood home — was refurbished into high-end housing.

All were projects of the team that wants to buy the old St. Louis County Jail that the county was seeking to raze. They were cited on the team’s letter of intent as examples of their ability to revitalize and reuse the jail.

The negotiated offer by Jail Holding LLC to buy the jail for $54,000 goes before the St. Louis County Board today for a probable vote. If comments by commissioners at a committee meeting last week are any indication, chances are good they’ll approve the sale.

The buyers are planning to convert the jail into office and conference space. They would maintain some of the cell system, which would allow them to seek historic preservation grants and subsidies.

According to the purchase agreement, the $50,000 the county would pay toward repairs and reconnecting utilities and $2,500 toward closing costs would essentially cancel out the purchase price. But the county would save an estimated $300,000 in demolition costs and save a 1924 jail that has local landmark status as part of the Civic Center complex.

Among the dissenters today may be Commissioner Peg Sweeney.

“I have strong concerns,” she said at last week’s meeting. “There’s no assurance they will do anything with it.”

If the building continues to sit in disrepair, she worries that it would cost the county more to tear it down.

The tentative buyers will be at today’s meeting to convince the board otherwise. With board approval, the sale would close April 16.

Jail Holding was set up by Grant Carlson, a Minneapolis real estate broker, for the purchase and ownership of the jail. Other partners in the limited liability corporation include his father, Clint, who is owner and president of Quantum Development Inc. of Medicine Lake, Minn.

Quantum was behind saving the 1940s-era Beacon school building in Plymouth, Minn., from demolition, remodeling it for other educational uses and giving it new life. Quantum also was behind the purchase of a 1910 mixed-use building in the old section of downtown Fargo. The renovation was partially paid for by city of Fargo historic preservation grants. Today, its apartments are fully occupied and it houses the Drunken Noodle, a popular Thai restaurant.

Blue Limit LLC, Grant Carlson’s real estate and brokerage firm, purchased and renovated a three-story brownstone that’s part of the historic Mayhew rowhouse built in 1886 in Minneapolis’ Elliott Park neighborhood. Rowhouses like Mayhew, where Getty lived as a child, were introduced to the city’s streetscape in the 1880s, during an economic boom that brought a demand for more housing.