ARMORY SQUARE PRE-DEVELOPMENT
creating the path to adaptive reuse
As the initial project developer, Echopoint Design & Development, LLC provided the financing,
concept development, design inspiration, and project management expertise throughout the environmental abatement and structural rehabilitation phase of the project. This extensive pre-development work made adaptive redevelopment of the Park Rapids Armory viable.
Armory Square Management Corporation is now the facility manager and developer, responsible
for ongoing construction management and facility operations. Today, after three years of pre-development work on this historic structure in the heart of down town Park Rapids, the
reconstruction plan is well under way. The armory remained vacant and unused for almost two decades, contaminated with asbestos and lead paint, PCB laden equipment, with an abandoned
steam boiler and 6,000 gallon underground fuel oil storage tank. After 19 years of neglect and
decay, the Park Rapids armory is ready to become a vital part of the downtown revitalization plan.
Before Phase I Progress
As the end user and facility developer, Park Rapids Community Development Corporation can
create the alignment between entrepreneurs and community stakeholders that is essential to
bring together all the capacities and resources necessary to realize the full potential of the
Armory Square redevelopment project and its contribution to the downtown revitalization plan:
Integrated Mixed Use Facility - Civic Center / Community Theater / Commercial Anchor
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Public - Private Partnership
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The viability of the project will depend upon a successful collaboration of both public and
private interests. It will also require investment & commitment from noncommercial constituencies, such as supporters and patrons of the various performing and fine arts communities located throughout the region, if the project is to achieve its full potential. -
By leveraging public and private efforts, and integrating broader community resources into
the project, that which is not possible for either the public sector or private sector alone
has significant development potential as a collaborative community project.