La Crosse’s Lincoln Middle School gets landmark status, but that could complicate sale of the building

A century-old school building in La Crosse is now being designated as a historic local landmark, but not without some objections.

The city’s heritage preservation commission approved landmark status for Lincoln Middle School on Thursday night. The La Crosse School District is now trying to sell Lincoln, and Superintendent Aaron Engel tells the commission that this vote complicates the sale process.

“It is a deep injustice to property owners, to place their property on the local register of historic places after the property has gone up for sale,” said Engel.

Engel says city officials didn’t communicate with the district about plans to make the school a historic landmark, until just recently.  The school board voted this year to close Lincoln.  School District building and grounds director Joe Ledvina says landmark designation should be postponed until after they’ve found a buyer.

“It feels a little bit like a hostage situation, like we’re being handcuffed,” Ledvina told the commission, “because we’ve been speaking to developers, I’ve been speaking to developers, I’ve been giving tours of the facility for several months now.”

The landmark status only applies to the original building from the 1920’s, not to additions made since then.  The commission recently placed Lincoln on a list of the 10 most endangered buildings in La Crosse for 2023.

Commission member Natalie Heneghan responded that she wants to keep the old school from being torn down, partly for environmental reasons.

“The 92-thousand square foot building of Lincoln would generate roughly seven thousand tons of waste, if demolished,” said Heneghan. “That’s more than 10 per cent of the municipal solid waste generated by La Crosse County in 2020.”

Members of the public have 30 days to appeal the landmark designation to the La Crosse city council.