Our new legislators, Representative Kelby Woodard, District 25B, and Senator Al DeKruif, District 25, spoke at the NDDC / Chamber forum at Community Resource Bank yesterday morning.

Here’s the audio:

Click play to listen. 1 hour, 25 minutes. Or download the MP3.

Campaign websites: Al DeKruif; Kelby Woodard.

Nfld News: Woodard, DeKruif at Northfield area business forum.

I saw a Tweet by Neuger Communications Group staffer Lauren Melcher yesterday, linking to a press release that Neuger is buying the vacant Community Resource Bank building at 25 Bridge Square, as well as the Aldsworth Building at 19 Bridge Square.  The Neuger Communications Group currently occupies the lower level of the McGuire Building next to the Northfield Liquor Store (right photo above).

These two Bridge Square buildings were in the news in late 2009: Proposed historic-looking office building would ‘replace’ the Aldsworth.

This is great news for downtown Northfield.  And it gives me some other ideas.

See my album of 23 photos, the large slideshow, or this small slideshow:

Last week’s City Council work session discussion of the Streetscape Taskforce Recommendations (P. 15 of the packet) had this item on the list:

Purchase of property to address perceived needs of Downtown Parking issues and potentially assist with increased parking need by future Library project.

The NDDC provides a Guide to Parking in Downtown Northfield. Ross has blogged about parking issues for years (example, here). There have been several studies of downtown parking (eg. the Walker Study, the Stolley Report, others? links?).

Here are some low-hanging fruit questions of an uninformed blogger:

• How often are the diagonal and parallel parking spots on Division completely full?
• Do downtown business owners and their employees too often park in these spots or is that a myth?
• How rigorously do the police enforce downtown parking ordinances?
• What do we know that has worked and not worked in other downtowns of our size/type?

Regardless of the strange wording (“perceived needs of Downtown Parking issues” – do issues have needs?) and regardless of what happens with the Library expansion, downtown parking is an issue that should be fun to argue about.

In the meantime, the now-empty Community Resource Bank parking lot is a perfect spot for a temporary skateboard plaza!

Notice is hereby given that Community Resource Bank, Northfield, Minnesota has notified the Minnesota Department of Commerce of its intent to relocate the detached facility/branch, a distance of approximately .5 miles within Northfield from 25 Bridge Square to 618 Division Street, Northfield, Rice County, Minnesota 55057.

Kuehnast said the ‘intent’ language is required by Federal regulators and he was careful to use it with me in my phone call with him.

Reporter David Henke reports in today’s Nfld News:

Last year, the bank filed a permit with the city indicating that it would move its downtown branch to the Phoenix Building, the former site of Lansing Hardware. But the bank chose not to move after its lease at Bridge Square was extended by First National Bank, which owns the property.

Kuehnast would not comment on whether the bank is still considering a move to the front portion of the Phoenix Building.

That doesn’t quite tell the whole story. See my Sept. 5, 2009 blog post:  Northfield News mishandles the Community Resource Bank move story.

Federal regulators have ordered Community Resource Bank of Northfield, Minn., to strengthen its loan portfolio and ensure that it has adequate capital. The 132-year-old bank, which has $240 million in assets, must improve its loan review process and reduce its delinquent loans that have balances exceeding $500,000. The bank also was told to come up with a plan to "maintain sufficient capital."

Update: 01/27, 6:50 am: 15-page PDF: Written Agreement by and among NORTHFIELD BANCSHARES, INC. Northfield, Minnesota COMMUNITY RESOURCE BANK Northfield, Minnesota and FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF MINNEAPOLIS Minneapolis, Minnesota

… But the bank appears to have a healthy cushion to absorb these loan losses. Unlike many banks that have been hit with regulatory actions, Community Resources’ equity — or its cushion against future loan losses — has improved during the economic downturn… Kuehnast, the bank’s CEO, said most of the loan problems are confined to commercial real estate, primarily loans to small businesses backed by property they own. The bank, he added, did not get swept up in the housing boom; construction and development loans represent only a small portion of the bank’s overall balance sheet.

The proposed building is not like the mixed-use Mendota Homes plan for the site announced four years ago. Local developer Jerry Anderson is functioning more as a catalyst for this project which will require businesses to buy up all the spaces (office condos) or it won’t be built.

In his column this week, Nfld News publisher/editor Sam Gett expressed surprise at the lack of retail planned for the development. He apparently doesn’t understand it.

The proposed building could ultimately include retail shops and restaurants if one or more buyers of the 8 or 9 office spaces chose to use/sublet them for that. Given current market conditions, a plan that even partially depended on leasing retail space would be foolish. (Personally, I’d love to see a fancy street-level restaurant there that also serves diners during the warm months on Bridge Square, Italian piazza-style — yes, with alcohol. See photo example here).

This building could spur the long-discussed retail development of the riverfront between Oolala and the Contended Cow and beyond to the Archer House (see the aerial images below). In this week’s Nfld News article about the development, Back to the future:

Not only would the project be a “shot in the arm” for businesses downtown, Jerry Anderson also believes the construction would help revitalize a portion of the Cannon River waterfront in downtown. As part of his designs for the building, Anderson is including a large atrium on the northwest corner of the complex, facing the river, and expanded sidewalk access to the river between this project and adjacent store Oo La La [sic Oolala].

Other info:

• Ray Cox, Northfield Construction Company, would be the builder. (Full disclosure: Cox is a client of mine.)
• Professional Design Group presents the plan to the Northfield Heritage Preservation Commission on Nov. 19.
• Other background: On May 19, 2005, Ross Currier blogged the news that developer John Mathern of Mendota Homes was in negotiations to purchase the downtown location of Community Resource Bank (then called Community National Bank) and tear it down to build a mixed-use, historic-looking building (retail, office space, residential condos).  A few months later, Mathern announced his plans (Nfld News article). That plan ultimately collapsed and in 2008, First National Bank of Northfield foreclosed on Mathern.

Images below courtesy of Professional Design Group. Click any thumbnail to see a medium-sized image, then click the green arrow to see a full-sized version; use the arrows to scroll left or right through the set.

I’d been following this story for a while since the owners of the Phoenix Building, Beth Closner and Randy Lutz of Construction Consulting Partners, are clients of mine. While they confirmed back in July that negotiations with the bank were ongoing, a lease wasn’t signed. The paper ran its July story based on a building permit.

I’ve not talked with Beth or Randy or anyone from Community Resource Bank or First National Bank of Northfield about this latest development but it seems problematic to me for the paper to run a story about a real estate transaction when it hasn’t been finalized. It’s not so much that the public might be misinformed. It’s more that the publicity can become part of the psychology of the negotiations, inadvertently or not, stated or not.

I think the paper owes the parties a public apology. And the online versions of the July 27 story and the July 31 editorial should include corrections.