I feel it’s a good use to see commercial development there. It’d be wonderful if we could see Westview Mall get spurred on by additional businesses that are in the area, especially if they’re successful.”

Councilmember Tina Folch

Looking at commercial land along Hwy. 55 in this part of the city, there isn’t a lot available right now. You have a couple of properties over by Wal Mart. Other than that, there’s not a lot of land within the corridor. This land becomes of more value for development.”

Hastings Community Development Director John Hinzman

The 3.94-acre property is located north of 12th Street, east of the Hastings Marketplace Townhomes and across Pleasant Drive from Westview Mall.

One of the last prime pieces of real estate off of the Hwy. 55 commercial corridor in Hastings could be home to a national retail operation.
The Hastings City Council voted unanimously last Monday night to transfer ownership of a 3.94-acre parcel of land to the Hastings Economic Development and Redevelopment Authority. At its meeting Thursday, HEDRA met in closed session with Rob Barse of Mint Development who is working with commercial real estate company CBRE that has a buyer for the property.
The 3.94-acre property is located north of 12th Street, east of the Hastings Marketplace Townhomes and across Pleasant Drive from Westview Mall.
The city acquired ownership of the property years ago when Hwy. 55 was developed, and a portion of the property is used for stormwater drainage.
“The city has received a letter of interest to acquire the property for $850,000 from CBRE on behalf of Mint Development LLC (Rob Barse) to develop for a national retailer,” Hinzman informed the council.
The city council approved the property conveyance with the stipulation that the site isn’t accessed off of 12th Street.
“I feel pretty strongly that we shouldn’t allow any exiting of any potential commercial use onto 12th Street because there’s a lot of kiddos and families who are using that before and after school hours, so I think that it would behoove us to keep a safe traffic corridor there and not have a lot of in and out occurring on that section of roadway,” Councilmember Tina Folch said. “I feel it’s a good use to see commercial development there. It’d be wonderful if we could see Westview Mall get spurred on by additional businesses that are in the area, especially if they’re successful.”
Hinzman said the land was given to the city in 1968. Under state law, it had to be held by the city for 30 years. A companion parcel the city owns is just to the north next to the Pleasant Hill Library.
“We like to hold on to that to work with Dakota County to see if there’s a potential use for them next to the library,” said Hinzman.
Hinzman said there’s not a public need to hold the property.
“The big question for the council is really do you see a future public use for the property? If you don’t there is a potential party here who would seek to purchase the property, develop the property and put in a national retailer on the site,” said Hinzman. “The details of that would be something that HEDRA as a body would review. There’s no final action by HEDRA at this point, but if the council was amenable to the consideration to the transfer, HEDRA would meet to review terms with the developer and then provide direction.”
Hinzman said, “It’s an interesting site. It’s a low site. It has stormwater drainage within it. The initial question that comes forward is, can this property be developed? It’s going to be a little challenging. The stormwater drainage that comes into the site right now would need to still be contained within the site. The developer would have to not only contend with the existing stormwater on this site but also the new stormwater that will be generated from development of the site. They are aware of that.”
Hinzman said the property has a higher value because of the lack of commercial sites available on Hwy. 55.
“Looking at commercial land along Hwy. 55 in this part of the city, there isn’t a lot available right now. You have a couple of properties over by Wal Mart. Other than that, there’s not a lot of land within the corridor. This land becomes of more value for development,” said Hinzman.
The property would also need to be rezoned and the city Comprehensive Plan would need to be updated, said Hinzman.