brainerd lakes area
Progress Edition
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Serving the Brainerd Lakes Area and Central Minnesota since 1881
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September 4, 2017 • September 7, 2017
Kelly Humphrey/Brainerd Dispatch
A sailboat plies Gull Lake during the Gull Lake Fun Regatta.
Progress: Lakes area sets sail Major retail development to open, others hit rougher seas
Renee Richardson Managing Editor tronger economic breezes brought in development and construction on a scale, even if not as large as first expected, still not seen in Baxter in recent years. And redevelopment flourished in downtown Brainerd with several businesses, offices and eateries either open or in the process. While some plans sputtered, and business mainstays ended long tenure here, others closed in on opening days with high expectations. Vigorously changing the landscape in Baxter, the HJ Development along Elder and Elmwood drives south of Costco took a wooded lot and turned it into a sandbox before giving rise to a new retail center bordered by newly planted trees. T.J. Maxx, PetSmart, ULTA Beauty and Dick’s Sporting Goods are all opening in the retail center. “We’re getting closer to the openings of T.J. Maxx, PetSmart and ULTA — all three of those are targeting mid- to late-September openings,” stated Chris Moe, HJ Development vice president of leasing and development/owner, in an email to the Dispatch in mid-August. Exact opening dates would be coming from the retailers in the coming weeks, Moe said. Dick’s is still planning to open in February of 2018. HJ Development turned over the completed retail spaces to ULTA Beauty, PetSmart and T.J. Maxx in August with the retailers installing fixtures and stocking stores with inventory. The exterior of the shopping center was complete, including the final layer of pavement in the parking lot, by the third week in August. The development created an 89,179-square-foot multi-tenant building at 13499 Elmwood Drive on previously 8.87 acres of undeveloped land between Costco and J.C. Penney Co. The juxtaposition throughout the summer had a retail center going up while J.C. Penney Co. was in the process of closing. The department store once stood as downtown Brainerd mainstay on the corner of Seventh and Laurel streets before later moving to an anchor spot in the East Brainerd Mall and, more recently, into a new standalone store by Olive Garden in Baxter. The J.C. Penney store became one of 138 stores of the
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retailer’s being closed, with eight in Minnesota, and came after the Baxter store was believed to have been saved from the list. Instead closing its St. Cloud store, J.C. Penney continued on and Baxter fell victim to changing retail realities. Those with knowledge of the Central Lakes Crossing site listed Hobby Lobby as a strong candidate for the space. At the end of August, J.C. Penney’s name could still be read atop the building even after the lettering was removed and a makeshift sign outside announced the store was closed to all but those picking up fixtures. Other development plans lost momentum. A proposed 4,000-square-foot sitdown restaurant expected to take up residence on the last open corner at the Highway 371 and 210 intersection appeared to be smooth sailing. The sitdown restaurant was described as a highturnover eatery. A 3,000-square-foot retail store, later described as a possible Sleep Number site, was proposed next door. With anticipated traffic in that area from several developments, the Baxter City Council planned a roundabout and road improvements on Excelsior Road. Then, in June, Baxter heard the developer backed away from the plans for a possible Panera restaurant on the Fruth property. In August, the city council heard updated street construction plans with a threelegged roundabout and the fourth leg, which was expected to link Excelsior and Fairview Road would not be constructed until a development was a driver for it. Just to the north, construction crews created a building in the front of the Gander Mountain parking lot. The site, formerly home to Walmart and now owned by Oppidan, was expected to add two buildings along Edgewood Drive between the Light Depot and Taco Bell. But plans were altered later to allow construction in phases with one building going in now with expectations for it to house Aspen Dental and a Caribou Coffee, but the second building would wait for phase two. Gander Mountain, the subject of an agonizingly slow store closing, was given a reprieve from the ax with plans to “reopen” as Gander Outdoors under new ownership. Oppidan representatives declined to comment on any updates
Table of Contents
Overview................................................................... S1 14 Lakes Brewery and updates on lakes area breweries .................................................. S2 Pets in the workplace, reader submissions............. S3 Downtown Brainerd ................................................ S9 Searching for spaces: Nowhere to park? Let’s measure.............................................................. S9 Bob Janzen Auction and Appraisal ......................S17 Anderson Brothers..................................................S18 GreenForest Recycling Solutions .........................S19
on the development at this time on the 117,000-square foot former Walmart site. Farther north on the east side of Highway 371 North is the site of the Northwoods Crossing development’s proposed two retail sites (each with 2,000 square feet), two restaurants without drive-thrus (with 40 seats each), a 25-seat restaurant with a drive-thru and a 20-seat coffee shop with a drive-thru. The former Wells Fargo Bank building was torn down but no other activity has been visible at the site. Along the way there were numerous moves, additions, changes to the lakes area business scene with restaurant openings in Brainerd, Baxter and the surrounding area. In Brainerd, Burritos California Mexican Grill opened just off Washington Street, and The Local 218 opened on Mill Avenue while the 612 Station joined Front Street in downtown Brainerd. Ed Shaw and Sarah Hayden Shaw purchased the former Blue Ox bar and are renovating it into a restaurant. Baxter’s Prairie Bay made the move to Crosby and the bike scene in the Iron Range Eatery. The Crosby-Ironton area continued its red-dirt economy with businesses opening to serve those drawn by the world class mountain bike trails. Tim Hortons opened in Brainerd
with a newly constructed restaurant and highly anticipated opening as part of the Canadian franchise’s push into the Minnesota. A victim of its own anticipation, the restaurant was slammed in its opening weeks and suffered from the success with shortages and customer service glitches as a new staff was trained in with the onslaught. Originally open 24 hours, the restaurant cut back to close at midnight and then made another time shift to close earlier. During the Tim Hortons ribbon cutting last winter, Paul Durigon, chief executive officer of Restaurant Development Partners, the developer of the Tim Hortons brand in Minnesota, said he hoped people would give the restaurant a second chance. When Tim Hortons opened, customers were often lined up in the restaurant and out the door, which was normal with initial demand but that stabilizes to a reasonable rate, Durigon said. With the size of the seasonal influx into the Brainerd lakes area in the summer months, Durigon was looking forward to the lakes area location doing well. At the grand opening, Brainerd City Administrator Jim Thoreen sang the Canadian anthem.
LAKES AREA SETS SAIL: Page S3
Renee Richardson/Brainerd Dispatch
Crews put final touches on the HJ Development in Baxter in August as stores moved to a fall opening with Dick’s Sporting Goods expected to open in early 2018.
Workforce shortage solutions ...............................S19 Cherrywood Hand Dyed Fabrics .........................S25 The Hearth Room ...................................................S26 Home-based business ............................................S27 Be your own boss ....................................................S32 Big Wood Timber Frames .....................................S33 Lonesome Cottage Furniture Co. .........................S34 Esser Construction..................................................S35 Agua Gorda Cooperative tomatillos.....................S41 Patchwork Farms ...................................................S41
Accessible art: G-Bar-6 horse playing cards ........S42 Digital Horizons .....................................................S43 Gull Lake Yacht Club .............................................S49 Whitefish Yacht Club .............................................S49 Wind Water Wheels ...............................................S50 GrowthZone ............................................................S51 BLAEDC ..................................................................S51 Stories in these pages for the annual Progress Labor Day edition have photo galleries, videos and podcasts. To see these stories in a different way, go to the Dispatch homepage for links to videos and the Dispatch podcast -- DispatchCast.