April 9th, 2005

NORTHFIELD — The Tom Thumb building along Minnesota Highway 3 will be pulled down as a result of an agreement between Northfield’s Economic Development Authority and Mendota Homes, a developer who also owns land in the area.

On Tuesday, the EDA voted to allow Mendota Homes, a Little Canada-based developer, to pull down the Tom Thumb building, which is the only remaining building on the Riverfront Redevelopment site.

The EDA owns the Tom Thumb site.

John Mathern, senior project developer with Mendota Homes, told the EDA that although there is a lot of “positive energy” that’s surrounding the proposed project, the demolition of the old gas station would show people that work continues on the site.

In addition, razing and filling the site would improve the disparity of elevation between Second Street and St. Olaf Avenue, he said.

Mendota Homes has a pre-development agreement with the city of Northfield to redevelop the Riverfront area.

The developers have exclusive development rights of the property as long as they fulfill the requirements of the agreement by May 31.

According to Tuesday’s agreement, Mendota Homes would pay for the demolition and removal of the Tom Thumb building — estimated to cost about $25,600.

The EDA will retain ownership of the building. Even if a development agreement isn’t reached with Mendota Homes, the EDA would not be responsible for paying demolition costs of the building.

Although the EDA approved the demolition of the building, there are a number of steps Mendota Homes will have to go through before the building is taken down including determining whether additional environmental work needs to be done, an attorney review of the agreement between Mendota Homes and the EDA and an inspection of the property by an appraiser hired by the EDA.

– Michelle Kubitz

Reprinted with permission from the Northfield News.