Unfinished Rochester dream home gets reprieve from teardown

An unfinished dream home in one of Rochester's highest-priced neighborhoods has a new lease on life.

Rochester Township this week withdrew its demand for an order to demolish the 16,000-square-foot home on a bluff overlooking Bamber Valley. The home, in a neighborhood heavily populated by Mayo Clinic doctors and executives, is among the largest private residences ever built in the city.

But it has stood unoccupied and unfinished since 2018, as the couple who planned it as their dream home went through a divorce. Now, the home's owner said she feels vindicated by the township's retreat, which came after an Olmsted County judge ruled that the township failed to prove the home was a safety hazard.

"I feel so lifted, but so violated," said Tammie Krebsbach. "So now you see you're not going to win and so you throw in the towel? I want an apology, at least."

Construction on the four-story home began in 2017 but was halted the next year as the Krebsbachs split after sinking nearly $3 million into the project. When the divorce was final, Tammie Krebsbach owned the home, but her building permit had expired — and the township refused to grant a new one.

Kresbach has said she doesn't have the money to finish the house, which she says is her major post-divorce financial asset. Formerly the owner of a luxury salon, she said her business failed during the pandemic.

During the years the unfinished home stood vacant, neighbors complained that it was an eyesore and attracted a stream of gawkers and graffiti artists. Last year, the township board received a petition signed by 103 neighborhood residents asking it to set a deadline for the home's fate to be settled. The township quickly issued a demolition order and went to court to enforce it.

"This is a very private neighborhood, with people with real high-end homes who really don't embrace gawkers," said Jeff Orth, the township board chair. "We have very frustrated neighbors, [and] as a township we respond to the concerns of our neighbors. We're expending taxpayer dollars in this quest, and it's coming at an expense to other needs."

The township's court filing seeking a demolition order was dismissed without prejudice, meaning it could be filed again later. William French, Krebsbach's lawyer, wondered if that isn't what will happen.

"I'm not sure what they've got up their sleeves," French said. "They could go after it from a nuisance statute. But I don't think they can succeed under [the hazard] statute.

"This is a good development for us," he said, "but it's probably only Phase I of the township's efforts. I don't know what Phase II is."

The township also has contended that the four-story house violates regulations that limit a home's height to 35 feet. It's unclear whether that charge could stick, as the home's bottom two floors are sunk into the hillside. The township has contended that any buyer would have to remove the top floor of the house to bring it within limits.

In court filings, Krebsbach said she had a cash offer of $1 million for the house that fell through after the prospective buyer learned of that demand.

The township's next step will be to hold meetings with residents to collect more information on how the home has affected the neighborhood, Orth said. After that, "the attorneys could sit down and hammer out a deal.''

"I'm confident that this would be an amazing structure if it was ever completed," he said.