Star Tribune
Repairing and reopening Minneapolis’ Witch’s Hat Tower could cost at least $350,000
Reopening Minneapolis’ Witch’s Hat Tower to the public — and potentially making it available for large events like weddings — will likely cost the city at least $350,000, according to a new assessment of the long-closed landmark.
The 110-year-old Witch’s Hat Tower, officially the Prospect Park Water Tower, was last open to the public for a “Doors Open” event in 2019. That’s when a step in the narrow steel staircase coiling up to the observation deck broke beneath visitors’ feet, forcing organizers to evacuate the building, said Hennepin History Museum archivist Susan Larson-Fleming. No one was allowed inside for four years while graffiti accrued around the tower’s base and a heavily reinforced iron door kept would-be urban explorers at bay.
Now, neighborhood organizations say it’s time to get the historic water tower the repairs it needs to reopen, and the city has a clearer picture of how much that could cost.
In May, Minneapolis sent a structural engineer from KLJ Engineering up into the tower to conduct a basic structural assessment. KLJ delivered its initial findings last month, which included estimated costs for a slate of options and the recommendation that the city employ a building science and forensics firm for deeper investigation.
KLJ’s Drew Andersen found the tower in fair condition considering it was built in 1913. But there were a few visible problems including concrete deterioration, rebar corrosion and staircase connections that had rotated out of alignment and were no longer providing support.
“We’re not surprised we’re hearing that there are serious deficiencies,” said Joe Ring, president of the Friends of Tower Hill Park, who is anxious to know when repairs will be ordered. “We’re kind of dumbfounded because it doesn’t seem to be moving forward.”
The Friends and the Prospect Park neighborhood association volunteered to staff the tower on the occasions it was open in the past. Now, Ring says the neighborhood groups want the city — which owns the tower — and the Park Board — which owns the surrounding parkland — to work together to restore and maintain the site, which has a National Register of Historic Places designation.
The city asked KLJ to estimate costs for three paths forward: keeping the tower closed, retrofitting it for limited access to the historical tower observation deck or opening it to larger public events like weddings. The options range from $50,000 for localized repairs to $350,000 for limited scope renovation to $1.3 million for complex rehab.
The most expensive option would make the Witch’s Tower far more accessible than in years past. Typically, the tower was open just a few hours of the year during the Pratt Community School’s ice cream social attracted significant crowds hoping to glimpse its sweeping view of the city.
“If people wanted to get up to the tower, you had to wait in a line that kind of wrapped around the park and then down the street to University Avenue, it was so long,” said Larson-Fleming.
That was the case when the tower was last accessible, for Doors Open 2019. While only 80 people could be inside the tower at any time, nearly 5,000 people climbed it over the two-day event, said Lynn Von Korff of the Prospect Park Association.
Council Member Robin Wonsley, whose ward includes Prospect Park, said the city is working to propose to the Park Board an agreement around shared maintenance responsibilities. Ideally, the tower would be restored to the point that it could be open to the public for more days of the year than it was before, she said.
“We want to make this a very special gathering space that can be part of a more regular experience in the lives of our residents who value this park and value the structure so deeply,” she said. “It doesn’t have to just be a one-time thing. Let’s figure out how to make that happen.”
Dozens wept and embraced before releasing scores of balloons Saturday over north Minneapolis to remember two community pillars who were killed in a fiery car accident.
The crowd gathered near 26th and Emerson avenues to remember Esther Jean Fulks, 53, and Rose Elaine Reece, 57. They died on Dec. 16 when Teniki Latrice Elise Steward, 38, allegedly drove through a red light and struck their vehicle. A teen waiting at a nearby bus stop also was injured.
Fulks and Reese “gave their love and their hard work and dedication to the community. And as you can see, there’s people out here for them,” said Fulks’ daughter, D’Nia. “I’m going to miss my mom. That was my world, I was with her day in and day out. I was hoping to come home to my mom and it didn’t happen.”
