Monday, Feb. 08, 2010

Awkwardly Shaped IAB Ready for Dozers

Fair building's fate up for review

By Leslie Reed

LINCOLN — Don't crank up the bulldozers just yet. The federal government may conduct a review of the 1913 Industrial Arts Building before it could be torn down to make way for a research park on the former state fairgrounds.

What might trigger such a review is if the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as expected, agrees to build a research facility on the former fairgrounds. And because of the building's architecture and historic significance, it has been classified as “eligible'' for the National Register of Historic Places. The classification was made by Nebraska's Historic Preservation Office.

Michael Smith, who is the state's historic preservation officer and director of the State Historical Society, said the building has not yet been nominated for the national register. Smith said, however, that his office's determination that the building is eligible would trigger federal review requirements. Ultimately, the building may have to be demolished, Smith emphasized. But if the federal government becomes involved in redevelopment of the fairgrounds, federal law requires review of the alternatives before the building could be torn down.

Preservationists recognize that it isn't not always feasible or practical to save every historic building, Smith said. “Given the vision and the money, it could be a wonderful, wonderful building for a long, long time,” he said of the Industrial Arts Building. “It deserves a chance. That's what the process is designed for, to give the building a chance.”

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is moving forward with its plan to transform the former fairgrounds into the Innovation Campus, a public-private research park where university researchers and their students will work closely with private industry. University officials will appear before the Lincoln City Council today to ask that the fairgrounds be declared blighted and substandard so that tax increment financing can be used to help pay for the development.
They also are expected to soon issue a request for proposals to dispose of 38 other buildings on the property, either by moving them to new locations or dismantling them for salvage.

The trapezoid-shaped Industrial Arts Building features a soaring 43-foot ceiling supported by exposed steel roof trusses and columns. The interior is rimmed by a 36-foot wide second-story mezzanine. By 2004, the building had fallen into disrepair and was closed to the public.

UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman has said that those who want to save the building must find someone willing to foot the bill for rehabilitating it. He said time is of the essence because he does not want to delay the development while waiting for a developer to come forward. Heritage Nebraska and other historic preservation groups have contacted a half-dozen developers in Nebraska and elsewhere who might be interested in the building, said J.L. Schmidt, executive director of Heritage Nebraska.

In an effort to draw national attention, the Preservation Association of Lincoln has nominated the Industrial Arts Building for listing as one of “America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places,” a designation used by the National Trust for Historic Preservation to highlight historic sites in danger of destruction. “It is such a rare building, there may be somebody who would really appreciate the structure and who would like to reuse it,” said Jo Gutgsell, president of the Lincoln group.

No final decision has been made about the fate of the Industrial Arts Building, said Christine Jackson, UNL vice chancellor for business and finance. Because of that, it is premature to say what steps would be taken to comply with federal review requirements, she said through spokeswoman Kelly Bartling.

Although two other historic buildings — the 4-H Building and the National Guard Arsenal — are slated for inclusion in the research park, developers concluded that the Industrial Arts Building is awkwardly sized for research purposes and would be too costly to renovate. The deteriorating building also is prominently located on the former fairgrounds. Developers said keeping it mothballed could hinder development of the rest of the campus.

One of the first tenants of the park is expected to be a laboratory and office building for the Agricultural Research Service of the USDA. Dan Worth, a Lincoln architect who serves on the Heritage Nebraska board, said a couple of developers have expressed interest in the Industrial Arts Building but are waiting to see how the university will proceed. “There certainly are entitites that are quite interested in it,” he said. “Given a shot, I think it could be quite exciting. “It's really a kind of creative space. If they're interested in innovation, you can't get a much more inspiring space than that.”

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