URORA - In 2000, Wells College President Lisa Marsh Ryerson faced a dilemma.
Reid Silverman / The Citizen
"We don't like a lot of changes going on around here," said Aurora resident John Hart, who often visits the Fargo Bar & Grill. "I thought the owner really got a raw deal." The Aurora Foundation opted not to renew the lease of Fargo owner Jim Orman and will assume control of the local bar on June 1.
The school had a portfolio of failing commercial properties, but also a proprietary interest in continuing that ownership. The school's board of trustees voted to close the Aurora Inn because it had lost a quarter-million dollars the year before. But the college community needed an inn. It also did not want to lose its market, another college property that was in financial trouble.
So Ryerson turned to Pleasant Rowland, an out-of-state alumna who had made $700 million from the sale of the American Girl line of dolls and books. Always a generous contributor to Wells, she had become even more so in the 1990s, when she gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to redecorate the public spaces in many of the campus buildings.
Rowland came through for Ryerson in a big way. Five years later, the village's commercial district has been transformed through renovations largely financed by Rowland.
But not everyone in Aurora is pleased.
A recent eruption of protest in Aurora over the decision to remove a bar operator from a college-owned property illustrated a growing divide in the community. There are those who see Rowland and the college as the salvation for a once-struggling village, and others who view them as inaccessible lords of a self-created fiefdom.
The roots of this tension go back decades, when Rowland first discovered the village on the banks of Cayuga Lake.
Rowland loved the Wells campus while a student and so, when Ryerson asked for help to rescue downtown Aurora, Rowland had the passion and the resources to ease the college's financial burden and create a sense of rebirth in the community.
Rowland created the Aurora Foundation, which is an extraordinary partnership wrought by two women steeped in intelligence, leadership and innovation, according to Ann Rollo, Wells College vice president for external relations.
The fruits of the Aurora Foundation's labors are most evident in the Aurora Inn, which reopened in May 2003. No longer the dilapidated building losing nearly $250,000 a year, the inn is referred to in Wells College literature as the jewel in the crown of village revitalization. Through the foundation, Rowland spared no expense in restoring the Federal-style building, on the tax rolls for $1.9 million. She changed the floor plan, made rooms bigger, and raised the elegance level of the inn. The 10 guest rooms, six with lake views, go for between $200 and $350 a night during peak season.
The dining room is busy for lunch and dinner, and weddings are once again held on the inn's expansive back lawn that runs to Cayuga Lake.
The foundation, through Rowland's hands-on efforts, has made massive changes during the past four years in other college-owned buildings, as well. There is a new village market, a flower shop, the remodeled Fargo bar and a new pizza shop. A public dock was added behind the inn, and a pocket park created on Main Street. Rowland buried utilities, added trees and remodeled the old post office building.
The Aurora Foundation hopes the village will agree to move the existing post office into its now renovated former home. The foundation would then pay to demolish the village-owned building that now houses it and expand the parking lot.
"I am absolutely pleased with what she's done, especially with the Aurora Inn," said Aurora resident Brad Mitchell. "I am happy to have the inn open again. There's no doubt that (Rowland) is a strong woman, and I don't agree with everything, but I was very tired of seeing it all going downhill. I'm delighted at seeing it all redone. It is a better-looking place. It's good to see people coming to Aurora again."
But not everyone supports what the Aurora Foundation has done.
The Aurora Coalition, formed in 2001 to counter Rowland's efforts, refers to her on its Web site as a real-estate developer who "continues to deface and degrade our village's historic character and community identity."
The Aurora Inn, coalition member Karen Hindenlang points out, bears little resemblance to the original building, constructed in 1833. The interior, gutted from the original floor plan, is completely different. Rowland turned a blind eye to help offered from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and did things her way, said Hindenlang.
Hindenlang and about 80 other residents, who raised environmental and preservation concerns, lost a court battle to stop the foundation.
Hindenlang said Rowland is more than a strong woman. With her money, she has managed to steamroll village officials and other business owners who have raised questions or objections.
The result, said Aurora resident Anne Burch, is a village whose core character has been destroyed in favor of pretty streetscapes and generic gentrification.
Rowland's critics were incensed again this spring, when the Aurora Foundation opted not to renew the lease of Fargo Bar & Grill manager Jim Orman. The foundation owns the building, and will take over management of the Fargo beginning June 1. The foundation believes it is in the college's best interest to have the foundation, and not private enterprise, operate its commercial interests. The foundation pays costs and absorbs losses, and has agreed to turn over profits to the college.
