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Continued: Hot property: River Hills Mall land parcel

RIVER HILLS MALL LAND PARCEL

1850 Adams St., Mankato

Area: 6 acres

Price: $1.5 million

Buyer: Raintree Hospitality LLC

Seller: River Hills Mall LLC

Details: A Utah developer with strong links to Mankato has purchased a six-acre vacant parcel next to the city's River Hills Mall with plans to build a Courtyard by Marriott hotel and retail uses on the prime Hwy. 14 frontage.

The parcel was sold by General Growth Properties, the owner of the next-door mall, for $1.5 million to an entity controlled by developer David Peters of Park City, Utah -- a fair price for a thriving retail region that could use a hotel catering to business travelers, even in a down economy, he says.

"We have a couple of other properties near River Hills Mall, and have deep roots in the community," Peters said. "With Minnesota State University, Mankato, growing, and a strong health care sector acting as a development engine for the city, we think a Courtyard by Marriott would fit in well and give Mankato a hotel with the kind of amenities that business travelers are looking for."

River Hills Mall continues to draw customers to the area and has no anchor vacancies even as General Growth -- the nation's biggest shopping mall owner -- is in bankruptcy. But because of General's financial woes, the parcel on the mall's northwest corner was offered for sale after preliminary discussions centered on the two parties jointly developing a pair of hotels and a restaurant on the site.

Now the plan is to build just the one hotel with a projected start date of next spring and a completion date of May 2011, later adding several retail elements, such as a full-service restaurant and a bank branch.

"Courtyard is a strong brand that I think is getting stronger," said Peters, who also owns an AmericInn franchise in Mankato, as well as the unique University Square shopping center, a once-struggling strip mall near the university campus that was reinvented by adding several upper floors of student housing above an array of new stores and a coffeehouse/café.

DON JACOBSON

Don Jacobson, a freelance writer based in St. Paul, can be reached at hotproperty.startribune@gmail.com.

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