Tim Leeds Havre Daily News tleeds@havredailynews.com
A Havre landmark, the future of which was a major topic of discussion in Havre earlier this decade, may be receiving some help from the federal government soon. An appropriation added to an Interior appropriations bill by Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., has passed out of subcommittee and will go before the full committee for debate, Rehberg’s office announced Monday. The appropriation will provide $150,000 to do work to revitalize the old U.S. post office and federal courthouse on the corner of Third Street and Third Avenue. “For three quarters of a century this building has been a cornerstone of the Havre community,” said Rehberg, a member of the House Appropriations Committee. “So, it’s only fitting we do everything possible to preserve that legacy in the future. These funds will help provide vital economic development and tourism opportunities for north-central Montana.” Todd Hanson, managing member of NorsMan Development Group LLC, the owner of the bulding, said the money would be used as part of a larger pool of funds to do work on the building. “It’s a great development,” Hanson said. The money is part of the Save America’s Treasures, or SAT, program, a public-private partnership established in 1998 with participants including the National Park Service and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The program was established to help preserve and conserve historic monuments in the United States. Hanson said his group has been working with seven groups to look into different resources for the project and to keep it solvent. “It’s been a real challenge,” he said, adding that Rehberg and Montana’s U.S. Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester have all been supportive of the effort. He said that he has been working on the SAT grant, which Rehberg has taken a personal interest in, since 2005. Hanson said the SAT money will be added to a pool comprising loans, grants, and money out of the pockets of Norsman Development Group members. That pool will be used to revitalize the building while keeping it in its original historic style. Hanson said he is working with a company based in Portland, Ore., that specializes in historic revitalization and has supplied the company with the original blueprints and architectural drawings of the building, which was constructed in the early 1930s. The work will include improving infrastructure, including adding new heating and cooling systems, and renovating the building back to its historic style. “We’rre really just designing the spaces throughout all three floors to maintain architectural and historic integrity with the work integrated into that theme,” Hanson said. He said he is talking to several groups interested in having space in the building, including local Indian tribes who are considering a Plains Indian cultural center focusing on local tribes like the Little Shell band of Chippewa, the Chippewa Cree Tribe from Rocky Boy and the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre from the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. Another possible entity is a Plains Indian art center, including a gallery and classrooms for an educational component, and other businesses including office space for professional services. The fate of the old post office, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986, was in question starting in 2001, when the H. Earl Clack Heritage Foundation announced it did not have sufficient funds to finish the purchase of the building from the federal government. The Foundation had brokered a deal with the City of Havre in 1995 and 1996 to have the city buy the building, with funds provided by the Foundation and an agreement that the city would have no financial responsibility in the building. The Foundation was to lease the building to house the H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum and provide other cultural attractions, and to rent out space to businesses and organizations. By 2001, the Foundation was having financial difficulties, with a lack of renters, lower-than-expected returns on its investments in an endowment and higher-than-expected costs to renovate, repair and maintain the building. An anonymous gift of $15,000 allowed the Foundation to make the last mortgage payment, which went through the city to the federal government. Over the next several years, the Foundation had more problems funding the operation of the Heritage Center, as the building came to be known, and asked for help from the city and Hill County governments. The Clack Foundation decided in 2004 to stop leasing and managing the center and turned it back over to the City of Havre. The city proceededThree unsuccessfull attempts to find a buyer before NorsMan Development Group purchased the building in 2005 for $40,001. Hanson said in 2005 the intent was to bring businesses into the building complementing its historic aspect. To date, the only business opened in the building is Hanson’s NorsMan business, a direct-sale firearm and sports dealership. The store front for NorsMan is temporarily closed for renovation, although the business is still operating online. to put the building up for bid, with
