From my own perspective, I can say I was probably one of those 15 years ago that would have said tear that thing down. Truthfully, I was in that camp. And now that I see it, I’m so happy we didn’t tear that thing down. This is our history.”

HEDRA Chair Peggy Horsch

Councilmember Fox speaks on Director Hinzman's dedication

I just want to highlight that your perseverance and your vision for this project is really unmatched. Thank you for your work and thank you for your diligence and for your vision, because this is going to be incredible.”

HEDRA Commissioner and City Councilmember Jen Fox

The Confluence features 77 hotel rooms, a bar and restaurant named Missi’s Sip & Savor, a 3,500-square-foot ballroom and nine loft-style apartments.

The Confluence Hotel
200 2nd st. w
Hastings, MN 55033
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Hastings Community Development Director John Hinzman led the Hastings Economic Development and Redevelopment Authority on a trip down memory lane at its meeting Thursday night, Aug. 10 on everything that has gone into getting The Confluence to the point that it’s ready to open its doors. 

Hinzman said he hasn’t received an official opening date, but HEDRA members reported seeing information on social media indicating an Aug. 30-31 event at The Confluence. 

The Confluence, in the redeveloped Hudson Manufacturing building at 200 Second St. W., is accepting room reservations as of Sept. 1 with a best available rate of $207.20. The Confluence features 77 hotel rooms, a bar and restaurant named Missi’s Sip & Savor, a 3,500-square-foot ballroom and nine loft-style apartments. The Hastings Area Chamber of Commerce also will be moving to space within The Confluence, Hinzman told HEDRA members. 

Hinzman credited the city council and HEDRA for their dedication to seeing the project to fruition since the riverfront parcel was purchased from Hudson Manufacturing in 2009. 

“Since we started talking about this project in 2009, to its completion coming up in the next few weeks, there have been 31 people between HEDRA and the city council that have been involved in this project, the elected officials and commission members,” Hinzman said. “There’s not one individual that began this project that is still in their position today. It’s really taken the fortitude of the commission here, as well as the city council to stick through things that perhaps were not part of their original vision, and things that were constantly changing on the project,” Hinzman said. 

HEDRA Commissioner and City Councilmember Jen Fox corrected that statement later in the meeting, pointing out there is one person who has backed the project from the beginning, Hinzman himself. 

“Just a point of clarification. I do believe there’s one person who has been with this project from the beginning,” she said. “I believe it’s you. I just want to highlight that your perseverance and your vision for this project is really unmatched. Thank you for your work and thank you for your diligence and for your vision, because this is going to be incredible.” 

Hinzman said that the original building on the site was a lumber mill, starting in the 1870s. The sawmill closed in 1909, and Hudson Manufacturing moved to the location. 

“Hudson Manufacturing was in that plant for over 100 years,” he said.  

The city paid $3 million for the 200,000-square-foot building in 2010, and Hudson Manufacturing moved to its 10th Street location in a building that was originally owned by Intek Plastics. 

“We always had a goal of moving all the industrial property off of the riverfront, and they were the last piece at that point,” Hinzman said.  

When the new Hastings bridge was built “that was really the impetus for their move,” Hinzman said, because part of the Hudson complex was in the footprint of the new bridge. 

An early-2000s downtown development plan envisioned an anchor for the downtown on the Hudson site. 

“It’s so great to see something that was envisioned 20 years ago and even before that to be where it is today,” Hinzman said.  

A study was commissioned in 2011 on whether the building should be reused for a new development or torn down. Hastings residents said they wanted the historic building kept. 

“The public wanted us to keep the building. It was part of history, and we would do that,” Hinzman said. “We knew that the project as a rehabilitation was going to be more costly, a lot more time consuming and have a lot more promise to it, but the advantage of being able to rehabilitate the building and to be able create that historic renovation would be worth it, because that’s what we do in Hastings.” 

Environmental cleanup on the site was extensive, with grant dollars covering most of it from sources like the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, the Metropolitan Council, the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Dakota County Community Development Authority. Total cleanup was $2.5 million, with grant funding covering $2 million of that price tag. 

“Oh my gosh, they had so much stuff in the ground there,” said Hinzman. In addition to contaminated soils, building materials from a fire that occurred on the property in the early 1900s was just buried on the property and had to be excavated. 

Another $750,000 was spent on removing interior materials from 2017-2017, including asbestos and getting rid of that buried debris. Of that $617,000 came from grant funding. 

In 2014, development proposals were accepted and the following year, Great River Landing plan was approved over three others. Developers Pat Regan of Hastings and Bill Weyland of Louisville proposed the mix of hotel, residential, restaurant and commercial space and were sold the property for $1, with closing in 2018. 

The 120-space parking ramp across the street owned by The Confluence but open for public use opened. It was funded by grant dollars as well. 

IDM Hospital Management, which runs The Confluence, came on board in 2019. Developers lined up investors to go full steam ahead on the project in February 2020. A month later, the COVID pandemic hit. 

“We all know what happened in March 2020. The world went that direction, and nobody at that time was in the position of wanting to invest in hospitality during a global pandemic,” said Hinzman. “This is one of those times that The Confluence developers could have just walked away from the project. But to their fortitude, they stuck with it.” 

Developers did what they could during the pandemic and lined up financing to finish the job as soon as they could. 

Hinzman showed slides of areas of the building before renovation and talked about how impressive those areas are today. He said HEDRA, the city and developers heard concerns for a decade that nothing was happening at the site, and Hinzman can’t wait until the facility opens its doors. 

“One of the challenges that we had to this whole thing was public expectations. The public saw this for 10 years, more that,” he said of the dilapidated exterior of the building prior to renovation. “A lot of things happened behind the scenes, a lot of things that took patience. I’m appreciate of the council and HEDRA’s patience in working through this to get to the project that we have today.” 

Hinzman said the presentation to HEDRA was refined from one he made to an economic development conference a month ago. 

HEDRA Chair Peggy Horsch commended Hinzman for his vision of what the Hudson Manufacturing site could be. 

“From my own perspective, I can say I was probably one of those 15 years ago that would have said tear that thing down. Truthfully, I was in that camp. And now that I see it, I’m so happy we didn’t tear that thing down,” she said. “This is our history.” 

She also credited the developers and IDM Hospitality. 

“They’ve done so many small things that pay homage to where that building was and what it means,” Horsch said. “I’m really excited about that. I keep telling people, ‘Oh, it’s worth the wait.’”