Katie Waller, the Aurora Foundation's executive director, said Rowland is a philanthropist, and will not realize "one penny" from investing, renovating and managing the college's properties. Waller said the coalition has misrepresented the mission of the foundation. She called some of coalition members' allegations lies.
Rowland's contributions to Wells are an extremely unusual gift in the world of higher education, said Bill Wherry of Fieldstone Consulting, a Washington, D.C. firm that works with foundations that give to colleges and universities. He knows of no other such arrangement.
"A foundation has the legal right to spend money any way it wants to," Wherry said. "The relationship to the community is another question. When a rural place is taken over, it's a hard question to which there may be no right or wrong answer."
He called the situation in Aurora fascinating and said it's no surprise there seems to be a ferocious response from those who don't appreciate the changes.
Waller and Rollo said the village is better place because of Rowland's generosity. They estimate the refurbished businesses have created more than 100 jobs. Those working more than 32 hours a week get benefits.
Village mayor Tom Gunderson, who is also Wells College's superintendent of buildings and grounds, estimates the work the Aurora Foundation has done downtown will increase the value of college properties by $2 million. That will translate to increased tax revenues, he said.
Of the 46 properties Wells College owns in the Aurora and Ledyard, all but 14 are on the tax rolls. According to the state Real Property Tax Law adopted in 1980, a nonprofit entity, such as a school, must pay taxes on land and buildings it owns that aren't used directly for its mission. That means the Aurora Inn, as well all of the other commercial property and buildings from which the college realizes rental income, generate taxes for the municipality.
The college has $8.3 million in exempt property and pays taxes on $6.8 million worth of property on the tax rolls. The Aurora Foundation pays the taxes for the college on the commercial holdings, which are collectively assessed now for about $2.5 million.
Gunderson said the Aurora Foundation benefits the village, a feeling he said is shared by the majority of residents. Many, like him, have ties to the college, but he said most residents are independent thinkers and are not unduly influenced by the college.
The criticisms have overshadowed some of the other positives, such as increased job opportunities since the Aurora Foundation took responsibility for the college properties, Waller said. Nearly all of the people who filled the positions are from Cayuga and Tompkins counties.
Rollo also pointed out that most of the contractors are local, or at least from the central New York region. The contractor for the inn work came from Syracuse, but the majority of the sub-contractors were from Cayuga County.
Critics say there is still not enough of dialogue with Rowland, that she is inaccessible and seems largely unconcerned with village opinion. Rowland declined a direct interview for this story.
Waller said that through newsletters and the contact she has on Rowland's behalf with village residents, the foundation is responsive and keeps lines of communication open. She said that was one of the reasons the foundation put in a dock for public use, because residents said they wanted it.
Rowland herself has made just two formal public appearances, although she spends time in the village and at MacKenzie-Childs, where she is the chief executive officer. She typically prefers a low profile, Waller said.
Village resident Laura Holland said Rowland never responded to any of the two dozen personal letters written on behalf of Orman.
"She doesn't communicate with anyone in this town," Holland said.
She never even spoke directly with Rowland when the Aurora Foundation purchased Holland's Main Street house, which was set for demolition because Holland's family wanted to build a new one in its place. The foundation bought the house for $10, moved the house onto college property and is awaiting a decision by village officials about its final resting place.
The college will be deeded the house and it will be sold, Waller said.
Randi Zabrieski, owner of Jane Morgan's Little House women's clothing shop, is one of the few remaining private businesses in Aurora. She does have ties to the Aurora Foundation through historical projects she has done, but the foundation doesn't own her building or her business.
Rowland's contributions, Zabrieski said, have helped bring more people into Aurora, which strengthens her business and increases sales-tax revenue.
Gunderson said the revitalization has extended to others as well. Doug Wood, owner of a historic house next to the Fargo, is renovating it with the hope of opening small specialty shops there.
But William Heary, who sold the old post office building to Wells College about three years ago, is skeptical. When the foundation took control of that building, it evicted the few small businesses inside, except for a doctor's office. Heary, of King Ferry, found it curious that the college wanted the building, which he sold for $350,000, when it was supposedly losing money on other commercial enterprises.
"The impression I get from the college and the foundation is they don't want anyone to have a profit if they don't have a share of it," he said.
Waller said none of the foundation-controlled enterprises have turned a profit, which was not unexpected during the first few years of operation.
The college is pleased anyway, Rollo said, because the properties have stopped being a drain because of Rowland's generosity.
