Thoughtful renovation keeps a historic office building relevant for education today.​

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CHALLENGE

The Management Education Center is being renovated to house a combined business school for Metropolitan State University and for the Minneapolis Community & Technical College (MCTC) School of Business and Economics. The building is located in the locally designated Harmon Place Historic District, the historic heart of Minneapolis’ automotive district. “Old Harmon” was constructed as the Standard Oil Office Building in 1927 before it became home to the Billy Graham Evangelical Association in the 1960s. In 1976, “New Harmon” was built as an addition. In 2005, the building was converted to classrooms and offices by MCTC. Today, the building is ready to be updated for ongoing educational use, but all work must meet local preservation design guidelines and standards.

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SUCCESS

New History worked with BWBR (project architect) and MCTC to navigate historic preservation approvals for the proposed project. Like any building of this vintage, it can be challenging to make existing windows meet current classroom standards for acoustics, energy efficiency, and project budgets while meeting local preservation design guidelines. New History provided design guidance for the window repair design and worked with the architect to complete the required historic preservation approvals. The project is poised for state funding and construction so that it can continue to serve as an educational center in the heart of the historic district.