The question we had for the city council planning committee was should we consider these properties for sale.”

Community Development Director John Hinzman

NEW OFFICERS – The new HEDRA president for 2024 is Trevor Johnson. Ben Anderson was elected as vice president and Estrella Carter was voted in as treasurer.

Anderson also took the oath of office at the onset of the meeting as a new HEDRA member.

The City of Hastings may have some property along Hwy. 55 for sale in the near future.
The Hastings City Council’s Planning Committee met last week with Community Development Director John Hinzman about the possibility of the city selling two parcels. One is 1.3 acres in size and is located just east of the Pleasant Hill Library at Hwy. 55 and Pleasant Drive. The next is about four acres, and it’s located just south of the first parcel, between the Marketplace Townhouses and Pleasant Drive that a developer has expressed an interest in obtaining. The council’s planning committee is comprised of councilmembers Jen Fox, Lisa Leifeld and Tina Folch.
Hinzman said he planned to contact Dakota County to see if they had any interest in the land adjacent to the library. The other parcel contains a stormwater basin as part of it, and that would have to remain to be used for that purpose, but there is some of it where development would occur. Both parcels of land were deeded to the city in 1968 when the area was developed, and City Attorney Korine Land said the land was for public use only for 30 years, Hinzman relayed to members of the Hastings Economic Development and Redevelopment Authority (HEDRA) at its Thursday, Jan. 25 meeting.
“There was a 30-year limit on that. That 30-year limit has expired,” said Hinzman.
“The question we had for the city council planning committee was should we consider these properties for sale,” said Hinzman. “The discussion with the planning committee was that we wanted to hold off on bringing that to the public for sale at this point. I want to check with Dakota County to see if there would be any other use of the library or whatnot for the property and then make determinations of the future of the property.”
He said he has been contacted by a developer interested in the larger parcel.
“We had a discussion with the group, and it was let’s take a look at bringing that one to market,” said Hinzman.
The city council will be asked to convey ownership of the property to HEDRA at its meeting Monday, Feb. 5. HEDRA then could talk about selling it as soon as its meeting Thursday, Feb. 8.
“Assuming council takes action on that and maybe I’m being a bit presumptuous on this. I do plan to have that on the HEDRA agenda for the 8th. Part of that would be a closed door session,” said Hinzman.
HEDRA member Peggy Horsch said, “It’s a storm basin there, so it’s needed to collect what. What portion of that are we looking at conveying? I’m trying to visualize what could be developed there.”
“You’re not alone on that,” said Hinzman. “When you drive by there, it looks like a stormwater basin, and I’ve had discussions with the potential purchased and told them that the stormwater that is conveyed there presently would still need to be conveyed on the property, plus any additional stormwater that would be generated by the new development. There’s an understanding that those would need to be encompassed with the new development. But yes, you wouldn’t picture it as being a development site.”
“It’ll be interesting to see what they do,” said Horsch.
In other HEDRA matters:

LAND SALE – HEDRA approved the sale of a parcel of land at 601 31St. E to Rio Gran Express for construction of an 8,625 building at a price of $93,654 for a transportation company and office space. A public hearing was held at the meeting, and no one appeared to discuss the project. Site plan approval would be necessary prior to the June 1 closing.

THORWOOD ESTATE – Discussion was held on the progress of renovations at the Thorwood Estate.
The city council last year gave approval for a 25-30 person meeting space to be developed at the building at 315 Pine St. In addition to event space on the main floor of the building, building owner Pavel Zakharov plans to put vacation rentals on the second floor and a private residence on the third floor.
The estate was built by grain dealer and lumber miller William Thompson in 1880, according to the Dakota County Historical Society’s Hastings Heritage Map. In 1929, it became St. Raphael’s Hospital under Dr. Herman Fasbender Sr. The 10,000-square-foot building was heavily damaged by a fire in 2017.
The Thorsen family purchased the French Second Empire mansion in the mid-1970s and operated it as a bed and breakfast for more than 30 years. It was known as Thorwood Rentals & Retreats at the time of the fire. Owners Dick and Pam Thorsen and their daughter and two dogs were able to evacuate the building safely when the fire broke out at 2:30 a.m.
The city council will need to grant final special use permit when renovations are complete, and the Heritage Preservation Commission has to give final OK to exterior modifications to the structure.
“The applicant is the third owner of the property since it was damaged by fire in December of 2017. The applicant has been seeking a building permit for some time, which has required the consultation of a structural engineer and architect that has been developing blueprints at the direction of the city building official,” City Planner Justin Fortney wrote in a memo to the plan commission last summer.
Hinzman was asked at the most recent HEDRA meeting about the building and what could be salvaged from the original structure.
“There are a lot of fire damaged portions and portions that were damaged from the elements for being out so long. One of the things that we the owner do was to have a structural engineer go through that building with a fine-tooth comb to find out what could be salvaged, what needs to be taken out, essentially drawing up new plans. We’re comfortable with that,” said Hinzman. “It’s always been a project that has taken much longer than we would like…Nothing has happened when this new owner came forward.
Hinzman said some work is being done now.
“Two years ago now, they actually started doing some demolition, albeit, it’s been very slow. We’ve been contemplating back and forth about how we can make that go quicker, because I understand from the view of the neighbors around there. They must have a tremendous amount of patience, because that has been in a position of deterioration for so long. But he’s moving along on it. I don’t have a timeframe beyond that,” said Hinzman.
City council and HEDRA member Dave Pemble commented, “I want to say as a neighbor to that property that, yes, there is some changes, and the roof area is covered now for the winter. The brick walls are very old and have sustained some damage, but you know, with talking to him once in a while when I walked by, you kind of get the feeling that, yes, it can succeed.”
“I’m glad he’s moving forward with this,” said Hinzman. ‘I frankly didn’t think that we’d be in a position where somebody would. But I want to see if this can happen. It’s such a great old building.”

NEW OFFICERS – The new HEDRA president for 2024 is Trevor Johnson. Ben Anderson was elected as vice president and Estrella Carter was voted in as treasurer.
Anderson also took the oath of office at the onset of the meeting as a new HEDRA member.