March 26th, 2005

NORTHFIELD — The buildings that were there are now gone — businesses such as Kump Lumber, Exhaust Pros, Godfather’s Pizza, Bill’s Pizza.

Some are gone to make way for Highway 3 construction, but a large sign at the corner of Second Street and the highway tells of another development on the horizon — the Riverfront Redevelopment site.

The city of Northfield has a predevelopment agreement with Mendota Homes, a Little Canada-based developer, to turn the now-empty site into a mixed-use development with housing and commercial spaces.

However, this isn’t the first time that this parcel of land — bordered by the Cannon River on the east, Highway 3 on the west and Second Street north to St. Olaf Avenue — has been considered for development.

But those involved with the project say there’s an energy about this particular effort that will separate it from proposals that have failed.

Past history

In the late 1990s, a redevelopment project was formulated by a local consortium of people — Jasnoch Construction and Jade Architects — proposing to turn the site into a mixed-use development.

“It had a mixed-use base. Condos, commercial, maybe a movie theater and a number of different activities on the space,” said Dixon Bond, a Northfield City Councilor.

Bond was a member of Northfield’s Economic Development Authority during this time and was eventually elected to the city council.

The EDA was in charge of helping facilitate that particular project, Bond said.

However, it was later determined that the Jasnoch proposal would be a challenge to develop.

This time around, the EDA has roles in the project — one of them is as landowner to certain parcels on the Riverfront site — but the entity in charge of the project is the city council.

Last May, the city council named the Riverfront Redevelopment as a top priority.

The council also passed a resolution declaring that all prior action on the site was null and void to make a clean slate for the future.

John Mathern and Mendota Homes entered the scene last year with the purchase of the Glen Lubbers property in July and the Kump site in September.

Mathern also has begun negotiations with the owners of the Riverview Legacy Motel with the intentions of buying the site.

Although the city and the EDA own the majority of the land on the Riverfront site, Mathern owns about 2 acres of the 7-acre site.

A predevelopment agreement was approved by the council in February.

Although a predevelopment agreement is not a final development agreement, it gives Mendota Homes exclusive development rights as long as the developer can finish the project under the guidelines and requirements set by the city.

The combination of these actions by the council, the presence of Mendota Homes and the extensive demolition done for the highway and the Riverfront project gives a certain amount of energy to the project.

When the area was under the first attempted development, there were active, operating businesses along that particular parcel of the highway, said Brian O’Connell, the city’s community development director.

With the recent activity that has occurred because of the highway construction, the reality of the Riverfront development is “much more present, much more active, much more real,” O’Connell said.

“What’s happened? (The reconstruction of) Highway 3 is a reality. In order for it to become a reality, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) had to buy property … and private activity dynamic has changed, because of Highway 3,” he said. “… I think being poised for readiness makes us more visible, much more real than it was how many years ago.”

Mendota Homes

Mathern founded Mendota Homes in 1991.

Based in Little Canada, the company is what Mathern terms as an “infill builder” — buying property in urban locations and building developments that fit into existing landscapes.

Mendota Homes has finished projects in Loring Park in Minneapolis, and has completed several projects in the Highland Park area of St. Paul and in North St. Paul.

The company currently is working on projects in lower town in St. Paul, St. Louis Park, as well as the Riverfront project in Northfield and a project in Faribault.

As for the Riverfront project, “it’s what we would term an excellent infill location,” Mathern said, citing the proximity of Northfield’s downtown to the project.

The Riverfront project “will have a combination of residential, some office and commercial retail,” Mathern said. “Not in the same buildings, but on the same location.”

Two of the amenities that make the location unique are the proximity to the Cannon River and the downtown, Mathern said.

O’Connell also agrees that there is a certain significance of the location of the Riverfront site.

“Saying that particular piece of property is unique is too strong a word. It’s singular in its significance,” he said.

At the Thursday EDA meeting, O’Connell verbally set out some of the preliminary plans for the project which may include two large residential buildings that will have underground parking.

Housing units will range from the high $100,000s to the low $400,000s, he said.

Commercial development will be constructed closest to the highway to create a buffer for the residential area.

There also will be public access to the riverfront.

On Monday, the Northfield City Council approved an extension to the Mendota Homes to submit some of the specific documents outlined in the preliminary development agreement.

Mendota Homes has until the end of May to submit a site plan, a development schedule, preliminary financing plan and a market feasibility report to the city.

Some of the delays the project has encountered are because of the Highway 3 reconstruction project, Mathern said.

Mendota Homes, the city and the Minnesota Department of Transportation have been meeting to define what property is owned by MnDOT and what sort of construction easements are in place that could potentially affect the Riverfront development.

Despite some of the challenges that the dual construction projects create, Mathern said that the communication between the different entities has been open.

“There are some things that (MnDOT) needs to do that are advantageous to the Riverfront Redevelopment site and there are some things that are disadvantageous,” O’Connell said.

Future construction

Construction on the Riverfront site could start late this season, O’Connell told the EDA on Thursday.

Earlier this week, Mathern said that residential construction could be done by 2006.

Commercial construction may be completed by late 2006 or early 2007.

“In the time we’ve worked on this, there’s been an incredibly cooperative spirit,” Mathern said.

Given his past history with the earlier project, Bond says he’s “fairly comfortable” with the process the city and Mendota Homes has gone through so far.

Bond cited the clean-up that Mathern and Mendota Homes has done of the Riverfront site following construction.

“That sends the right message to the council,” Bond said.

Working with city staff, the council, the city’s planning commission, the EDA and MnDOT “has been very much a cooperative effort to get through. It doesn’t always happen that way,” Mathern said.

– Michelle Kubitz

Reprinted with permission from the Northfield News.