Fears raised for future of Cray Mansion

By Dan Linehan
Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO February 11, 2008 12:53 am

— The impending sale of the Cray Mansion has triggered a last-minute effort aimed at preventing what historic preservation advocates fear will be a disaster for the historic building.
The developer interested in buying the mansion from the YWCA, however, said he’d like to preserve its Victorian appearance as a rental property.
“I’m not one to gut anything,” said Shawn Clow, a Fairmont resident. “I’m one to really work with maintaining that downtown integrity of a historic building.”
He hasn’t yet closed on the purchase, and said he was hesitant to comment about it before that happened. But he took exception to the suggestion that he would alter its ornate facade.
If there were any changes, he said they would be in the building’s rear, which isn’t particularly historic.
Still, there was an effort Friday to contact the YWCA and urge it to do more to preserve the mansion, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The closing date on the sale is scheduled for Feb. 15.
Jessica Potter, executive director of the Blue Earth County Historical Society, circulated an e-mail calling for people to “make a statement” about the Cray. The e-mail said the mansion’s buyer was planning to “gut” it and turn it into student housing. Clow denied both assertions.
“We, as a community, cannot afford to lose another historical property in Mankato and Blue Earth County,” she wrote.
She emphasized Judge Lorin Cray gave the mansion to the YWCA to ensure that it would be preserved as a community asset.
“To lose sight of that part of it just for dollar signs is what I’m concerned about,” she said.
It’s not just the overall appearance Potter wants to protect — it’s all the details, down to the coat hooks on the second floor the Crays used for party guests’ coats.
But she said the historical society doesn’t have the money to buy or manage the Cray, rendering its opposition moot, except for a wider attempt to influence the YWCA not to accept the offer.
The Y declined comment on the sale, as it has said it would until the closing date. It has owned the mansion since 1928, but expensive maintenance prompted the nonprofit to seek space in a downtown office building.
Even if the purchase goes through, Clow will face more obstacles in converting it to a residential use.
The mansion is in the central business zoning district, meaning that anyone looking to convert the ground floor to a residence needs a permit from the city.
And because the property is on the national registry and designated as historic under city ordinance, there is a review to determine whether or not the building’s historical integrity is preserved, Community Development Director Paul Vogel said.
The City Council can use that review as grounds to deny the permit.
Clow said he’s been working with the State Historic Preservation Office, seeking a letter of recommendation from that body to bolster his case for a permit.
The crux of his argument for converting it to a residence is that he would be using the mansion for its intended use.
“I wholeheartedly want it to revert to its original use,” which Clow said was a residence for the Cray family and later as communal housing for women.
An assumed barrier to converting the mansion to housing has been a requirement to add parking, but Clow said he already owns a 23-stall lot across Second Street.
Preservation advocates are planning to make an appearance at Monday’s 7 p.m. City Council meeting at the Intergovernmental Center.
The city had an option to own the mansion for free, but passed it up because the YWCA required that it be allowed to stay there, rent-free, until 2016.