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The couple’s primary home is in Oronoco, Minn., but they frequently get away to their Wabasha, Minn., condo, where a vista of gliding eagles, chugging riverboats and towering bluffs fills their living room window.
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Al and Anne Koenig relax in their condo Friday afternoon on the Mississippi River in Wabasha, Minn. (Photo by Fred Schulze/Winona Daily News) |
“It’s really a beautiful view,” Al said.
The Koenigs were among the first buyers at Eagles Landing, a condo complex built in 2006 as part of a larger redevelopment of Wabasha’s riverfront.
Other condo developments have sprouted in nearby Mississippi River cities in the past decade, and Winona may be next: A local developer has proposed a 20-condo high-rise overlooking the river near Second and Washington streets.
Winona planning commissioners said in December they will draft a plan for a two-block area, including the proposed condo site, in a move that could encourage commercial and residential development of an area now zoned for manufacturing. Councilman Tim Breza, who favors the plan, says commissioners and council members will hold hearings soon to discuss how it should evolve.
In Wabasha, condo residents like the Koenigs laud the benefits the development brought to the community. But other river communities, including Red Wing, Minn., turned down a similar development proposal amid public outcry.
A survey of three nearby Mississippi River cities where riverfront condos were proposed or built — Wabasha, Red Wing and Lake City, Minn. — shows the condos have been a hot topic in each community. The developments had different outcomes in each city, and spurred environmental, aesthetic and economic discussions that will likely occur in Winona in the coming months.
Wabasha mayor: Condos have boosted downtown
Wabasha officials made an aggressive bid to reshape their riverfront that by 2007 produced Eagles Landing and the National Eagle Center, an interpretative center and observatory dedicated to bald eagles. There may be another phase to the project: Wabasha leaders are discussing a boutique-hotel-and-park proposal for a lot between the existing developments, Mayor John Meish said last week.
The city of Wabasha acquired riverfront land for the development that originally was home to an abandoned grain mill; city leaders later declared the site blighted and formed a Tax Increment Financing district to finance the development.
Consultants hired to poll the public and draft a plan recommended a mix of residential and commercial use and open space. The city later sold part of the property to the Eagles Landing developers, and since 2006, 23 of the 27 condos have sold and all are owner-occupied, realtor Blaine Marcou said.
Some residents objected to the plan, but certain circumstances may have quelled some concerns, Meish said. For example, the fact that a tall mill building previously was on the site meant that the new condo building didn’t create a new obstacle for viewing the river.
In 2009, Meish said there’s little desire to see Wabasha become home to “complex after complex” of condos. But he said Eagles Landing and the National Eagle Center have brought huge economic benefits: They’ve provided a residential base to support shops and restaurants, while doubling the assessed value of the city’s downtown, he said.
“The two components ... have been nothing but an asset to the community,” Meish said.
In Lake City, condos add tax base but irk locals
A recent explosion of condo development has transformed Lake City’s riverfront since the 1990s, said Megan Wenker, Lake City’s assistant planner.
Wenker, whose office closely tracks condo development there, said eight condo buildings, each with 20 to 30 units, were built in Lake City in the past decade. The condos have brought a huge property-tax base, plus tourism tax revenues from units marketed as time-shares or hotel rooms. But Wenker said longtime residents of Lake City, a community of about 5,000, have begun to bristle at the condos blocking their views of Lake Pepin.
The condos “have met quite a bit of resistance in the community,” Wenker said.
And the giddy real-estate optimism of the past decade may have added another drawback. Wenker said Lake City’s condo market has become oversaturated, and several of the most recently built condo complexes now are less than half full.
Red Wing says no to riverfront condos
Developers behind condo projects in Lake City promised to bring some of that flavor to Red Wing in 2007, when they proposed a 39-condo building called Harbor View.
Red Wing mayor Donna Dummer said the developers later dropped the proposal amid an outcry of community opposition. Then in late 2008, a philanthropic-minded Red Wing family bought land including the Harbor View site and donated it to the city for use as public space, Dummer said.
That the development would have been built in a river floodplain, and concern with how a new building would fit in Red Wing’s historic downtown may have affected the proposal. In a contrasting example, the city’s residents have largely welcomed another developer’s efforts to refurbish an old malting plant into lofts, Dummer said.
Red Wing residents were particularly adamant about protecting their views of the Mississippi River.
“Once you take it away, it’s gone forever,” Dummer said.
Winona developer says riverfront condos match well with park land
Condo developments in other Minnesota river cities helped inspire developer Dave McNally’s proposal for a six-story condominium building in Winona, he said.
His proposal differs from some other regional river developments in that the site doesn’t actually border the river. It is separated by a levee and city-owned land that includes the Johnson Street water plant.
McNally anticipates ample demand for owner-occupied riverfront condos in Winona; he’s already gotten 14 inquiries from prospective buyers already in Winona or with roots here, he said. McNally also said Winona is well-positioned in terms of public space on its riverfront because of Levee Park and the Port Authority-owned land west of there. Planning commissioner Arlene Prosen has suggested that land could be used to expand Levee Park, a proposal McNally favors.
McNally likened the potential of Winona’s downtown to what’s already built in Stillwater, Minn., where he says condos, restaurants and shops spur foot traffic and activity on the St. Croix River levee, which links many of the buildings.
“If you (have) condo and commercial properties and combine them with park land for access to the river, it’s going to make for a very vibrant downtown area,” McNally said.
ozzman wrote on Jan 5, 2009 1:05 PM: