Minneapolis Community and Technical College is looking to sell a historic mansion that officials say would cost too much to renovate for academic purposes.

Trustees for the Minnesota State system next month will consider declaring the H. Alden Smith House and two adjoining properties to be surplus real estate. The city of Minneapolis has agreed to market the properties together and facilitate a sale.

Built in 1887 as a home for Smith, a wealthy businessman, the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The nomination form described it as “the last survivor of a formerly elegant neighborhood.”

The home near Loring Park functioned for decades as Davies Mortuary. It held a restaurant for a short time, and the 1991 movie “Drop Dead Fred,” with Carrie Fisher and Phoebe Cates, was filmed there.

MCTC’s foundation bought it for $350,000 in 1993, raised money for renovations and gave it to the college three years later.

Since then, it’s been used mostly for office and conference space. It’s now part of the Wells Family College Center, named for the Frederick B. Wells family, a major donor to the foundation’s fundraising campaign.

“The building’s construction, while historically appealing, limited flexibility in how it could be used,” according to a presentation prepared for Minnesota State trustees.

A Minnesota State study in 2015 found it would have cost $6.7 million to rehabilitate the mansion for use as an education center.

The college system now says the building’s appraised net value, accounting for needed rehabilitation, is negative $4.2 million. Two parcels to the southeast — a garden and the Black Box Theater — were appraised at a combined $1.7 million. Related Articles Ruth (Randall) Benson, first woman to serve as Minnesota’s education commissioner, dies at 91

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The college wants to pay the city $20,000 to market and sell it. If the city can find a buyer, Minnesota State says it will sell all three properties for a dollar and demolish the theater.

Minnesota State says the city has a “strong interest in seeing the Wells building rehabilitated” and the adjacent parcels converted to multi-family housing.

MCTC, meanwhile, is working on a comprehensive facilities plan and says it has no plan or need for the mansion.