It’s not too late to save the Sawtooth Elementary mural. This was the word at a public meeting to discuss building plans for the Cook County Whole Foods Co-op in Grand Marais on August 21.
The future of the mosaic tile renderings of the four seasons on the north wall of the co-op, labors of love by several years’ worth of students with the help of community volunteers, has been uncertain since the demolition of the building was announced several months ago. The co-op will replace the building with a more energy-efficient, better organized grocery store that will be more user-friendly and hold more inventory.
About 20 people gathered at the Community Center 4-H building to see the proposed design plans and give their input to the team hired to facilitate the project. Project Architect Hugh Reitan and Construction Manager Arno Kahn of Builders Commonwealth of Duluth and Interior Designer Jill Johnson of Isola Design of Duluth showed renderings of the plans as well as samples of the materials that will be used.
Co-op General Manager Jennifer Stoltz said that an owner loan campaign has raised $350,000 out of $600,000 being sought to supplement loans from local lenders and the National Cooperative Development Fund. Stoltz said they hope to borrow $1,000,000 from Grand Marais State Bank or the North Shore Federal Credit Union and will be asking the county for money from its Revolving Loan Fund. The total project budget is $2,250,000, including $1,100,000 for the building, $500,000 for equipment, and $100,000 to move to temporary quarters at what was most recently the Alan Campbell restaurant (at the Grand Marais Inn, formerly Tomteboda Motel).
Co-op members loaning money for the project will receive interest on their loan ranging from 2 percent for a five-year loan of $1,000-$4,900 to 5 percent for a nineyear loan of $10,000 or more. One owner will be loaning money at 0 percent interest.
One co-op member at the meeting asked if a separate campaign could be launched to pay for the cost of preserving the mural. Co-op member Mike Carlson said they believe it could be cut into pieces and moved. Board member Barb LaVigne said they will know more about how possible this would be when they start demolishing the building. Local businesspeople Jill Terrill, Stephan Hoglund, and Jan Sivertson have offered to take the mural or portions thereof for display at their downtown buildings.
“We also have to let things go in this process,” said Carlson, adding that the inside of that wall is in very poor shape.
“We’re committed to trying to save it as much as we can,” said LaVigne. She said she would welcome help from the community to figure out how the mural could be saved. At the very least, high resolution photos of the mural will be taken and displayed prominently with good lighting on an inside wall in the new building.
“Wherever you stand on it, it’s a great piece of artwork,” Interior Designer Johnson said. “We don’t want to lose it.”
Retired Cook County teacher Ann Mershon received 50 responses in one day after posting a notice on the local Internet bulletin board Boreal Access regarding interest in saving the mural. “We need to investigate all the options, and I’m hoping we can find a solution,” she told the Cook County News-Herald. “It’s clear that many community members feel the mosaic is a beautiful and meaningful statement and should be preserved.”
Building design
The location of the building, which will be 7,000 square feet, will not allow much expansion beyond the current building’s footprint, Architect Reitan said. They had to consider things such as how to keep delivery trucks off the street during the unloading process and making both the inside and outside of the building handicap accessible. They will raise the building off the ground as much as possible and will design the roof so that a second story could be added later without too much trouble.
Interior Designer Johnson went over the proposed layout. It will include both public restrooms and an employee restroom with a shower, a seating area with tables and chairs for customers, a customer service desk, staff office space, and a separate office for the general manager.
The design calls for ample use of color, Johnson said, with a natural green color on the upper wall sections tying the space together. Wood will be used throughout the building, such as on the ceiling and in timber columns. The proposed design called for use of cultured stone on exterior walls, which is a lot cheaper than real stone, said Construction Manager Kahn. One co-op member said he believed they should go with a different material such as poured concrete before going to cultured stone. “These are difficult decisions,” said Kahn.
Some of those at the meeting expressed a desire for an outdoor eating space, and another hoped the store would have some spaces where people could stand out of the way and converse the way they do now in places such as the bulk food aisle. General Manager Stoltz said the aisles will be wider, so there will be more room to chit chat. Johnson said they are trying to make it look like “a community space” rather than “something sterile,” creating an atmosphere that feels “homey” and “residential.” She said she realizes that environment affects people’s behavior.
Energy efficiency
“From an energy standpoint, this is really a tight, tight building,” said Construction Manager Arno Kahn. The front entrance will have a double-door system, providing a buffer between inside and outside. The building will be heated with forced air propane. In a separate phone interview, he told the News-Herald, “It will be a very energy-efficient building. That’s one of the things we specialize in.”
One co-op member asked about potential pitfalls of having a flat roof. Kahn said most flat roofs fail because they weren’t designed well. The roof will be designed to handle a “floor load,” he said, which far exceeds state code for roofs.
“I think this will be a trouble-free, maintenance-free space,” he said. The mechanical equipment will be housed on the roof. Roof-mounted HVAC systems are “extremely reliable,” Kahn said, and three separate units will provide redundancy.
Using local products and labor
Builders Commonwealth makes a practice of using local materials whenever possible. One person suggested that they use local timbers installed by local timber framers. The cost and the time available are factors that need to be considered, Kahn said, but volunteer labor would help facilitate the use of timber framing.
One person suggested that they leave some things undone to give local craftspeople time to add artistic touches to the building.
Kahn told the News-Herald, “We’re going to make every effort to reach out to local firms and suppliers to assist in the construction of the new co-op.”
Demolition of the old building is expected to begin in October, and plans are for the new building to be completed sometime next spring.
Those interested in helping save the mural are asked to contact Ann Mershon at amershon@boreal.org.
Concepts being incorporated into the new co-op building:
1. The mural is important.
2. The interior should have
a unique, creative, carefree
feel with warm colors and
natural materials.
3. The materials and
the aesthetics should
demonstrate a local
influence and not appear
“urban.”
4. The design should have
a “food-centric” focus and
communicate affordability,
trust, and variety.
5. The personality of the
existing signage and logo
should be retained.
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