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NEXT DEVELOPMENT
from Jordan NEXT - 2022
New developments ew developments to to Jordan Jordancoming coming
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The planned site of Beaumont Bluffs in Jordan.
PHOTO BY MARK WASSON
IMAGE COURTESY OF CITY OF JORDAN
A view looking north of the planned upgrade to the U.S. Highway 169/State Highway 282 interchange in Jordan.
New interchange, housing on horizon
BY MARK WASSON
Jordan will undertake several development projects over the next few years.
The most expansive is a $40 million construction project that will remake the busy interchange of U.S. Highway 169, state Highway 282 and County Road 9.
The interchange is part of a project that seeks to remove signalized intersections along Highway 169 and build supporting roadway networks from Hennepin County to Mankato. The Highway 282 intersection in Jordan has the last signal lights until St. Peter for motorists heading south out of the metro area.
Following a MnDOT design approval, community feedback and possible right of way acquisitions, construction is expected to begin in 2025 or 2026. “It’s great to have this project moving forward,” Scott County Transportation Services Director Lisa Freese said.
Construction on the overpass is expected to start in 2023 with work on the Highway 59 interchange expected to start in 2024.
Mayor Mike Franklin said that while the interchange project is about safety, economic efficiency and creating a smoother corridor for commercial transportation, it’s also about economic growth.
“That highway corridor is our primary area where we can expect to reasonably grow and add businesses and we’re not going to get that growth without figuring out this intersection first,” Franklin said. “So it’s in our interest to figure it out and if it can be done safely and in a way that accommodates our existing businesses and serves our existing businesses then I think we should all be excited about it.”
HOUSING DEVELOPMENT
These changes will benefit several new housing developments, including a 74-unit complex with 7,500 square-feet of commercial space and plans to develop 232 acres of land into 387 homes — both on the western edge of town
The housing development is likely to include twin homes, villas and single family units, along with a park and pond space.
“This is a really gigantic complicated application,” Jordan Economic Specialist Barrett Voight said. “This is actually probably one of the most complicated applications I’ve ever worked on.”
The proposed development will offer different price points for various lifestyles and phases of people’s lives, according to Voight.
The type of housing in the project is sorely needed, City Administrator Tom Nikunen said. Combined with other recent developments, it will help to provide a full spectrum of housing needs — from singlefamily homes to assisted living — in the city, whose population has grown by more than 1,000 people in the past decade, to about 6,600.
“The most important thing for us is this offers another type of housing that we drastically need as an option for professionals and single families or just people starting out,” Nikunen said. “We think that this apartment and its location is going to help this development area a lot.”
Plans that McGlynn Partners submitted to the council late last year included rental costs at $995 for a studio to $2,427 for a three-bedroom apartment, though unit rental prices have not been finalized.
IMAGE COURTESY OF CITY OF JORDAN
