An Elko New Market proposal to annex 120 acres of land southeast of Hwy. I-35 and County Road 2 could set the stage for the first, significant development at the interchange, seen as prime growth territory.

Ryan Companies, the Minneapolis developer overseeing the Downtown East mixed-use development near the new Vikings stadium, has expressed interest in the corridor over months of discussions, city administrator Thomas Terry said.

Casey Hankinson, vice president of development at Ryan Companies, declined to comment, saying in an e-mail that it's still premature.

The city, through its own economic development and strategic planning efforts, and the Scott County Association for Leadership and Efficiency (SCALE), a collaborative group with representatives from across the county, agree that the interchange has significant, growth potential.

Tax base, job creation

"The City Council decided that they wanted to further explore the potential for the I-35 corridor and the feasibility of promoting the corridor for economic development purposes," Terry said. "The primary motivations are going to be the tax base and job creation within the community and within the county."

One area the county's civic leaders "felt had a lot of potential was the logistics-warehouse-distribution industry," Terry said. "The reason for that was the proximity to the core metro area, the location immediately on I-35 and the potential to assemble large acreage to accommodate large users, 100,000-square-foot users and larger."

Such a project could serve as a catalyst for commercial or residential development in the I-35 corridor, in part by raising the visibility of the community to businesses seeking to locate their employees and generating higher traffic counts that would drive interest among other developers, Terry said.

Amy Lewis, vice president of the Elko New Market Chamber of Commerce and a New Market Township resident said she and others there would welcome the arrival of service and other businesses on County Road 2.

'Clamoring'

"The chamber and the residents in this area are clamoring for any sort of commercial-retail development," Lewis said. "We're hoping that is part of it but obviously at this early stage it's hard to say for sure it's going to be there.

"We're kind of stuck in between Lakeville and Northfield. We've got pretty high household incomes in this area and we've got about 1,800 homes but we have nothing for commercial-retail at this point."

The city, however, would have to take several steps before pursuing development in the I-35 corridor, Terry said.

One of those is completing an annexation agreement with New Market Township for the 120 acres southeast of the interstate and County Road 2.

The annexation is necessary because the land, now part of the township, is not contiguous to Elko New Market. The annexation would not take place until development was imminent.

Another task is working out an agreement with Ryan Companies to collaborate on an environmental review for the land, whether that developer or another would move forward with a project, Terry said.

The city also is working through documents regarding a grant of up to $125,000 from the Scott County Community Development Agency to assist with the review's cost.

A financial analysis of the cost of extending city sewer and water service to the property likely will reach the City Council at the end of October. A number of items related to the potential development could go before council.

"It's exciting, but a lot of the elements are currently under consideration and haven't been finalized yet," Terry said. "There's a lot going on and moving forward but a lot of it is in flux."

Todd Nelson is a freelance writer in Woodbury. His e-mail address is todd_nelson@mac.com.