A Brief History
Railroad baron James J. Hill built the reference library as a gift to the City of St. Paul. In 1912, he contributed approximately $700,000 towards the building, which was attached to the St. Paul Public Library overlooking Rice Park. Construction began in 1916, but Hill died before the library officially opened five years later.
Hill’s family, under the James J. Hill Foundation, operated the business reference library for nearly 100 years. In 1975, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
In 2019, the library closed to the public. The Foundation said the building became too expensive to operate and needed major improvements.
First & First, a Minneapolis real estate development firm that specializes in reimagining historically significant buildings, purchased the library two years later. Founder and CEO Peter Remes remembers visiting the library as a college student.
“There were maybe 15 librarians on staff every day. You told them what you were looking for, and they would go to their card catalog system, and they’d pull up the cards for whatever you were looking for,” he recalls. “And then they would pull the books for you, bring them down to the table, and you would then start looking through them.”
Life After Closing
After the library closed, foundation leaders aggressively looked for a buyer for the building. Time after time, they struck out.
“Most people came in and said, ‘It’s beautiful, but too complicated, too much, too many issues, too much stuff to deal with,” says Remes, who was approached several times about buying the building.
About 18 months after the library went up for sale, the foundation came back to Remes and his team at First & First.
“They were consistent,” Remes recalls. “They told me it wasn’t about getting the best price for the building. Instead, they wanted the building to live on and be open to the next generation.”
Remes says he was able to purchase the building for a “pretty favorable price.”
Then came the hard work – navigating through many layers of financing and regulation to restore and upgrade the building into what it is today.
New Sustainable Features
While much of the main library area remains intact, other areas of the building received major cosmetic upgrades. The First & First team added a new stairwell to the back of the building, created a lower-level lounge and transformed several old offices on the second floor into bridal suites, grooms’ lounges and green room spaces for corporate events.
The team also added new LED lights throughout the building, along with new plumbing fixtures, a new boiler and a state-of-the art HVAC system. The system features smart sensors that adjust the temperature automatically, depending on how many people are in the room. It can also direct fresh air in from outside to cool down the building.
Joe Meyer of First & First, says guests will feel much more comfortable in the venue.
“In the past, if you had 250 people here for an event, it would be sweltering – even in the middle of winter,” he explains. “Now, instead of blasting the air conditioning, the HVAC system will cool the room on its own.”
Financing Energy Efficient Upgrades
Updating energy systems in historic buildings can be enormously expensive, often eating up tens of thousands of dollars. The team at First & First was able to take advantage of a Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) Loan financed by Sunrise Banks to pay for those upgrades.
The project is part of the Sunrise Banks Net Zero Banking portfolio which consists of two parts – Net Zero Deposits and Net Zero Financing.
For Net Zero Deposits, both personal and business banking customers can designate the money from their checking, savings or CDs to support projects that work to reduce or avoid greenhouse gas emissions. In turn, customers and projects that qualify for Net Zero Financing can receive a lower interest rate.
Dave Scott, the Executive Vice President – Director of Commercial Banking at Sunrise Banks, says Net Zero Banking is an innovative way for customers to support organizations that want to invest in energy-efficient projects that might otherwise be put off due to high initial costs.
“Net Zero Banking equips our customers with the ability to reduce their bank account’s carbon impact,” says Scott. “It also helps incentivize the purchase of environmentally friendly infrastructure and systems that don’t emit greenhouse gases.”
Projects like Avalon reflect the real-world impact of the Sunrise Banks Net Zero Banking program. They connect customers’ deposits with financing solutions that support environmental sustainability, historic preservation and community development.
Scott says the Avalon project is a perfect example of how the life of historic buildings can be prolonged by making those energy efficient upgrades.
“This will be an exciting new chapter for the venue,” says Scott. “It takes a lot of effort and money to give buildings like this new life, but I’m excited to see the vision the team at First & First has for Avalon play out.”
What Lies Ahead
Since officially opening this spring, Avalon has hosted more than 20 events, including weddings and corporate events. And the center’s calendar is filling up fast.
Remes says he is excited about the future of Avalon and grateful for the support provided by the team at Sunrise Banks.
“Sunrise Banks understood both the complexity of restoring a historic building and our vision for its future,” says Remes. “Their team was collaborative and responsive throughout the process, and the C-PACE financing helped us make the energy-efficient improvements needed to give Avalon a new life.”
To learn more about how your deposits can help fund sustainable projects like Avalon, visit sunrisebanks.com/net-zero-deposits
Article and photos by Amanda Theisen, the Communications Manager at Sunrise Banks in St. Paul, Minnesota (Member FDIC).
She leads all internal, external and social media communications for the organization. Amanda has won multiple awards for her work in public relations, internal communications, television news and journalism.