"The college needs to rely on our assets to support and fund our mission," Ryerson wrote in an April letter to Aurora residents, explaining the Fargo's management shift.
"The commercial properties Wells owns in the village are important assets. They slow deterioration of these buildings over a long period that resulted in these properties being a financial drain instead of a source of revenue."
Staff writer Louise Hoffman Broach can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or louise.hoffman@lee.net
So Ryerson turned to Pleasant Rowland, an out-of-state alumna who had made $700 million from the sale of the American Girl line of dolls and books. Always a generous contributor to Wells, she had become even more so in the 1990s, when she gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to redecorate the public spaces in many of the campus buildings.
Rowland came through for Ryerson in a big way. Five years later, the village's commercial district has been transformed through renovations largely financed by Rowland.
But not everyone in Aurora is pleased.
A recent eruption of protest in Aurora over the decision to remove a bar operator from a college-owned property illustrated a growing divide in the community. There are those who see Rowland and the college as the salvation for a once-struggling village, and others who view them as inaccessible lords of a self-created fiefdom.
The roots of this tension go back decades, when Rowland first discovered the village on the banks of Cayuga Lake.
Rowland loved the Wells campus while a student and so, when Ryerson asked for help to rescue downtown Aurora, Rowland had the passion and the resources to ease the college's financial burden and create a sense of rebirth in the community.
Rowland created the Aurora Foundation, which is an extraordinary partnership wrought by two women steeped in intelligence, leadership and innovation, according to Ann Rollo, Wells College vice president for external relations.
The fruits of the Aurora Foundation's labors are most evident in the Aurora Inn, which reopened in May 2003. No longer the dilapidated building losing nearly $250,000 a year, the inn is referred to in Wells College literature as the jewel in the crown of village revitalization. Through the foundation, Rowland spared no expense in restoring the Federal-style building, on the tax rolls for $1.9 million. She changed the floor plan, made rooms bigger, and raised the elegance level of the inn. The 10 guest rooms, six with lake views, go for between $200 and $350 a night during peak season.
The dining room is busy for lunch and dinner, and weddings are once again held on the inn's expansive back lawn that runs to Cayuga Lake.
The foundation, through Rowland's hands-on efforts, has made massive changes during the past four years in other college-owned buildings, as well. There is a new village market, a flower shop, the remodeled Fargo bar and a new pizza shop. A public dock was added behind the inn, and a pocket park created on Main Street. Rowland buried utilities, added trees and remodeled the old post office building.
The Aurora Foundation hopes the village will agree to move the existing post office into its now renovated former home. The foundation would then pay to demolish the village-owned building that now houses it and expand the parking lot.
"I am absolutely pleased with what she's done, especially with the Aurora Inn," said Aurora resident Brad Mitchell. "I am happy to have the inn open again. There's no doubt that (Rowland) is a strong woman, and I don't agree with everything, but I was very tired of seeing it all going downhill. I'm delighted at seeing it all redone. It is a better-looking place. It's good to see people coming to Aurora again."
But not everyone supports what the Aurora Foundation has done.
The Aurora Coalition, formed in 2001 to counter Rowland's efforts, refers to her on its Web site as a real-estate developer who "continues to deface and degrade our village's historic character and community identity."
The Aurora Inn, coalition member Karen Hindenlang points out, bears little resemblance to the original building, constructed in 1833. The interior, gutted from the original floor plan, is completely different. Rowland turned a blind eye to help offered from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and did things her way, said Hindenlang.
Hindenlang and about 80 other residents, who raised environmental and preservation concerns, lost a court battle to stop the foundation.
Hindenlang said Rowland is more than a strong woman. With her money, she has managed to steamroll village officials and other business owners who have raised questions or objections.
The result, said Aurora resident Anne Burch, is a village whose core character has been destroyed in favor of pretty streetscapes and generic gentrification.
Rowland's critics were incensed again this spring, when the Aurora Foundation opted not to renew the lease of Fargo Bar & Grill manager Jim Orman. The foundation owns the building, and will take over management of the Fargo beginning June 1. The foundation believes it is in the college's best interest to have the foundation, and not private enterprise, operate its commercial interests. The foundation pays costs and absorbs losses, and has agreed to turn over profits to the college.
Katie Waller, the Aurora Foundation's executive director, said Rowland is a philanthropist, and will not realize "one penny" from investing, renovating and managing the college's properties. Waller said the coalition has misrepresented the mission of the foundation. She called some of coalition members' allegations lies.
