Rosemount Revitalization Project
Biersdorf & Associates Project #- 3416.007 & 3417.005
Condemning Authority- City of Rosemount
The purpose of this project is to redevelop the downtown Rosemount area. Commissioners selected a team including Contractor Property Developers Company (CPDC) and Central Community Housing Trust (CCHT). The Commissioners approved a preliminary development agreement with the team. During the length of the agreement the City will exclusively partner with CPDC on the Core Block East property. During the contract time period CPDC has committed to putting together a general concept for the area and later, a more specific site plan.
Preliminary final design is complete for the project and final design is underway. Property acquisition should begin soon.
Current News:
Action ends Rosemount’s land-sale impasse
City of Rosemount to purchase site targeted for redevelopment for $525,000
Posted: 12/14/07
by Tad Johnson
Thisweek Newspapers
The city of Rosemount’s more than two-year impasse with landowners of the current Ratzlaff Service Station property has ended.
The Rosemount Port Authority reached an agreement Monday, Dec. 10, to purchase the property to clear the way for a proposed downtown redevelopment project.
Port Authority members voted unanimously to enter into an agreement with Dr. Kurt Walter-Hansen and Patricia Walter to purchase their 0.57-acre property at the southeast corner of South Robert Trail and 146th Street for $525,000.
The action is the next step toward allowing the city’s contracted developer, Stonebridge Development & Acquisition, to build its proposed commercial/apartment building on 2.96 acres.
The agreement ends legal proceedings in which the city was prepared to purchase the land through an eminent domain court action. The first hearing in that case was scheduled for Dec. 13.
Prior to the city moving forward with eminent domain, residents opposing the action packed several city meetings over the past year to voice their concerns.
Some said the city was misusing the law, which was changed in 2006 to prevent private-to-private landowner transfers, according to a release from Minnesota Chapter of the Institute for Justice, which specializes in defending eminent domain cases.
The new law continued to allow Rosemount to use eminent domain because it had established a tax increment financing (TIF) district on April 20, 2004, prior to the law’s effective date of Aug. 1, 2006.
Hansen described in an e-mail to Thisweek that a Wednesday, Dec. 12, hearing at the Dakota County Courthouse regarding the land sale was “like a funeral.”
He said the case was not only about the price for the property but about him being denied the opportunity and right to develop his own property.
“My wife and I are now victims of eminent domain abuse,” he wrote. “We are very saddened by the outcome. We feel we have been violated by the actions of the city administrators and the Port Authority. This is a big loss for us and also for Rosemount. It is shameful to have elected officials that totally ignore the citizens’ pleas.”
“I think overwhelmingly what we heard was negative on eminent domain,” Baxter said of comments from residents throughout the public hearing and meeting process.
He said the Port Authority indicated it would use eminent as a last resort, which he says they did.
“We knew that downtown redevelopment was going to be difficult. That’s why nothing has been done for the past 20 years. There comes to a point where you have to make some hard decisions,” Baxter said.
Negotiating a land sale for the corner property has been ongoing for the past two years.
Contractor Property Developers Company, the city’s first partner in the downtown redevelopment process, had the Ratzlaff property appraised at $275,000 on Sept. 1, 2005.
CPDC made an offer to purchase the property from Ratzlaff, then extended the deadline for accepting the offer. The offer exceeded the appraised value, according to the city.
Hansen purchased the property for $450,000 from Don Ratzlaff in September 2006, according to the city.
After CPDC exited the negotiation process, the city made an April 13, 2007, purchase offer for the Ratzlaff property and three other sites in Core Block East. Hansen was granted two-week extension from the original deadline, but no settlement was reached.
In a letter to the city, Hansen wrote that he is a willing seller, but did not indicate whether he accepted or denied the offer or made a counteroffer.
The city began acquiring land at Core Block East more than 10 years ago. The Port Authority decided earlier this year not to pursue the purchase of three former homes on the block now used by Haupt Antiek Market and Quilters Haven.
“I’m really happy that we are going to move ahead,” Baxter said. “I think that project has momentum. It is a good project. There was always agreement on the Port Authority on the value of the Stonebridge project for downtown.”
The building
The Stonebridge building is expected to have at least 11,000 square feet of commercial space and an estimated 106 apartment units.
It was originally proposed to have four stories, but has been scaled back to three stories on all sides. The new three-story concept was presented to the Port Authority in November.
Work on design of the project is still underway and will be reviewed this winter by the Rosemount Planning Commission and the City Council.
“It will be given the same thorough vetting of any other development proposal,” City Administrator Jamie Verbrugge said.
The city reported that site work will begin during this winter, and construction of the project should start next spring.
“I think this is a positive step,” Verbrugge said.
He said the addition of the Dakota County branch library currently under construction, the future re-use of St. Joseph Church and School as proposed currently to be an arts and cultural center and the Stonebridge project “will only enhance the downtown.”
Tad Johnson is at editor.thisweek@ecm-inc.com.
Port Authority holds second hearing to receive public comment about downtown
Posted: 7/20/07
by Tad Johnson
Thisweek Newspapers
The direction of redevelopment in Rosemount’s Core Block East will be decided Monday, Aug. 6.
