Breaking ground for Hastings health care clinic

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An entity related to M.A. Mortenson Co. has paid $2.15 million for 31.05 acres of farmland in Hastings where it’s building a new primary health care clinic for Allina, according to a recent certificate of real estate.

The Golden Valley-based developer received the Hastings City Council’s approval in September to construct a 50,000-square-foot medical office building along the north side of Highway 55 at the city’s western border.

Mortenson broke ground on the 5.5-acre project site on Oct. 25, according to a Mortenson press release.

The deal for the entire 31.05 acres, which closed Oct. 18, works out to about $69,000 per acre. Dakota County values the land at $207,500.

The seller is Conzemius Dairy Farm LLLP, an entity managed by Nick Conzemius.

The project is on the west end of a commercial corridor along Highway that includes several retail developments and the Dakota County Government Center. A Wal-Mart Supercenter is immediately east of the site.

Mortenson will own the building long term and lease the facility to Allina for use as a primary care clinic with room for growth, Jeremy Jacobs, development executive with Mortenson, told the Hastings Planning Commission at an August meeting. Minneapolis-based HGA is the architect.

“When Allina brought us in, we looked at probably every other potential location in Hastings that might offer 5.5 acres of developable land, and that didn’t exist anywhere else,” Jacobs said. “This is really the best site for this clinic given the location, visibility and what Allina is trying to do within the community.”

The new clinic will replace Allina Health’s First Street Clinic — currently located on Allina’s Regina Hospital campus about 1.5 miles to northeast of the project site.

Scheduled to open during the fall of 2017, the stand-alone clinic will offer greater visibility along a major thoroughfare and an expansion of services, said Becky McManus, who manages the First Street clinic.

The new clinic will allow Allina to expand its health-related education services, mental health and integrative medicine programs to patients in the community, McManus added.

While the project site will use only 5.5 acres of the 31.05 acres Mortenson acquired from the dairy farm, the remainder of the site contains two out lots that could present future development opportunities, Jacobs said during the August meeting.

Representatives with Mortenson weren’t immediately available for comment Wednesday.

Allina is the major health care provider in Hastings, a town of 23,000 that sits along the confluence of the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers about 20 miles south of St. Paul.

In September the Hastings City Council approved a site plan application and request to rezone the property from Agricultural to Public Institution. That followed its May approval to annex the 5.5-acre project site from the bordering Nininger Township. That was the first time in nearly a decade that the city annexed a parcel of land for development, said Mayor Paul Hicks.

“Our comprehensive growth plan identifies the Highway 55 corridor as an area for growth as it goes westbound,” Hicks said. “We’re excited about the investment Allina has made with this project. It’s one of those important quality-of-life assets you need in a healthy community.”

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