Doran Companies has acquired for $24.9 million Calhoun Village Shopping Center at 3200 W. Lake St., on the north end of Lake Calhoun.
Doran, best known since the Great Recession ended in 2009 for upscale student-housing around the University of Minnesota and multi-family apartment projects in Minneapolis and west suburbs, cut his teeth on commercial projects in the 1980s at the former Robert Muir Co. Doran and Muir in the 1990s developed Calhoun Commons, across Lake Street from Calhoun Village, and sold it several years ago.
Doran bought Calhoun Village from an investment concern called Pfaff Calhoun. Calhoun Village was attractive because of a bushy location and potential for upgrade and expansion. It is more than 90 percent leased and includes a Walgreens, Punch Pizza and Barnes and Noble.
Doran's commercial business manages over 1.7 million square feet of shopping centers in the Twin Cities area and St. Cloud.
Doran several months ago broke ground on "The Moline" in Hopkins, a $50 million, 241-unit luxury apartment complex, on the site of a 1960s-vintage warehouse/office development, at Eighth Street and Excelsior Boulevard. It's adjacent to the former Minneapolis Moline tractor plant.
Doran bet on increased housing density in downtown Hopkins, a small town-turned-suburb that once had train service to Minneapolis. The project also is close to proposed Southwest light rail transit line (LRT). Doran said he said he would have done the project anyway.