By Brian Ojanpa
The Free Press
NORTH MANKATO — Construction is expected to start in May on a long-awaited development project on the Marigold Dairy site in lower North Mankato.
The city’s Port Authority on Tuesday committed $225,000 to Phase 1 of the retail/commercial/condo venture planned by developer Van Moody.
The money, part of a $750,000 municipal half-cent sales tax sum earmarked for downtown development, will go toward construction of a $1.7 million 19,000-square-feet building housing a mix of commercial and office space and residential units.
Phase 2 of the project, slated to start before the end of 2013, calls for a $5 million 41,000-square-feet 10-unit apartment building.
Phase 3, with a planned 2016 start, is a $4 million 30,000-square-feet building accommodating 11 condos.
The city has been trying for years to develop the Belgrade Avenue lot left vacant by the demolition of Marigold Dairy.
The site at the foot of Veterans Memorial Bridge has been envisioned as an anchor for the area’s business district.
Moody said last year that the start of construction would be contingent upon having the majority of building spaces leased.
On Tuesday he said “some” have been leased — Moody’s computer services businesses would occupy the first floor — and referred all questions to North Mankato City Administrator Wendell Sande.
Sande said he didn’t know how much of the Phase 1 space has been sold, but expressed optimism about the development plan as a whole.
“We’re really high on the project because it meets a lot of goals for us, and Belgrade businesses see it as a real shot in the arm,” he said.
The project’s genesis was in 2005, when city staff and Port Authority commissioners participated in the Envision 2020 process, whose top priority was downtown revitalization.
An earlier hotel project for the Marigold site was abandoned during the economic letdown following the 2001 terrorist attacks.
