Downtown Litchfield Facade Project

The downtown Litchfield façade project is reaching the end of the design phase and hopefully construction can begin before long. The project is a result of the $2-million that Litchfield got from the Legislature a few years ago.

City Council member Darlene Kotelnicki says New History helped the City get the process started and then they hired 4594 Design of Litchfield as the architects for this project. She says the property owners have been wonderful to work with on this project.

Kotelnicki says some of the property owners are putting in extra money – beyond what they’re getting as part of the grant. She says a 4-part documentary is going to be done about this project.

Jesse Turck, President of 4594 Design, says this is the first time this type of thing has been done with state bonding money being used to improve the facades of downtown buildings. He says 25 properties have been approved in the project and the funds are being allocated based on square footage of each façade.

Turck says once the design phase wraps up, the projects will need approval from the State Historical office and then from the Litchfield Heritage Preservation Commission, and then BCI Construction will get started. He says the work needs to wrap up by the end of 2028 in order to satisfy the language in the agreement with the Legislature.

Jesse and Jean Turck both worked for large architectural firms in Minneapolis and St. Paul before starting 4594 Design two and a half years ago. Jean says the project in Litchfield is unique, but they have experience in this area, including a project for downtown Fargo.

Jean says the downtown façade project has generated a lot of excitement and once the work begins, don’t be afraid to come downtown and they will keep as much open as possible as the work progresses.