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Saturday, March 26, 2005
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Retail shopping -- with a twist Developer seeks to bring downtown shopping experience to Highway 371 Senior Reporter
For months the sign along the highway announced a Baxter Village project and additional details were hard to come by.
Until late last week.
The Baxter Village project will offer retail shopping but with a twist -- the architectural setting is designed to re-create the look and feel of a downtown shopping district. Famous Dave's, which has been shopping around for a site to build in Baxter, will be the anchor for Baxter Village's first phase of construction.
"The design of Baxter Village brings something unique to the area," Andy Anderson, chairman and chief executive officer of Anderson Financial Group, said in a news release. "Baxter is a dynamic, growing, almost sprawling retail city. With Baxter Village, I want to re-create that sense of community found in the downtown shopping districts of small towns throughout the U.S."
Anderson is the developer of Baxter Village. He said his vision for the project is a "northern-style, open-air gathering place designed for people to stroll, browse, shop or enjoy a bite to eat." Stores are individually designed so each has a distinctive appearance, Anderson said.
Retail is growing by leaps and bounds in the lakes area with expectations for more development at the Highway 371-210 intersection and in the Nature Learning Trail Business Park next to the Holiday Inn Express Three Bear Lodge Water Park and Reed's, which is across the highway from Baxter Village.
Baxter Village
Is expected to be a 65,000 square-foot premier retail park on the west side of Highway 371, at the north end of Baxter.
Construction of the first phase, a 19,000 square-foot retail facility, is set to begin in late April with completion planned in October.
Famous Dave's will anchor this phase with a 5,400 square-foot restaurant, set to open in mid-October.
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Plans for The Lodge at Brainerd Lakes, behind Baxter Village, called for a 20,000-square-foot water park complete with ponds and waterfalls with decks and reception/bar areas, a restaurant and a conference center. The proposal had putting greens and an area designated for kids' parties with a rolling/sliding hill and play equipment. With more depth in development, the area may appear less of a continuous commercial strip.
Anderson said key appeal for a retail business to rent in the Baxter Village is the high visibility and convenient access to Highway 371. Anderson said the Minnesota Department of Transportation has an average count of 25,000 vehicles per day on the section of highway where Baxter Village is being developed, and MnDOT is projecting these counts will exceed more than 40,000 vehicles daily during the next 20 years.
Famous Dave's Bar-B-Que Restaurant was lured to the site in part by the design concept. Randy Jernberg, Van Johnson, Jon Swenson and Charlie Torgerson own Famous Dave's.
"Every retailer will look different and we think it will have a lot of curb appeal," Torgerson said in a news release. "With two motels nearby and Reed's Sporting Goods across the street, I think it will attract more year-round business than other locations."
Anderson founded Anderson Financial Group in 1997. The group is a self-described combination real estate investment firm and bank holding company that owns Northern National Bank, with offices in Baxter, Brainerd, Nisswa and Crosslake. The financial group stated its "banking assets have grown more than 450 percent since inception, approaching the $100 million mark today, while its real estate portfolio has more than tripled in the past three years."
"From a developer's standpoint, this project offered a unique opportunity," Anderson said. "I've spent most of my life in the lakes area, so I'm very familiar with the progress and the potential of this community. ... I'm excited to think that our design will bring a distinctive, northwoods neighborhood shopping complex to the Baxter area, built around that sense of community that one feels strolling a village main street."
Nor-son Inc., Baxter, is the project contractor.
RENEE RICHARDSON can be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.
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