At the meeting Goodman was blunt about her intentions: "There is clear understanding that either you sell it or we will."
Amber Procaccini
Annie Young led the fight against a proposed garbage transfer station using a Legos model that later became a 64,000-square-foot reality when the Green Institute broke ground for the Phillips Eco Enterprise Center.
Nick Vlcek
Joyce Wisdom left the Green Institute after nearly a decade with the organization. In her mind, it was no longer financially sustainable under Krause's leadership.
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THE COUNCIL GAVE the green Institute until December to come up with a plan.
As the deadline looms near, the city's chief financial officer, Pat Born, is pushing against foreclosure. The city holds the second mortgage on the building and a forced sale would require it to pay off the Green Institute's first mortgage—close to a half-million dollars—just to control the property. Then the city would have to try to sell the building at a price that would cover the first mortgage and the Green Institute's outstanding debt to the city.
In what's often called a "distressed sale," Minneapolis is less likely to profit as much from the sale of the building than if the owner sells it, Born says. If the Green Institute is successful with its sale, however, all mortgage holders can expect to get their money back sooner, and the organization will likely be more financially sound.
"The politics of it, the personalities, need to be stripped away," says council member Paul Ostrow. "We need to ask: What is the most responsible thing for the city to do financially? And, in this case, what is in the best interest of the city as a lender is not automatically to foreclose. If we move to foreclosure, and the property is sold, there is no guarantee we'd come out well."
With biomass and Krause behind it, the Green Institute just wants to pay off its debt and move on. "We can spend all the time in the world talking about whose fault was it and who is to blame, but the truth is we're on a good path right now," says former Associate Director Carl Nelson. "There's a lot of politics and everything, but really this is a financial decision for the city. The past is the past. I'm more interested in how our work is going forward."
For the first time in years, the ReUse Center is making the organization money and the rest of the Institute's programs are self-sustainable, says Heipel. In 2007 the Green Institute saw a positive net asset change of nearly $37,500—the first time in five years that column wasn't in the red. The organization and the board are more cognizant of spending and have begun to understand that sometimes a business must say no. The Institute has cut staff, downsized space, and closed the Osseo ReUse store. On November 10, Minneapolis based Kraus-Anderson Inc. put the building on the market. Early appraisals show it is worth nearly $5.5 million, considerably more than the Institute owes.
"If we sell the building for a reasonable price, we are going to be able to pay off the city," Heipel says. "We are going to be able to get our payables down and we are going to be able to start fresh and bank money each month. We are making money now, but currently we can't make it fast enough."
Today, the Green Institute is more than just a building. It has been instrumental in creating Garden Works, an organization that maintains over 100 community gardens. Its Clean Energy Resource Teams facilitate citizen-based renewable energy and efficiency throughout the Twin Cities. The Phillips Community Energy Co-op—founded by the Green Institute—works to reduce the energy burden of low-income residents. And the $2 million ReUse Center claims an estimated 4,000 tons a year of reusable building materials from the city's waste stream.
On November 13, the Green Institute held its 15th annual meeting at Patrick's Cabaret to discuss its financial situation with supporters. Its pioneer is positive about the future. At the height of the energy crisis, when sustainability is necessary to human survival, the Green Institute remains ahead of its time. "It's just hitting its stride as far as its impact, its long-term impact of what the vision was," says Young. "The dilemma now is the finances vs. the vision, the finances vs. how do you stay committed to the neighborhood, to the original ideas, to sustainability?"
