January 20th, 2006

After praising John Mathern and Mendota Homes for their vision involving The Crossing along the Cannon River, Mayor Lee Lansing offered a roast to the ceremonial groundbreaking.

“Have you ever hauled in dirt for a ceremonial groundbreaking? … Then you might be a Minnesotan,”he quipped.

Lansing, the Northfield City Council, employees of Mendota Homes and scores of others from the community gathered Friday for a groundbreaking to celebrate construction on The Crossing, the 7-acre, mixed-use development that is the product of a partnership between the city of Northfield and Mathern, who ultimately bought the property on the former Riverfront Redevelopment project.

Construction already has started on the site. The first condominium building and one of the commercial spaces will be completed this year.

“My first impressions were very, very right. Mathern is a person with positive spirit. He is a man with determination and a man with vision,”Lansing said, adding that it takes a special person “to see beyond what is and see what can be.”

The public was invited to Friday’s groundbreaking which included a catered meal and information fromMendota Homes staff about other projects they are responsible for inNorthfield.

The Crossing is touted to be an extension ofNorthfield’s downtown and also a gateway into the community.

Dean Kjerland, a Northfield resident and a property owner on Water Street is “extremely optimistic” about the Mendota Homes project and what it can bring to the downtown.

“I think more people living downtown and committed to owning in downtown … that’s what we want,” he said. “A vibrant downtown community is not a transient community.”

By Michelle Kubitz

Reprinted with permission from the Northfield News.