5 minute read
Lake Minnetonka, MN
New Dreams Meet the Old in the Land of Hiawatha
A boutique hotel opens just blocks from Lake Minnetonka, preserving the past and looking toward the future. by heather steinberger
there’s something a little bit magical about Lake Minnetonka, a 14,000- acre glacial lake just 20 miles west of Minneapolis-St. Paul. For nearly 170 years, it has drawn people to its shores to play, to make memories and to dream.
It started with poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1855, when his celebrated “Song of Hiawatha” launched a Victorian holiday-making boom. Travelers patronized grand establishments like the 1879 Lake Park Hotel, and they cruised the lake aboard the 160-foot sidewheeler City of St. Louis and the 300-foot, 2,500-passenger steamer Belle of Minnetonka.
The good times continued to roll after the turn of the 20th century, thanks to the 1905 arrival of the Twin City Rapid Transit streetcars and the lake’s distinctive Express Boats. Day-trippers could easily travel from the city and enjoy lakeside destinations such as the small city of Excelsior, with its Coney Islandinspired Excelsior Amusement Park and Big Reggie’s Danceland, which hosted Lawrence Welk, the Andrews Sisters, the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones.
Lake Minnetonka remains a Midwestern gem in the 21st century. Its shores are dotted with full-time residences and beloved cottages. Sightseeing boats ply its waters. The lake is also a haven for recreational boaters, with roughly 140 miles of shoreline, more than 30 protected bays and several waterfront communities to explore.
Restoration and renovation
One of those communities is historic Excelsior. Although the dance hall and amusement park are long gone, visionaries and dreamers still converge here to bring that Lake Minnetonka magic to life in new and unexpected ways.
When Tyler Nelson first saw the 1902 Miller Block Building on Water Street, just a block and a half from the Port of Excelsior, it was a shambles. Abandoned for the better part of 30 years, the structure was on the verge of being condemned.
“Part of it actually was,” he recalls. “On the upper floor, there were apartments that hadn’t been rented since the early ‘90s. The roof was collapsing.”
Yet Nelson saw the potential. Together with wife, Catherine, and partner, Jeff Verdoorn, he purchased the building in August 2019 — and very quickly learned that he had taken on a much more challenging project than he ever could have imagined.
“I couldn’t touch it for six months,” he says. “I paid six figures before I could begin due to all the toxins. Then, the day I was done with the environmentals and got the go-ahead… well, it was March 2020.”
Nelson didn’t let the COVID pandemic derail him, however. A licensed general contractor, he delved into the hard work of restoration and renovation, which had to be done in keeping with Historic Preservation Council standards.
That was no small feat. Over the years, the building housed a hardware and tin shop, a milliner and a dry
cleaner (hence the toxins). Occupants tore off the building’s facade, added strange entrances, and blocked windows. Nelson had to tear out dropped ceilings, remove a staggering amount of lathe and plaster, and deal with junk the former tenants left behind.
“The wood was black with tar paper after 100 years of being covered, and the floors were covered with ugly green carpeting,” he remembers. “I filled 12 40-yard dumpsters.”
Once that was done, Nelson began to create the new spaces he imagined. On the ground floor, he refinished the original wood floors, brought back the brick walls and opened up the floor plan. Upstairs, he rebuilt and balanced the flooring, added soundproofing between the levels and replaced the roof. He also added windows and doors, restored the building’s facade to its 1902 condition, and even brought an original tin ceiling back from the dead.
“The hardware and tin shop had a tin ceiling, and I found scraps in the attic,” he says. “We were able to get it reprinted.”
Success story
Now, three years later, Nelson’s dream has come true. The once-derelict building in the heart of Excelsior’s historic downtown is now the boutique Hotel Excelsior - Suites on Water Street.
Upstairs, the hotel features four suites with full kitchens and bathrooms, ranging from 630 to 900 square feet. Downstairs is Faribault Woolen Mill Company, one of four retail locations for the venerable textile manufacturer, founded in Faribault, Minnesota in 1865. Nelson added a commercialkitchen-rated bar to the ground floor as well, and at press time, he was preparing to open a high-end coffee and wine bar called The Lobby.
By all accounts, this has been an astonishing success story in Excelsior. “When I first started, people said we The O’Meara’s pond sailor. were crazy,” Nelson says with a chuckle. “At the end, I got a standing ovation from the Historic Preservation Council.” His dream isn’t the only one that’s come true. Sitting on a mantel in the Hotel Excelsior’s cafe space is a very special model sailboat, one that connects Nelson to this magazine. “I knew I wanted an awesome model boat that would fit that space,” Nelson says. “I saw this one on eBay and bought it about a year and a half ago.” When the pond sailor arrived, it was accompanied by a copy of Lakeland Boating and a handwritten note. “The note said, ‘Very cherished by us, it was in our office for 30 years,’” Nelson says. “I reached out, and Linda O’Meara called me back.” O’Meara is the widow of longtime Lakeland Boating publisher Walter “Bing” O’Meara, who passed away in September 2021 at the age of 81. She told Nelson that her late husband always wanted to have a boutique hotel. “She told me she was very touched to know that the pond sailor is in a boutique hotel now,” Nelson says softly. “That was his dream.” ★
Tyler Nelson standing in The Lobby coffee and wine bar, with the pond sailor over his shoulder.
The St. Albans Bay Suite, overlooking historic Water Street.
The Smithtown Bay Suite.
Book your stay at Hotel Excelsior
Each individually decorated suite at the boutique Hotel Excelsior incorporates a full kitchen with eat-in bar, induction cooktop, oven, refrigerator, dishwasher, microwave and Keurig coffee, as well as a well-appointed bathroom with in-fl oor heat, instant hot water and curbless shower. The suites also feature 55-inch 4K TVs, cable service and complimentary high-speed WiFi. To book your stay, visit