Rowland's contributions to Wells are an extremely unusual gift in the world of higher education, said Bill Wherry of Fieldstone Consulting, a Washington, D.C. firm that works with foundations that give to colleges and universities. He knows of no other such arrangement.
"A foundation has the legal right to spend money any way it wants to," Wherry said. "The relationship to the community is another question. When a rural place is taken over, it's a hard question to which there may be no right or wrong answer."
He called the situation in Aurora fascinating and said it's no surprise there seems to be a ferocious response from those who don't appreciate the changes.
Waller and Rollo said the village is better place because of Rowland's generosity. They estimate the refurbished businesses have created more than 100 jobs. Those working more than 32 hours a week get benefits.
Village mayor Tom Gunderson, who is also Wells College's superintendent of buildings and grounds, estimates the work the Aurora Foundation has done downtown will increase the value of college properties by $2 million. That will translate to increased tax revenues, he said.
Of the 46 properties Wells College owns in the Aurora and Ledyard, all but 14 are on the tax rolls. According to the state Real Property Tax Law adopted in 1980, a nonprofit entity, such as a school, must pay taxes on land and buildings it owns that aren't used directly for its mission. That means the Aurora Inn, as well all of the other commercial property and buildings from which the college realizes rental income, generate taxes for the municipality.
The college has $8.3 million in exempt property and pays taxes on $6.8 million worth of property on the tax rolls. The Aurora Foundation pays the taxes for the college on the commercial holdings, which are collectively assessed now for about $2.5 million.
Gunderson said the Aurora Foundation benefits the village, a feeling he said is shared by the majority of residents. Many, like him, have ties to the college, but he said most residents are independent thinkers and are not unduly influenced by the college.
The criticisms have overshadowed some of the other positives, such as increased job opportunities since the Aurora Foundation took responsibility for the college properties, Waller said. Nearly all of the people who filled the positions are from Cayuga and Tompkins counties.
Rollo also pointed out that most of the contractors are local, or at least from the central New York region. The contractor for the inn work came from Syracuse, but the majority of the sub-contractors were from Cayuga County.
Critics say there is still not enough of dialogue with Rowland, that she is inaccessible and seems largely unconcerned with village opinion. Rowland declined a direct interview for this story.
Waller said that through newsletters and the contact she has on Rowland's behalf with village residents, the foundation is responsive and keeps lines of communication open. She said that was one of the reasons the foundation put in a dock for public use, because residents said they wanted it.
Rowland herself has made just two formal public appearances, although she spends time in the village and at MacKenzie-Childs, where she is the chief executive officer. She typically prefers a low profile, Waller said.
Village resident Laura Holland said Rowland never responded to any of the two dozen personal letters written on behalf of Orman.
"She doesn't communicate with anyone in this town," Holland said.
She never even spoke directly with Rowland when the Aurora Foundation purchased Holland's Main Street house, which was set for demolition because Holland's family wanted to build a new one in its place. The foundation bought the house for $10, moved the house onto college property and is awaiting a decision by village officials about its final resting place.
The college will be deeded the house and it will be sold, Waller said.
Randi Zabrieski, owner of Jane Morgan's Little House women's clothing shop, is one of the few remaining private businesses in Aurora. She does have ties to the Aurora Foundation through historical projects she has done, but the foundation doesn't own her building or her business.
Rowland's contributions, Zabrieski said, have helped bring more people into Aurora, which strengthens her business and increases sales-tax revenue.
Gunderson said the revitalization has extended to others as well. Doug Wood, owner of a historic house next to the Fargo, is renovating it with the hope of opening small specialty shops there.
But William Heary, who sold the old post office building to Wells College about three years ago, is skeptical. When the foundation took control of that building, it evicted the few small businesses inside, except for a doctor's office. Heary, of King Ferry, found it curious that the college wanted the building, which he sold for $350,000, when it was supposedly losing money on other commercial enterprises.
"The impression I get from the college and the foundation is they don't want anyone to have a profit if they don't have a share of it," he said.
Waller said none of the foundation-controlled enterprises have turned a profit, which was not unexpected during the first few years of operation.
The college is pleased anyway, Rollo said, because the properties have stopped being a drain because of Rowland's generosity.
"The college needs to rely on our assets to support and fund our mission," Ryerson wrote in an April letter to Aurora residents, explaining the Fargo's management shift.
"The commercial properties Wells owns in the village are important assets. They slow deterioration of these buildings over a long period that resulted in these properties being a financial drain instead of a source of revenue."
Staff writer Louise Hoffman Broach can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or louise.hoffman@lee.net