Click on a link to view entire article

 

« Back to News/Links

Holding on to the Past

Holding on to the Past

The Spirit of Brandtjen Farm development will provide homeowners the look of early America with tomorrow’s amenities

Posted: 7/1/05

undefined

by John Sucansky
Thisweek Newspapers

Upscale housing, a renovated dairy barn turned clubhouse and pool and a future bed-and-breakfast will soon fill the northeast corner of Lakeville.

Grading work will begin immediately for the first phase of the Brandtjen Farm development and renovation has already begun on the farm’s old dairy barn.

An elaborate Planned Unit Development, Brandtjen Farms will be the preservation of an earlier style of living with all of the amenities families in the 21st century have come to expect.

Approved at the City Council’s June 20 regular meeting was the first phase of this development which includes 130 single family homes, five farmstead preservation area lots and 32 outlots on approximately 508 acres of land which will be called the Spirit of Brandtjen Farm.

When it’s completed in 10 years, the development will include 2,109 residential dwellings and 150,000 square feet of commercial use on 548 acres.

The city is also acquiring 12 acres of land from the developer through Dakota County Natural Areas Grant funds to enhance East Lake Park, located on the southwest corner of the development.

The barn currently under renovation is the former dairy barn for the Brandtjen farmstead and will be the focal point for the development’s clubhouse and pool area.

Inside, residents will find an inviting fireplace, two-story windows looking out over the future pool deck to the north, Internet and gaming stations on the second floor and lounge space, according to Tradition Development Manager Robert Wachholz.

The former farm residence located to the south of the dairy barn will be used as a realty office for the development, but eventually there are plans to turn it into a bed-and-breakfast.

Wachholz said this building would provide a place for guests of Brandtjen Farms’ residents who were looking for a place to stay while visiting family and friends. It would provide quick access to the clubhouse and pool.

There is also a possibility of making Brandtjen Farm’s amenities available to residents living in Tradition Development’s first project, Cobblestone Lake, located north of County Road 46 from Brandtjen Farms.

Both developments bring back classic early American architecture with modern amenities and space requirements, mingled throughout a small lake district, some man-made from gravel mining and others natural.

The first model homes will be available in 2006 in Brandtjen Farms and Wachholz said there is already interest in lots from future homeowners.

John Sucansky is at lakeville.thisweek@ecm-inc.com.