The plan this year is to meet with developers and have a purchase agreement signed for a mixed-use development.”

Community Development Coordinator Alex Menke

For more information on HEDRA and to watch full meetings, visit Hastings Community TV’s Website at https://www.hastingstv.org/

On Jan. 9, 2025 for its first meeting of the year, Hastings Economic Development and Redevelopment Authority met to elect new officers and for a presentation from Community Development Director John Hinzman on the year-in-review.
The first order of business for the body in the new year was to administer the oath of office for Commissioners Margaret "Peggy" Horsch and Angie Haus. Then the body moved on to electing its officers. After a unanimous vote, the officers were elected as follows: Ben Anderson as President, Estrella Carter as Vice President, Bruce Goblirsch as Treasurer, Alex Menke as Secretary, Chris Eitemiller as Assistant Treasurer and Kori Land, Greta Bjerkness, and Andrea McDowell Poehler as Legal Counsel.
Hinzman’s Community Development Annual Report covered projects started and completed with the city in the past year, as well as a prospective look on where Hastings is situated for the year to come in terms of economic development.
The year saw 43 single family homes constructed in Hastings, the “most we’ve seen in Hastings in 20 years,” said Hinzman. Those 43 homes are valued at just under $12 million, coming out to an average value of $272,000. While Hastings saw a relatively high rate of development for single family homes, no new apartment permits were received in 2024 in town, although several apartment complexes finished construction last year.
The two completed projects highlighted by Hinzman were the Current 33 Apartments, a 211-unit complex composed of two buildings at 325 33rd St. and 355 33rd St. as well as Lake Isabel Flats, an 89-unit apartment building at Third and Bailey streets. These two buildings represent a combined 300 new units in the Hastings area.
Ongoing projects include Heritage Ridge, a housing development with 60 of 80 homes completed, Vermillion Acres, a 75-unit senior housing facility, Villas at Pleasant, a townhome development with 32 of 38 villas completed, South Oaks of Hastings fourth addition, a housing development with two of 35 homes under construction, and finally Walden at Hastings, a 500-site development that largely did not see movement in 2024.
“It’s a wait and see situation,” said Hinzman about Walden.
For commercial development, while there were no new commercial developments, there were 81 permits for commercial or industrial expansion totaling nearly $20 million in valuation. These expansions included the United Heroes League Stadium and Locker Room, Rio Gran Trucking, Regina Assisted Living, and Dakota County Law Enforcement.
Beyond construction, major projects for HEDRA in 2024 included the creation and implementation of Hastings’ new Cannabis Ordinance and permitting system, a process undertaken in conjunction with the City Council across several workshops and advised upon by City Attorney Kori Land. Other projects included “increasing the number of chickens kept at a property and allowed the keeping of ducks and quails,” according to Hinzman’s presentation.
The most recent project was the Highway 55 and Jacob Avenue growth area plan, a speculative plan on what the city might look like were it to someday expand west beyond city limits.
When it comes to looking into the future of economic development in Hastings, the place to start is land supply. Hinzman categorized the land supply in Hastings in three different buckets: Existing, Planned, and Potential. Existing land is land that is actively available to be built upon. “Someone could come in, and the lot is available, they could build tomorrow,” said Hinzman. Planned land is land that currently lacks final approval for construction, and potential is a list of potential lots that might someday be available for construction.
According to Hinzman, there are currently 139 single-family existing lots, 12 multi-family existing lots, and 107 units for multi-family projects approved or under construction.
The major project being undertaken by HEDRA concerns Block 28, a project lacking a proper name but often referred to as “the gateway project.” Block 28, located at the southwest corner of Fourth Street West and Vermillion, has been slowly acquired by the city, which now owns the entirety of the block save for Spiral Pizza.
“Enough to develop the block,” said Hinzman.
The goal of the project, and the origin of its moniker, is to “present [travelers] with a better image of Hastings than what’s there presently, as they cross over the bridge and enter town,” said Hinzman. Planned for the block as laid out in the Vermillion Street Corridor study is a mixed commercial and residential building for the site.
“The plan this year is to meet with developers and have a purchase agreement signed for a mixed-use development,” said Community Development Coordinator Alex Menke.
According to Menke, that mixed-use development would ideally include retail space for Spiral Pizza.
Finally, Hinzman spoke to the potential development at the ponding basin at Pleasant and North Frontage Road where a “national retailer” was looking to move into the space. That project has since failed and the national retailer has backed out.
For more information on HEDRA and to watch full meetings, visit Hastings Community TV’s Website at https://www.hastingstv.org/