Many in Loveland want the 116-year-old Loveland Feed and Grain building restored, but there is little consensus as to what it should become.
That’s why leaders of the Feed and Grain restoration movement are looking forward to hearing the opinions of a group of architectural students.
Starting in August, 15 University of Colorado Denver graduate students will study the building and come up with individual solutions to its restoration and reuse.
They hope to unveil their ideas at a community-wide forum in Denver, said Erin McLaughlin, the head of the Feed and Grain preservation group Novo Restoration Inc.
“It’s very exciting,” McLaughlin said, noting UC Denver architecture students have helped restore other buildings in Colorado, including a theater in Creede. “From each one of them, we’re hoping for a complete set of drawings that will help us decide the end use for the building.”
The Feed and Grain was built in 1891 to store and mill grain from the farms in and around Loveland. But it went out of business in 2003 and began to fall apart.
It was slated to be leveled to make way for apartments, but McLaughlin’s group launched a campaign to save the structure. The Loveland City Council refused to issue a demolition permit for the building, which was designated a historic landmark.
Local businessman Barry Floyd bought the building for $400,000 and is leaving it unchanged while a plan for its use can be mapped out.
It’s important for the Feed and Grain to become a part of the Loveland landscape, said Laurie Dunklee, spokeswoman for the Colorado Historic Fund. “It’s important as communities change that buildings like these remain to remind people of their heritage.”
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
