BBBS on the hunt for bigger, greener pastures

“Absolutely nothing will change.”

That was the message from Michelle Redman about the future of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Minnesota, after learning the group would need to find a new home to accommodate its growth.

For the past 25 years or so, BBBS has operated out of Velve Hall on the West Hills Campus in Owatonna. When SEMCAC, the other tenant in the building, relocated earlier this year, it presented an opportunity.

“We were looking to expand into the whole building,” Redman said, “and were working with the city on it. We thought we were entering into another long-term lease, then we got that news.”

The news was that the city is not going to allow BBBS to occupy the entire building, citing its own inadequate current workspaces and meeting areas.

“Due to the city’s existing and anticipated space needs, we informed BBBS that we are unable to accommodate their request to expand their space at Velve Hall,” Jenna Tuma, assistant city administrator, wrote in an email.

“The (current) facilities being used will not meet future needs for our growing municipality,” she continued. “City leadership made a decision to utilize the existing, available space at Velve Hall to meet operational needs rather than building a new facility, renting space elsewhere or incurring the significant cost of remodeling the third floor at City Hall.”

When BBBS’s five-year lease expires Dec. 31, the organization will rent the building month-to-month until it finds a larger location.

“We’re not being put out on the curb,” Redman said, “though it was something that was very unexpected news for Big Brothers Big Sisters.”

While acknowledging that business is business, “we are now in the position of finding a new home, and that will come at a cost,” she said. “We had a really wonderful (arrangement) with the city, so this will definitely double or triple our occupancy budget, and we’ll be doing some fundraising.”

Tuma emphasized that the city did not request or demand that BBBS vacate their current space.

The lease includes an option to renew for an additional five years in the same spot, she said, but city staff offered the monthly option “to allow BBBS time to identify a different location that accommodates its expansion needs,” without making another five-year commitment.

“I truly believe there is always hope around the corner,” Redman said. “Maybe next year at this time, we’ll be sitting in our new space going, ‘wow, that was actually a good thing.’ Right now it’s a little raw, and it’s a lot more work that we weren’t expecting to take on.”

As the search begins, “absolutely nothing will change,” she said. “We’ll continue on the path of always serving more children, year after year, month after month. We will not back down on our service one bit.”

Still, Redman said, “when we do find a new home, most likely it won’t be with this wonderful green space that we’ve had allocated to us for so long.”

The board will look for partners who may be able to provide outside space to use for the activities they host for their “bigs” and “littles.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Redman said. “We love our home, but we understand things have to change sometimes. We’ve had a wonderful experience here and have truly enjoyed it.”