Mason City council approves option to purchase Mohawk Square, allowing to survey the building for future use

MASON CITY — The City Council in Mason City last night approved a proposal to execute an option to purchase the Mohawk Square building downtown for just over $300,000.

The former Mason City High School building suffered a catastrophic roof failure after a heavy storm in May 2019, with the building then being declared unsafe and all the businesses and agencies located there having to be forced to find new quarters. The owners of the building have not shown a desire to repair the building, which has been open to the elements for the last three years. The action is not intended for the city to purchase the building outright, but it would provide a preservation opportunity for the city to have the building surveyed to see if it can be salvaged and developed.

Director of Development Services Steven Van Steenhuyse says while there’s been interest in the building, the unknowns are a huge red flag for developers. “We have had several developers with some experience in doing these kind of conversions go through the building. All of them have been enthusiastic about the possibilities, but the unknown nature of the cost of repair has been a great disincentive. Our hope is that it will remove that uncertainty and at least be able to have a solid basis on which to negotiate the purchase of it and get it redeveloped.”

City Administrator Aaron Burnett says a survey might not answer all the questions developers have, but it likely will clear a lot of the potential hurdles out of the way. “I think most developers who work in old schools, they’re going to expect damage, they’re going to expect environmental problems, things along those lines, but when you talk about a structural issue that could really balloon out of control for them, that’s something they are not willing to take on. I think this is a great step forward in trying to preserve that great space.”

Burnett says the city would pay the cost of the evaluation, adding that it’s information the city needs to determine the future of the building. “We’ve had to do structural evaluations on other properties to evaluate their condition. I think that this gives a good basis of knowledge on whether that building can be preserved or not. Unfortunately there might be news out of that that it’s just not feasible. At the very least we can move forward with unfortunately it’s going to have to demolition if that’s the case.”

The option to purchase also includes four parking lots serving the building and a brick duplex just north of the building at 102-106 North Georgia.