March 9th, 2006

BY ANNE BRETTS

Northeast corner of Hwys. 3 (Water Street) and 19 (Second Street), Northfield
Type: Mixed-use retail/office/condominium
Area: 197,958 square feet (35,000 square feet commercial)
Housing units: 110
Price range: $179,900 to $539,900
Total cost: $45 million
Developer: Mendota Homes

Details: John Mathern’s family-owned Mendota Homes is best known for projects in St. Paul and surrounding communities close to its Roseville headquarters — including a recently announced plan for luxury condominiums at the site of the Lilydale Tennis and Health Club in northern Dakota County.

But Mathern also is out to make a major impact on the historic business district in the scenic college town of Northfield. He broke ground in January on the Crossing, the first of four projects he’s undertaking in the city that together total more than $70 million.

The Crossing includes four buildings, with 110 residential units in two buildings facing the Cannon River and two retail/office buildings facing the increasingly busy Hwy. 3 corridor connecting Northfield to bustling Dakota County and the rest of the Twin Cities’ east metro.

Other Mathern undertakings include an office/retail project on the west side of Hwy. 3; an innovative arts building featuring intensive cooperative studio spaces and residential lofts; and a four-story, traditionally styled bank/retail/condo to replace an out-of-place 1950s bank structure overlooking Northfield’s town square.

Mathern originally responded to a request from the city’s downtown development executive, Ross Currier, for proposals for one riverfront project and liked what he saw so much that he decided to explore other possibilities.

“We looked at the river and the downtown and we said, ‘We’ve got to do it,’ ” Mathern said. “Northfield is just a community that grows on you.”

The projects will have a significant impact on downtown, but they also are creating a legacy for the firm, which now includes a second generation of the family.

Erin Mathern, an attorney, is development director for the Northfield projects, and her husband, Jason Sellars, is handling marketing and sales. Daughter Allison works with the firm but is headed to graduate school in art and architecture, while another daughter, Casey, is in college studying architecture.

Erin Mathern said the company sold 16 of the 55 units in the first building before the sales office opened this month. Those units are scheduled for completion in early 2007, with the rest of the Crossing to be done by the end of next year.

In addition to the Lilydale project, Mathern also confirmed that he has taken control of a block of prime property at the edge of Soldiers Field Park in downtown Rochester. His plans there for a 69-unit condo/retail project was facilitated by the new Rochester Downtown Alliance, formed to spark the kind of urban housing revitalization that has happened throughout the Twin Cities metro area and its suburbs.

Star Tribune, Monday, Feb. 13, 2006
Business Section, page D4