Former bowling center changes hands

A vacant building that once housed the Burnsville Bowl has a new owner.

Quirk's, a Minneapolis business entity of Tri-State Bobcat, recently paid $1.6 million for the bank-owned property at 1200 Hwy. 13 E., according to documents filed with the Minnesota Department of Revenue.

The 32,000-square-foot bowling center building and its 4.5-acre site were most recently valued for tax purposes about $1.3 million, according to Dakota County property records.

RJ's Tavern in downtown Hastings closed abruptly last week.

Owner Joseph Ryan could not be reached for comment. A note on the establishment's website announced the closing, which was effective Jan. 13. The restaurant and bar had operated for about 20 years.

The note said RJ's had experienced a variety of problems in recent years. It underwent an ambitious and costly renovation that was completed in the midst of the economic downturn when customer traffic fell off. The note also said that business was hurt by road closures related to construction of the new Hastings bridge.

"During these difficult times owners and management continued to make every possible effort to reduce expenses and increase business but ultimately these factors took their toll, leading to this very difficult decision."

Lakeville and Eagan recently reported gains in both home and commercial construction for 2013.

Lakeville issued building permits with a total valuation of $149.5 million for the year, an increase of more than $20 million from 2012.

The city issued commercial and industrial permits with a total valuation of $11.1 million in 2013 compared with $10.1 million the previous year.

Lakeville's largest gains for the year were in homebuilding. The city issued permits for 370 single-family homes with a total valuation of $119.4 million, up from 279 single family home permits with a total valuation of $83.5 million in 2012. Lakeville issued the highest number of residential permits in the Twin Cities in 2013 as reported by the Builders Association of the Twin Cities.

Eagan's commercial building activity rose sharply last year, fueled mostly by construction of the Paragon outlet mall in the Cedar Grove area. The city recorded 14 new construction permits valued at $65.6 million in 2013, compared with seven permits valued at $8.8 million for the previous year.