INNOVATIVE REUSE STRATEGIES FOR HISTORIC PROPERTIES
Federal agencies reported innovative strategies for adaptive reuse for facilities across the federal government by adapting historically significant buildings and structures to other uses as an alternative to demolition. It was also understood that physical and operational security requirements impact the management of historic properties based on the mission of the federal agency. HIGHLIGHTS ›› The Department of Energy was able to reuse several facilities within the various Manhattan Project sites that meet agency needs and support the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. • Los Alamos National Laboratory (New Mexico) is adapting the Quonset Hut where the high explosives components of the Fat Man atomic bomb were assembled to serve as a conference and office space for Department of Energy employees and as an interpretive site for visitors. • Y-12 National Security Complex at the Oak Ridge Reservation (Tennessee) is considering repurposing Building 9731, known as the Pilot Plant, which was the first production building completed at the Y-12 site to house the special equipment used for the electromagnetic separation process that enriched uranium. The building may accommodate a “state-of-the-art” training facility and an interpretive center in the future. • Hanford Reservation restored the White Bluffs Bank, the only building remaining in the former town of White Bluffs, once the social and business center for the farming communities of the Hanford area in central Washington before the entire town was claimed for the purposes of the Manhattan Project, to serve as an interpretive center. ›› Fort Leonard Wood (Missouri) converted Building 2101, one of the Army’s last remaining World War II-era segregated officers clubs, into a classroom and meeting/ social space that also provides an opportunity to tell the story of the African American Army officers’ experience during World War II to future generations. ›› Huron-Manistee National Forests (Michigan) is undertaking rehabilitation of buildings originally used for the Chittenden Tree Nursery operations to be used as living quarters for fire crews and other temporary employees of USFS. ›› El Yunque National Forest (Puerto Rico) is planning on converting the first ranger station in the Caribbean, known as the Stone House, to become a platform for public engagement and heritage tourism. ›› The USACE St. Paul District History Committee has been working to fulfill the recommendations of a historic property management plan to establish interpretive or visitor centers at its recreation sites to provide information on recreational facilities as well as the history of the sites.
IN A SPIRIT OF STEWARDSHIP: A REPORT ON FEDERAL HISTORIC PROPERTY MANAGEMENT 2021 | 51
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