Biz beat: Car club coming to Eagan; Buck Hill is hopping

Eagan has rezoned a six-acre site for the Eagan Car Club, an unusual storage facility that will sell up to 76 garage units which antique car owners and others can own and customize rather than renting garage space, said city planner Mike Ridley.

Developer Kurt Manley said he is finalizing construction plans and expects to break ground in June. He said a similar facility has been built for car owners in Chanhassen. The Eagan facility, to be located near Hwy. 3 and Diffley Road, will have a clubhouse of about 5,500 square feet with a fireplace, lounge, plasma TV game room and kitchenette for gatherings.

Manley said owners can buy one or a combination of units to provide space mostly for antique cars, but also for RVs, boats, snowmobiles or other vehicles. The 76 garage spaces will come in two sizes: 16-by-48 feet and 24-by-48 feet, he said.

The City Council last month rezoned the vacant lot from Neighborhood Business to a planned development. Manley still needs to apply for a building permit for the site, which abuts Captain Dodd Park and Inver Grove Heights.

Fundraiser to fight hunger

A Running Room store will open Wednesday in Eagan with a 5K fundraiser to fight hunger in Dakota County.

On hand for the 5K and one-mile run/walks will be store owner and author John Stanton and Frank Shorter, 1972 Olympic Marathon Gold Medalist and a U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame member. The race will start at 6 p.m. at the new store in the Eagan Promenade Shopping Center, 3344 Promenade Av., Suite 102.

Register online at www.events.runningroom.com/site/?raceId=7929 or at any local Running Room.

A busy May in Burnsville

Buck Hill ski area continues to improve its offseason revenue.

In addition to Halloween Frightmares and motocross bike races, Buck Hill will hold a ribbon-cutting Tuesday for South Cedar Garden Center, said Skip Nienhaus, Burnsville's economic development coordinator. The center will offer plants and other items at Buck Hill through June, with hours from 11 a.m. daily and Sunday and 10 a.m. on Saturdays until 7 p.m. weekdays and 5 p.m. on weekends.

The Buck Hill event center, at 15400 Buck Hill Road, also will host a South of the River Small Business Expo on Tuesday. The free four-hour event, sponsored by six Dakota County Chambers of Commerce, features a 2:30 p.m. seminar on Facebook marketing tips and a 3:30 p.m. seminar discussing on-the-spot business networking (bring business cards). More than 50 businesses will have booths, and business tables can be rented for the expo, which will last until 6 p.m. Contact local chambers for details and table costs.

•Last Friday, Rock Hard Landscaping opened at 3600 Hwy 13 W.

•This Thursday, Great Lakes Coin and Collectibles has a ribbon-cutting at 14321 Nicollet Court, Suite 375, in the Golden Triangle between Interstates 35E and 35W.

And CVS Pharmacy has obtained a building permit and is expected to break ground in coming weeks for a new store, its first CVS in Burnsville. It will be located at the site of the long-empty TCF Bank, a fixture since 1974 at the northeast corner of Burnsville Parkway and Nicollet Avenue. The bank building was demolished last month.

Elsewhere

Farmington cut a ribbon for Pellicci Ace Hardware Thursday at its new location, 3560 213th St., four blocks east of Hwy. 3. The hardware store moved from a downtown spot into a larger space it remodeled in the old Allina Medical Building.