City officials sold the building, which is near St. Paul's Fitzgerald Theatre on the north end of Downtown near Interstate 94, to Musictech for $1 and provided $1 million in financing, including a $550,000 forgivable loan, to help renovate the building.

When the Science Museum of Minnesota moved in 1999 to its new headquarters campus along the Mississippi River, the large building will left nearly vacant -- and the city, which owned the structure, was stuck with a huge liability to heat and maintain the oldbuilding.

It took four months to transform the building for the college, which has 250 music students and 100 faculty members. The college had previously been located in a warehouse in the Minneapolis Warehouse District. The St. Paul Conservatory of Music, formerly St. Thomas Conservatory, is also moving to the building.

Musictech and the Conservatory will join the Great American History Theater, which recently signed a new long-term lease in the former annex. The Minnesota Business Academy, which opened its doors in September 2000, has about 200 students in the adjacent West Building, which also formerly housed the Science Museum.

The graduates of Musictech, which was founded in 1985, are expected to possess the skills and knowledge to begin careers in the music industry as performers, recording engineers or music business professionals.