“It means a lot,” Esther’s son, Joseph Loyd, said of neighbors attending the balloon release. “It shows what they contributed to the community and how much they meant to people. Not just their own families, but they touched countless other families and helped people.”
Emmary Thomas set a candle down at a bus stop during a balloon release Saturday for Esther Fulks and Rose Reece at 26th and Emerson avenues in north Minneapolis. Fulks and Reece died in a crash at the intersection on Dec. 16. (Ayrton Breckenridge/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Flowers, balloons, candles and pictures sat at a bus stop during a balloon release Saturday for Esther Fulks and Rose Reece in north Minneapolis. Fulks and Reece died in a crash at the intersection on Dec. 16. (Ayrton Breckenridge/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Drakarr Lobley hugged a supporter during Saturday’s balloon release for Esther Fulks and Rose Reece in north Minneapolis. Fulks and Reece died in a crash at the intersection on Dec. 16. Lobley is Reece’s son. (Ayrton Breckenridge/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Family and friends said Fulks and Reece were pillars of the community who treated strangers like family and brought love to those around them. Both had worked as navigators for the Minneapolis Cultural Wellness Center since 1998, connecting residents to food, clothing, shelter and other resources.
“They reminded us daily of the transformative power of service, love, and cultural connection,” Elder Atum Azzahir, executive director of the Cultural Wellness Center, said in a statement. “They were not just navigators — they were beacons of hope, guiding people toward brighter futures.”
At the crash scene Saturday, loved ones embraced while shedding tears and sharing memories. Anthony Hamilton’s “I Can’t Let Go” played as passing motorists shouted condolences and words of support. Caution tape strung to a traffic cone near the intersection fluttered in the wind.
Hit by headwinds including inflationary pressures, competition from e-commerce sites, big box retailers, pop-up stores and even a helium shortage, Party City is going out of business.
The closing of the nation’s largest party supply store, reported by CNN on Friday, is expected to shutter more than 700 retail stores in North America by the end of February, including 10 stores in Minnesota.
According to the company’s website, Party City has outlets in Apple Valley, Bloomington, Chanhassen, Coon Rapids, Maple Grove, Maplewood, Roseville, St. Cloud, St. Louis Park and Woodbury. Employees contacted at stores in Roseville, St. Cloud and Apple Valley said they had heard of the closing but could not comment.
Party City, which sells everything from balloons, costumes and birthday banners to gender reveal props and New Year’s Eve tiaras, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2023. That resulted in the cancellation of nearly $1 billion in debt.
The 38-year-old New Jersey-based company exited bankruptcy after naming a new CEO, Barry Litwin, in August. But the company was still contending with more than $800 million in debt, according to CNN. The New York Times reported the company employed more than 16,000 people.
A panel of independent health experts recommended this month against older adults using vitamin D and calcium supplements to prevent falls and fractures, citing inadequate evidence to support their effectiveness.
The guidance from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force underscores the risks of supplementation without prior testing and diagnosis for a vitamin D deficiency or for osteoporosis.
While vitamin D and calcium are important for bone health and muscle function, the task force, a blue-ribbon panel of experts in disease prevention and evidence-based medicine, said the supplements do little to reduce falls or fractures, and they may increase the risk of kidney stones.
The task force said the recommendation applies to people living at home, including women who have gone through menopause and men 60 years and older. It does not apply to people in assisted living or nursing homes because people living in those facilities may be more prone to health complications, including risk of falls.
Patients whose medical providers have suggested supplements as part of their clinical regimen are recommended to continue with that guidance.
The task force assigned a grade of D to the recommendation, indicating that it advises against use of the supplements because of moderate or high certainty that they provide no net benefit or that the harms outweigh the benefits — discouraging its use.
Falls are the leading cause of injury-related death among people 65 and older, a problem that increased steadily from 2012 to 2021. In 2020, health care spending related to falls in older adults that did not result in death was $80 billion, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
John M. Ruiz, a task force member, said the answer to minimizing the risk of falling does not lie in vitamin supplementation. He said a review of research by the health experts found no dose of vitamin D with or without calcium was useful in preventing falls and fractures.
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