Thisweek Burnsville and Eagan

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’S VOTERE D GUI n

Sectio Special issue is th e id s in

Dakota City Heritage Village hosts the Harvest Moon Festival Oct. 22-23

Thisweek Burnsville-Eagan OCTOBER 22, 2010

VOLUME 31, NO. 34

A NEWS OPINION SPORTS

See Thisweekend Page 7A

www.thisweeklive.com

Opinion/6A

Puzzle Page/8A

Announcements/9A

Classifieds/11A

Sports/15A

Public Notices/16A

Better days ahead for Holiday Inn Burnsville City’s largest hotel under new ownership, is being renovated, and will be renamed under Best Western flag by John Gessner THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS

The 25-year-old Holiday Inn Burnsville, the city’s largest hotel and only full-service lodging property, is undergoing a major upgrade after years of neglect. Sold to new owners in July, the 144-room hotel will also be renamed under the Best Western flag. It will become the Nicollet Inn on Jan. 1 and the Best Western Nicollet Inn once the new owners gain corporate approval, said Nathan Kremer, the hotel’s sales and marketing director. Blithe Hospitality Group, a group of investors from Burnsville and Lakeville that includes the hotel’s former catering and sales director, bought the Holiday Photo by Rick Orndorf Inn Burnsville from an ownership Nathan Kremer is director of sales and marketing for the Holiday Inn Burnsville, which is under new group that also owns the Holiday ownership. The 25-year-old hotel, Burnsville’s largest, is being renovated and will be renamed under the Best Inn Metrodome in Minneapolis. Western flag. The two-toned, five-story hotel, a highly visible landmark 35E and Interstate 35W, lost oc- property fresh, Kremer said. need to do updates,� Kremer said. perched south of County Road 42 cupancy over the years with little “This place was rockin’ for 15, “I think the previous owners above the junction of Interstate interior remodeling to keep the 20 years. As with any hotel, you just kind of let it go,� said Dan

Gustafson, a City Council member who serves on Burnsville’s Convention and Visitors Bureau. “I’m grateful that a company saw the value of that property and came and took it over and is going to make something nice of it, like it was in its glory days. There was a time when the Holiday Inn was the hotel in town.� Blithe Hospitality Group includes Ron and Jamie Dahlen of Burnsville. Ron is vice president of Lakeville-based builder Country Joe Homes. Jamie is a former catering and sales director at Holiday Inn Burnsville. The Dahlens’ oldest daughter, Angela Thomas, and her husband, Jeremy, of Lakeville, are also part-owners, along with two silent partners from Burnsville, Kremer said. The Dahlens’ first venture into the hospitality business was in 2006, when they were part of a group that bought the old Super See Holiday Inn, 5A

Gap in Denmark Avenue now connected Council reverses Road will help relieve congestion around city’s busiest traffic area position on appointing school board members by Erin Johnson THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS

Getting from Home Depot to Sam’s Club just got a lot easier with the connection of a significant gap in Denmark Avenue. A vital part of the Eagan’s “ring road� meant to ease congestion around its largest retail area, the new segment of Denmark officially opened Oct. 19. “This will be very, very popular,� said City Administrator Tom Hedges. “It’s going to relieve a lot of traffic at the intersection of Yankee Doodle and Lexington.� The extension connects the 2,300-foot gap that previously existed in the road, which came to an abrupt end next to Home Depot and picked up again near Sam’s Club. A sidewalk was also built along that new stretch of road, providing a walking path between the two retail giants. The connection is courtesy of the U.S. Postal Service, which completed the road as part of its Eagan facility expansion. The USPS moved its St. Paul sorting facility and Minneapolis

Burnsville-EaganSavage Board Chair DeeDee Currier denied extended term on Planning Commission by John Gessner THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS

Photo by Rick Orndorf

City and county officials joined representatives from the U.S. Postal Service for the grand opening of the Denmark Avenue connection Oct. 19. Pictured from left are City Council Member Cyndee Fields, Mayor Mike Maguire, council members Paul Bakken, Gary Hansen and Meg Tilley, and County Commissioner Tom Egan. hub facility operations last year to the Eagan bulk mail facility, which sits on 95 acres at Lone Oak Road and Lexington Avenue. The gap in Denmark, which sat on USPS property, was always meant to be connected regardless of who developed the land, ac-

cording to the city. The connection became even more urgent with the planned addition of 900 new postal employees and additional truck traffic, which would put a greater burden on surrounding roads. See Denmark Avenue, 10A

Potential buyer of former NWA headquarters backs out Space would have been leased to U.S. General Services Administration

Becker Furniture improves Burnsville Crossings Family-owned retailer a catalyst for upgrades at County 42 strip mall by Aaron Vehling THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS

by Jessica Harper THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS

A multimillion dollar deal is off between Delta Airlines and a real estate broker. East Coast REIT recently signed a $19.5 million purchase agreement with Delta Airlines for the former Northwest Airlines headquarters. But East Coast REIT backed out when the U.S. General Services Administration cancelled its plans to lease the property. “They determined they no longer needed the space,� said Jeff Minea, a real estate broker for

In September, a Burnsville City Council majority agreed that elected school board members should be allowed to serve on city advisory commissions. The council reversed its position Oct. 19, voting 3-2 to prohibit board members from serving for fear of potential conflicts of interest. Captive in the debate was DeeDee Currier, a council appointee on the city’s Planning Commission who was elected to the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School Board in 2008, after her first city appointment. Currier chairs both bodies and is

a retired district principal. The council also voted 3-2 against extending Currier’s commission term past next Currier June. In heated debate, council members opposed to appointing school board members insisted it’s not about Currier or her praiseworthy record of service on the Planning Commission. But Mayor Elizabeth Kautz and Council Member Dan Gustafson, who voted against the measures, defended Currier in more personal terms. The debate should have occurred around the time Currier was elected to the board, not now, Mayor Elizabeth Kautz said. See Currier, 9A

File photo

A potential buyer of the former Northwest Airlines headquarters building backed out earlier this month. East Coast REIT had intended to purchase the property and lease it to the U.S. General Services Administration. Cushman & Wakefield, an Eden Prairie-based firm handling the listing of the former headquarters at 2700 Lone Oak Parkway in Eagan. Minea said his office received a letter from REIT

on Oct. 7 informing him of its intent to back out. The GSA had been searching for about 250,000 square feet of office space in the southern suburbs for the Department of Veteran See NWA, 10A

Take a walk around the new Becker Furniture World store at Burnsville Crossings. It is clear from the moment you enter that finding a couch is going to be more fun than you had anticipated. “The last thing the world needs is just another furniture Jim Keyes store,� said Becker CEO Jim Keyes, whose father Doug started the Becker, Minn.-based business in 1978. The design and layout of the store—from traffic flows to the accoutrements—suggests Crate and Barrel with

Photo by Aaron Vehling

Becker Furniture World’s new design concept is on exhibition at the company’s new store at Burnsville Crossings in Burnsville. The company’s move revamped an aging strip mall and represents Becker’s full-force foray into the south metro market. music from a fashionable clothing boutique. A broad avenue takes customers into the store, past kitchen furniture and grand sofas on one side and a fully functioning cafe with WiFi on the other. Salespeople walk about with iPads to assist with

special and custom orders, or even just your average sales. Smooth, universally palatable electronic music plays over an expertly-designed sound system. Flat-screen displays abound with images suggesting serenity and See Becker Furniture, 10A

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