Jondahl Compound Development 118-302 Parkers Lake Road, Minnetonka

Type: Residential, office Size: 25.5 acres Developer: Keith Waters & Associates

The family that owns the last working farm in Minnetonka has teamed with an Excelsior-based luxury homebuilder and an Owatonna fiber optics provider to stake out a proposal for the development of the 25 1/2-acre site.

Homebuilder Keith Waters of Keith Waters & Associates told the Minnetonka Planning Commission this month that he and members of the Jondahl family, who have lived on what they call the Jondahl Compound since 1954, have come up with a development plan they believe is the "highest and best" reuse of the hobby farm property.

The acreage is just northwest of the Interstate 394-494 interchange, tucked into a spot surrounded by high-density condominium and apartment developments, wetlands and single-family homes. The towers of the Carlson Center loom just beyond the property, where the Jondahl family raises sheep.

Developers have been seeking the land for years, and the Jondahl family has finally decided to sell.

Under the plan, the sheep pastures would be carved into 20 large single-family lots. At the front of the property along Parkers Lake Road would be a 36,311-square-foot "residential style" office building that would serve as the new headquarters for Fiberpop Solutions, a telecommunications provider now based in Owatonna, and house a data center.

Waters said the office building would be designed using cut stone and dormers, and would include a 60-stall, underground garage for employees and customers of the company.

"It's a classic case of a transitional piece of property," Waters told the commission. "Our goal was to be good stewards here. This land is precious."

The farm has long been envisioned in Minnetonka's comprehensive plan as medium-density residential, but would need to be re-guided for low-density residential and office use, as well as rezoned, to allow for the proposal, city planners said.

The purpose of the Jan. 19 meeting was to gather initial reactions from the planning commission and nearby residents. One of the concerns raised was a proposal to extend a new street through the property that would connect Parkers Lake Road with an existing residential street to the west of the site.

Don Jacobson is a freelance writer based in St. Paul. He can be contacted at hotproperty.startribune@gmail.com.