After receiving two nights of testimony about the city’s intent to use eminent domain to acquire the Ratzlaff Service Station property, the Port Authority is expected to vote during a special meeting at 6 p.m. at Rosemount City Hall.
Rosemount residents and concerned business owners spoke out against the proposal during two public hearings, the latest one Monday, July 16 at Dakota County Technical College.
An estimated 100-plus people attended the meeting that lasted two and a half hours. About 30 people spoke against the project that night, including a handful who were repeat speakers from the June 19 hearing. Four spoke in favor of using eminent domain.
The tense hearing included several direct pleas from residents urging the Port Authority not to use eminent domain.
At the end of nearly every speech, the audience met it with applause despite Port Authority Chairman Mike Baxter asking people to refrain from clapping.
At issue now is whether the Port Authority has determined it needs to use eminent domain and has exhausted all other avenues to redevelop one property owned by Dr. Kurt Walter-Hansen.
If it votes to condemn the property, a three-person panel of assessors will determine the property’s fair market value and compensation amount for Hansen. The process could last some time if it is contested.
Those opposed to eminent domain echoed similar reasons for their stance as in previous meetings.
They feel that eminent domain:
- for economic development purposes is wrong because it gives private property from one landowner to another.
- will negatively impact further redevelopment downtown as other landowners would have uncertain futures.
- will negatively impact the future businesses in the development because many oppose the project.
Hansen expressed his opposition to the plan saying that eminent domain shouldn’t be used to take land away from one private owner and hand it over to another private owner.
He said local government has a role in economic development, but eminent domain is not an appropriate use of power.
“I am committed to working with the city so there is no need to use eminent domain,” said Hansen, who has made his own proposal for Core Block East redevelopment.
City officials have met with Hansen several times to discuss acquisition of the property and about the city’s redevelopment plan. The city made an offer on the Ratzlaff property April 13, but Hansen did not accept it.
Hansen has been opposed to the proposal to place a mixed-use retail and 100-unit apartment building on the site as proposed by Stonebridge Companies of Apple Valley.
Hansen has questioned if the city had correctly handled the transition of the development from Contractor Property Developers Company to Stonebridge Companies. Such a transfer of development companies was set forth in the agreement, according to city officials.
Hansen had sought to become the city’s chosen developer during the open request for proposals for Core Block East in 2005.
Other opinions
Don Ratzlaff, who operates the service station and truck rental business at the property under consideration for condemnation, said the city is going to need to redevelop that area of Rosemount, but this is not the right development.
“That’s Shakopee or Hopkins. I don’t see that in Rosemount,” he said pointing at Stonebridge’s concept plan for Core Block East.
He said if you want multiple housing in Rosemount, they have land available for multiples in the former Brockway Golf Course area.
By proposing to use eminent domain, he said the city has lost the trust of the people of Rosemount.
“I believe you need to turn that trust around,” he said. “Say no to a taking of a property.”
Kathy Klonecky, a member of the Save Rosemount Committee that has mailed four newsletters to residents regarding the issue, urged the Port Authority not to make a mockery of one of the primary values in life.
She said she gets physically ill when she sees someone else’s building on Hansen’s property.
Klonecky told Port Authority members that Save Rosemount has collected 4,000 signatures on a petition opposing eminent domain.
Deb Kaczmarek, a member of the Save Rosemount Committee, didn’t think the city should be involved in redevelopment.
“You are not smarter than the free market, and you are not smarter than the private sector,” she said.
Simon Walter Hansen, the son of Kurt Hansen and partner of the Tri-Store in downtown Rosemount, told the Port Authority that it should redevelop the former Genz-Ryan Plumbing & Heating property as the first project in downtown redevelopment.
“You can do it today. You can show what a big improvement it makes,” he said, adding that when it comes time to redevelop Core Block East, “I’m sure you will have everyone behind you once you have showed people it works.”
Ruthe Batulis, president of the Northern Dakota Chamber of Commerce, says revitalization of downtown Rosemount needs to be done.
She said representatives from the chamber served on the Downtown Redevelopment Committee that provided a vision for the guiding elements to make downtown a more attractive and interesting place.
She said redevelopment will help retain and bring additional businesses to downtown and create a solid tax base.
“It is critical that all parties act in a spirit of cooperation,” she said.
Kim Shoe-Corrigan, the only member of the Rosemount City Council who doesn’t sit on the Port Authority, said she supports the use of eminent domain.
“We need to move forward,” she said, citing that the city has tried to work with Hansen.
She said she feels that there has been many opportunities for citizens to participate and for business owners to participate. She said she is not in favor of scraping the work that’s been done by the Downtown Redevelopment Committee.
Tad Johnson is at editor.thisweek@ecm-inc.com.
http://www.thisweek-online.com/2007/July/20hearing71207.html
For further information on the project, call us at 612.339.7242 or visit the following website: http://ci.rosemount.mn.us/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={AA42A0DC-9A16-4BE9-BB77-283F2BB66B5B}