The Eagan City Council has approved an expansion plan for Diffley Marketplace that includes adding a full-service restaurant and a 9,424-square-foot multi-tenant building to the retail complex.

The existing two-building retail center was built in 2008 and has been owned by an entity of Oakbrook, Ill.-based Inland Real Estate Corp. since 2010. Anchored by a Cub Foods, the center's other tenants include an Anytime Fitness and a Dunn Bros. coffee shop.

The new restaurant and retail building will be constructed on two adjacent parcels and will be designed to look like the existing center.

Rick Plessner, an Inland vice president, told the council that potential tenants for the new retail building include a day-care center, a dental office, an orthodontic clinic and a frozen yogurt shop.

Earlier plans for that parcel called for a bank or financial institution, while previous plans for the other parcel were for a fast-food restaurant with a drive-through window.

Plessner said Inland now would like to have a sit-down restaurant with outdoor seating and possibly on-sale liquor. He said his firm is in discussions with a restaurant operator, which he declined to identify.

Strong building year in Lakeville

Residential construction dominated building activity in Lakeville last year, fueling a sharp rise in the value of building permits to almost $130 million compared with about $88 million in 2011.

The city issued commercial and industrial permits valued at $10.1 million in 2012. That compares with $17.8 million in 2011, which included permits issued for the new 152,000-square-foot Wal-Mart that opened in October of 2012.

The largest increase in 2012 was in single-family home permits, which rose from 118 valued at $36.3 million to 279 valued at $83.6 million. Last year's single-family permit total was the largest since 2004.

Last year's residential permits also included Kingsley Shores Senior Living, a $17.6 million, 101-unit senior housing project along Kingsley Lake west of I-35 and south of County Road 5.

Business assistance program comes to Dakota County

Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit organization, has expanded its Open to Business program to Dakota County.

The program provides fledgling businesses access to technical assistance as well as small business loans. As part of a financing plan, borrowers can receive help in planning, organizing and managing their businesses.

The program got its start in Minneapolis and over the past several years has expanded to other cities in Hennepin County. In the past 10 years the program has loaned more than $6.7 million to about 550 entrepreneurs for start-ups or expansion projects.

The program in Dakota County is being funded with $130,000 from the Dakota County Community Development Agency and 10 partner cities.

According to the Dakota County Chamber of Commerce, the program will offer loans up to $25,000. For more information, contact Laurie Crow, Dakota County Open to Business program coordinator, at 952-484-3107 or lcrow@mccdmn.org.

Please send your Dakota County business news to susan.feyder@startribune.com.