What Novo is and isn’t doing with Feed & Grain Project
Erin McLaughlin, Guest Columnist
Published 6/08/07

When I sat down with my morning newspaper on Monday, I saw the following phrase tucked away in the city’s monthly progress report: “Eldon and Judy Grimm have begun working with Novo Restoration…on plans to create a community ballroom in the grain storage building.” As the president of said organization I thought to myself “We have? This is news to me.”  I had been thinking for some time that I ought to write a letter to the paper attempting to clarify some of the finer points of Novo’s involvement with the Feed and Grain building. Sighing, I knew I could put it off no longer.

For the past year, Novo Restoration, Inc. has worked for the rehabilitation of the historic Feed and Grain building in downtown Loveland. This effort included a 6 month fundraising campaign to raise $200,000 for Novo Restoration to purchase the property. The money raised by Novo would be used as a cash match for a $200,000 grant from the State Historical Fund. This grant from the Historical Fund could only be used if a cash match was raised, and could only be used for acquisition of the property by Novo.

In March of 2007 Novo had raised over $40,000 in grants and donations. After much consideration the board of directors of Novo Restoration voted unanimously to discontinue fundraising and turn down the grant from the State Historical Fund. This decision was made in the best interests of everyone involved. Was it fair to ask the Historical Fund to keep that money earmarked for us while we continued fundraising for several more months? Was it fair to the property owner to ask him to continue paying maintenance and taxes on the property while he waited to sell it to Novo? Was it fair to the building to make it sit there and continue deteriorating while Novo raised more money? And most importantly, was it fair to the community to ask them to wait a while longer to see the building rehabilitated? Our answer to all of these questions was no.

The board felt a better option would be to explore ways of working with the current property owner towards the rehabilitation of the Feed and Grain. The vision and goals that Novo has for the Feed and Grain remain the same. Novo is still dedicated to preserving the historic integrity of the building by supporting a sensitive adaptive reuse project. And Novo is still dedicated to seeing a portion of the building reserved for public use and community benefit. It is merely the means of achieving these goals that have changed. Namely, that instead of the property being owned by Novo, the property will remain privately owned and Novo will seek ways to be supportive of the property owner in achieving these goals.

The money that has so generously been donated by community members is still earmarked for the Feed and Grain rehabilitation. Novo is currently negotiating a stewardship contract with the property owner to allow the organization to financially support the rehabilitation. This agreement will outline the responsibilities of each party in the rehabilitation. What level of preservation is the property owner willing to agree to? Is he willing to commit a portion of the building for public use? And what will Novo provide in exchange for his agreement?

One thing that Novo does not intend to have control over is whom the property is leased to (which brings us back to that dance studio). It has been implied, and perhaps inferred by many community members, that Novo is in partnership with the ballroom dance studio intending to lease space at the Feed and Grain. This is not the case. It’s not that this is an offensive use of the building or a use that Novo does not support, it’s just not the role of the organization to get involved in decisions of property management. While Novo has, and intends to continue, providing input and suggestions about potential uses of the property, the Feed and Grain remains privately owned, and decisions about management are, and should be, privately made.

As a public organization with publicly raised monies to invest in this project, Novo feels obligated to the public to keep you informed of our progress, of how money is spent, and of what partnerships we are (and are not) making. I invite anyone with questions about Novo’s activities to contact me personally (Erin@LovelandFeedAndGrain.org), or to visit Novo’s website (www.LovelandFeedAndGrain.org).

Erin McLaughlin is a downtown resident and the current president of Novo Restoration, Inc. She feels overwhelmed by the gardening work that has been neglected while busy working on Novo projects.