Two Gifts Complete Funding for Arboretum’s New Visitor Center

Site preparation work near completion; Groundbreaking set for 2003

Chanhassen, Minnesota – Two recent multi-million-dollar gifts will allow the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum to move forward with construction of its new Visitor Center. An anonymous donor gave the Arboretum $3.5 million, and Al and Mary Agnes McQuinn presented a gift for $1.4 million, bringing the total funds raised for the facility to $19.5 million.

“This special place deserves the best personal and financial support we can offer. We feel that our contribution toward the new Visitor Center will improve many people’s quality of life far into the future,” said Al McQuinn, retired CEO and founder of Minnesota-based AgChem. Al, with his wife Mary Agnes, have donated a total of $2.5 million toward the Visitor Center. “It’s something different to everyone who visits. There is nowhere else that we are aware of in Minnesota that can offer the peace, solitude, education, invigoration – and much more – that the Arboretum provides.”

“Both of these gifts come from longtime friends of the Arboretum,” said Arboretum Director Peter Olin. “Their families have come here for many, many years. And their donations will allow us to educate and engage thousands of other Minnesota families for years to come.” The Arboretum continues to raise funds for the Visitor Center’s endowment. Donors have already committed $2 million of the $3 million needed to ensure day-to-day maintenance and operation.

Construction on the building is expected to begin in late 2003. When completed, the new Visitor Center will serve as a formal entry point to the gardens and collections, and provide expanded space for educational displays, classrooms, a 400-capacity auditorium, breakout rooms, gift shop, restaurant, and several outdoor terraces, each uniquely designed and landscaped for gathering, dining, or contemplation. In addition to the 44,000-square-foot Visitor Center building, the project includes new parking lots, picnic areas and model rain and run-off gardens.

“We believe that a visit to the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum offers one of the greatest potential returns in the community for personal well-being and education,” said Mary Agnes McQuinn. “In the midst of all sorts of urban pressure, stress and hubbub, the Arboretum is a world unto itself. The new Visitor Center is critical to that experience and deserves our best financial support.” Mary Agnes recently completed 10 years of service on the Arboretum Foundation’s Board of Trustees and chairs its Comprehensive Campaign, along with Gordon Bailey.

The Arboretum, which continues to seek funding for its crystalline conservatory and Highway 5 “Corridor Garden” plantings, is in the fourth and final year of its Comprehensive Capital Campaign and has raised $57 million toward its $65 million goal. These gifts bring the University of Minnesota’s Campaign Minnesota total to $1.496 billion.

Preliminary Construction Complete
The majority of Phase I construction has already been completed, including installing an underground geothermal system beneath roads and parking lots, rerouting of the utilities and roadway on the west side of the existing parking lots, and creating four new parking bays north of the current parking areas. The Arboretum now boasts more than 200 new parking spaces, a new staff parking lot, and easier circulation around the new Visitor Center construction site.

“The work that is left to be done is not nearly as disruptive as the elaborate infrastructure work that was done this fall,” Olin said. “The construction of the Visitor Center building itself will be mostly self-contained, so it shouldn’t interfere with visitors’ enjoyment of the Arboretum experience.”

Geothermal Energy
The Visitor Center will feature a geothermal heating and cooling system, which utilizes the earth’s ability to store massive amounts of energy in the soil. During Phase I of construction, workers drilled 250 interconnected wells, each 200 feet deep.

In winter, through ground-source heat pumps, the system will capture the earth’s steady supply of heat energy and circulate it throughout the building. Conversely, in summer, the earth will cool the fluid that flows through the underground system. A mixture of food-grade anti-freeze and water will deliver the energy from the underground wells to the Visitor Center. Designed as a cost-effective alternative to rising energy costs, the geothermal system will provide ongoing savings for years to come.

“It’s a proven system,” Olin said. “And, the Arboretum’s reputation as a setting for model projects that enhance the urban ecosystem makes it an ideal location for this project.” The Arboretum will use the system as a teaching opportunity as well. Plans call for the development of an interpretive display inside the Visitor Center to explain how the geothermal system works, and to illustrate its cost-efficiency, ease of maintenance and environmental friendliness.

Rain and Run-off Gardens
Two garden models will be installed as part of the new parking areas. The run-off model will enable area planning professionals, builders, developers, and homeowners to view and compare how parking lot surfaces with different levels of porosity absorb storm water run-off. The rain gardens will focus on using sandy soil, vegetation, and innovative design features to absorb parking lot run-off water, improve water infiltration, and maximize pollutant removal. The run-off model project is a partnership with the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District with additional support from the Metropolitan Council.

The entire Visitor Center project – including the geothermal heating and cooling system, parking lots, and rain and run-off model display gardens – is expected to be completed in late 2004.

The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, the largest public garden in the Upper Midwest and a premier northern arboretum, is part of the College of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences at the University of Minnesota and developed as a community and national resource for horticultural and environmental information, research, and public education. It is located nine miles west of I-494 on Highway 5 in Chanhassen. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity employer and educator. The Arboretum is disability accessible; all buildings are smoke-free.

For more information, please contact Julie Smith at
(952) 443-1459 or at jasmith@arboretum.umn.edu

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