Case Study

World-class culinary program grows into state-of-the-art facilities

[insert image here]

Client Profile
Brown College, located in Mendota Heights, Minn., is a postsecondary school that offers the world-renowned Le Cordon Bleu Culinary program.

Challenge
Brown College was searching for a new facility for its growing Le Cordon Bleu Culinary program. The school began an extensive search for locations with a goal of moving the program within an aggressive timeframe. Their property search produced few options—all of them more than eight miles away from the college’s main campus. They came to United Properties for a new approach.

Strategy
The United Properties Development Team reviewed Brown College’s situation and determined that building a new facility would be just as quick and cost-effective as finding and extensively remodeling an existing one. The team identified a suitable site close to the college’s main campus and proposed a plan to finance and develop a new facility on it.

To further meet the financial requirements of the college, the team proposed an ownership model in which United Properties would own the property and lease it to the school, spreading the costs of construction over a longer period of time and minimizing cash required. The school reviewed the plan and decided that building a new facility from scratch offered the greatest long-term advantages and would provide their culinary students with the best, state-of-the-art facility.

Results
Construction took the same amount of time it would have taken to renovate an existing property. Brown College signed a long-term lease for the entire 70,000 sq. ft. of the facility, providing as stable location for its culinary program while meeting long-term financial objectives. An on-site restaurant provides students with real-world experience cooking and 50 percent of the new space will be state-of-the-art kitchens. The facility is less than a half-mile away from the school’s main campus and provides abundant surface parking of eight stalls per 1,000 sq. ft. for the program’s students, faculty and staff.