Type: Hotel
Rooms: 93
Size: 65,911 square feet
Developer: Wheelhouse Capital
Architect: Cities Edge Architects
Details: The now-shuttered Al Baker's Restaurant would be razed and replaced by a four-story Holiday Inn Express & Suites hotel under a proposal pending before the Eagan City Council.
Wheelhouse Capital, headed by New Brighton-based developer Andy Schweizer, purchased the property near the intersection of Pilot Knob and Yankee Doodle roads in January, shortly after the once-popular suburban eatery went dark. Schweizer's company also owns the adjacent Best Western Dakota Ridge hotel, which itself is scheduled to undergo a $900,000 face-lift.
In plans approved last week by the city's planning commission, the developer is proposing to replace the 29-year-old restaurant with a 93-room Holiday Inn Express & Suites, which he said has been designed to meet the flag's latest prototype and brand standards. An existing Holiday Inn Express in Eagan, at 1950 Rahncliff Court, is being rebranded into another franchise.
The new hotel would feature an indoor swimming pool, fitness room and breakfast area. Exterior materials will include a mix of brick, glass, multicolored exterior wall cladding, natural stone and manufactured stone.
Should the Eagan council also sign off on the plans at its Aug. 19 meeting, work on the new hotel is set to begin later this year with completion envisioned for Fall 2015.
Don Jacobson is a St. Paul-based freelance writer. He can be contacted at hotproperty.startribune@gmail.com.
