Packing up Leonardo’s Basement

One-of-a-kind learning program leaves Midway after losing its lease

By MARGIE O’LOUGHLIN

Leonardo’s Basement, a one-of-a-kind learning environment for “kids” of all ages, is packing up and leaving the Griggs Recreation Center at 1188 Hubbard Ave. They have offered classes and workshops there for the past five years in all areas of hands-on engineering, art and technology. Effective mid-January, the space will be leased to a new tenant by the City of St. Paul Parks and Recreation Department.

In 2009, the City of St. Paul embarked on an experiment, re-partnering some of their park buildings because it was too expensive to maintain them all. Non-profit organizations were able to apply to use existing park buildings for their own purposes at reasonable rents.

According to Brad Meyer, Public Service Manager for Parks and Recreation, “Similar to other facility agreements, we didn’t contractually address performance measurements with Leonardo’s Basement to ensure that community needs were being met. We focused more on eliminating some of the budget pressures we were facing at the time.”

Steve Jevning, founder and executive director of Leonardo’s Basement explained that “the experience with Parks and Rec has not been without problems.” In his view, the lack of a transparent leasing process has worked to everyone’s disadvantage. Neighbors were unhappy that his non-profit charged a fee for their programs (despite the fact they gave away more than 100 scholarships annually). Jevning and his supporters were frustrated that Parks and Rec changed the terms of their lease and the leasing process.

In a nutshell, Jevning said, “We learned last spring that Leonardo’s Basement would have to submit a proposal to have our lease re-considered, along with any other interested non-profits. The rent at the Griggs Recreation Center would have increased to a point where we couldn’t afford it. We opted to not file a proposal for the site, hoping that no one else would either - and that the original terms of our lease would stay the same.”

From Meyer’s perspective, “We opened up every facility with existing agreements to give interested non-profits an equal opportunity to apply. Included in the application would be a statement of their ability to meet minimum performance measurements. Unfortunately, even after multiple attempts to get Leonardo’s Basement to submit an application stating their interest, they declined. Therefore they could not be considered based on public procurement and bidding laws.”

Leonardo’s Basement took a bet, and lost.

So what comes next?

“Since we started running classes 16 years ago, our program has tried to be all things to all people,” Jevning said. This move from St. Paul will bring us back to operating out of one workshop, our Minneapolis site at 4301 Nicollet Ave. It’s okay that we’re leaving Griggs. The move will encourage us to re-define our focus, and to concentrate on strengthening our relationships with school partners.”

The non-profit has cultivated strong relationships with several schools in St. Paul, including College Prep Elementary, Maxfield Elementary, LEAP High School and Gordon Parks High School. They hope that some of those connections, especially Maxfield Elementary where the teachers really value kinesthetic learning, will continue despite the move.

Leonardo’s Basement is an unusual name, and one that was chosen for several reasons. Leonardo Da Vinci remains one of the very best examples of a curious and observing mind—a mind capable of integrating engineering, art and technology. The basement is where tinkering occurs that leads to creative discovery and experimentation of an informal nature. Instructors with this program are partners with students, helping them learn by doing while developing personal and technical skills. The methods of instruction used in classes and workshops respect all learning styles.

There are a lot of materials to pack up in the next few weeks: art supplies, electronic parts, tools and all the stuff needed to make an organization work.

When everything is said and done, Jevning would like to thank those who made it possible for Leonardo’s Basement to come to St. Paul in the first place. “We couldn’t have done it without significant help from Philanthropy Partners, formerly the St. Paul Foundation,” he said. “Their contributions were crucial to getting us up and running. The Midway Men’s Club was fantastic. They have a beer and burger stand at the State Fair every summer, and give all the proceeds to support kids programs in the neighborhood. They donated to us so generously that we were able to create a substantial scholarship fund. A grant from the City of St. Paul’s Neighborhood STAR Program enabled us to host three major neighborhood festivals, which we thought really brought people together.”

According to Jevning, the new tenant, as of mid-January, will be the offices of the St. Paul Urban Tennis Program.