Township officials question River Grove school activities at Warner Nature Center

Last spring, the Manitou Fund stepped in to save River Grove elementary school after it lost its lease at Wilder Forest in northern Washington County.

The White Bear Lake-based fund purchased the Zephyr Theatre building in downtown Stillwater for $2.5 million in June and submitted a plan to overhaul the property to make it suitable for an interim home for the school.

Construction on the building, now known as the Manitou Fund Education and Center, is underway. Because River Grove is a public charter school, the plans had to be approved by the state, and the permit for buildout – with a listed valuation of $6.5 million – was issued on Sept. 1, said Tim Gladhill, Stillwater’s community development director.

The Manitou Fund Education and Arts Center won’t ...