---

The deadline of October 31 for the city to see activity on demolition of the old Dinnerbel/Meredee’s came and went uneventfully last week.  City Administrator John Olinger said the site developer was supposed to comply with a number of conditions as part of the approved project permit and failed to do so by the deadline.  Fees were supposed to be paid, special taxing district contracts needed to be filed and final platting matters attended to.  The project status is now officially expired.  If there are any plans for the site on South Lindstrom Lake they will start at square one and go through all  the steps required of any brand new proposal.

This redevelopment concept has been a four-year-saga that recently appeared to have turned a corner, when a new builder came on the scene.

Ironically the builder/developer promising to get this project through the last stretch,  was also receiving industry accolades and being feted as the man behind the “Startup of the Year” by the MPLS/St. Paul Business Journal.  He’s been pictured at groundbreaking ceremonies for a other anticipated housing project as recently as only two months ago.  Lindstrom was the opposite side of this career coin.

First applied for in May 2018, around October 2018 the Lindstrom City Council established some conditions unique to the lakeshore project, dubbed “The Overlook’ and gave a deadline of October 2019 for advancing on sitework.

This was extended another year when the original developer— Northland Real Estate Group asked for breathing room saying project financing was proving difficult to secure.

In October 2020 Lindstrom city council members again granted an extension to October 29, 2021.

This was where things stood when Christian Lawrence and his Owatonna-based modular manufacturing firm Rise, arrived to resurrect the project now being called Peninsula Apartments.  Council members allowed a flat roof  building design accommodating the new pre-fabricated apartment pods. Lawrence promised at public meetings he was wed to this project and the site would get some long needed TLC.   

The end date extension was granted as requested, but the city’s start date, mandating actions  must commence on abating the derelict building, remained October  31, 2022.

During this same time residents learned  “Peninsula Apartments” was not going to include a restaurant or public marina, which had been earlier highlights of marketing positives for the apartments.

What did  Lawrence encounter as special challenges with the Peninsula project and how it is that other Rise modular plans advanced, while this site faltered? Is the parcel going back on the market?  There was no response to voice mail and e mail requests for an interview.

City Administrator John Olinger commented that some developments come together, and others don’t get off the paper they are drawn on, and it would be a guessing game to try to explain what does or doesn’t give a project legs.
Lindstrom still has a  crumbling building perched on this site and unless a public safety nuisance or hazard develops,  giving Lindstrom a reason for an enforcement action, Olinger says he
doesn’t expect to see improvements on-site.

---