Rochester paves way for Mayo to demolish old Lourdes High School building

ROCHESTER – A former Catholic high school is set to be demolished despite a last-minute emotional plea from residents seeking to preserve it.

The Rochester City Council voted on Monday night to take the old Lourdes High School building off a list of potential local landmarks, enabling its destruction as part of Mayo Clinic’s $5 billion downtown expansion.

“We’re moving in a great direction with ‘Bold. Forward. Unbound’ and I would like to see [Lourdes] removed from the list,” Council President Brooke Carlson said, referring to the name Mayo has given to its expansion plans.

The old Lourdes building, a Gothic-looking structure, was built in 1941 and expanded in 1958 and 1986. The Diocese of Winona-Rochester sold it to Mayo Clinic in 2013 after building a new school in the northwest part of town.

The building has remained empty ever since, but it was put on a list of potential landmarks in 2019 after an independent study found the building qualified for protected status.

A recent Mayo-funded study concluded the same thing. But the nonprofit medical system wants to tear it down and build a larger structure in its place, with higher ceilings. The new logistics building/warehouse is expected to be in service for at least 50 years.

Rochester’s historic preservation commission last month voted to recommend the building as a local landmark. Most commission members supported Mayo’s right to change the property. Yet they pointed out the commission’s role was to review buildings as they are rather than consider possible future use.

Local Catholics and business advocates urged the city to let Mayo demolish the building, arguing renovations would cost too much and only hinder Mayo’s future operations.

“It would also set a dangerous precedent that could negatively impact future investment in Rochester,” said Ryan Parsons, Rochester Chamber of Commerce president.

At the same time, several residents urged officials to consider preserving and repurposing the building as a community center or local medical museum. They say the building carries too much local significance to be discarded.

“We don’t have another building like it, and we never will,” retired local judge Kevin Lund said.

Mayo officials say they plan to build a 30-foot linear “pocket park” on the west side of the property that will also include memorials to the old Lourdes building.

Council Member Patrick Keane noted that discussion about the Lourdes building is likely the first of many conflicts to come between Mayo and the community over the next few years. He urged Mayo officials to consider what was best for Rochester residents as the expansion gets underway.

“I’d like to see us come out of here with a way to move forward and have a good working relationship to start with because we’re going to have some things to fight through,” he said.