Planned luxury lofts a first for downtown Forest Lake
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The Lighthouse Lofts under construction in downtown Forest Lake sound like something you’d find in downtown Minneapolis or St. Paul.
The $22 million, five-story mixed-use development, which will open next spring, will feature 103 apartments, underground parking, a lobby, coffee bar, fitness center, retail space and a full-service restaurant. The top floor will have a rooftop deck and a club room for entertaining, with views of the lake.
It’s being built at the site of the old city hall building at 220 N. Lake St. The developer is Gaughan Cos., based in Forest Lake.
“This is the first project like this in Forest Lake,” said Dan Hebert, Gaughan’s senior vice president of commercial accounts. “It’s going to feel like you’re walking into a hotel. These are market-rate, amenity-rich apartments. Each unit will have gas range, washer and dryer, 8-foot windows and a balcony.”
He compared the 156,000-square-foot project to Vue Apartment Homes at 415 Oak Grove St. in Minneapolis. The Forest Lake complex, on a 2.8-acre site on the Hardwood Creek Trail about a block from the lake, will have about 4,300 square feet of retail space and a 3,200-square-foot restaurant with a two-sided patio. There will be 11 walk-out units on the first floor.
“We’re seeing a large population of people wanting to rent by choice,” Hebert said. “We think we’re a little bit ahead of the market out here; but we’re fine to be ahead of the market and not the other way, so we’re very confident.”
A number of potential clients have already expressed interest, he said.
“I think it’s going to be split up into a few different markets and demographics,” he said. “You’re going to see millennials, you’re going to see baby boomers, you’re going to see people selling their house who live in Forest Lake, and also see people selling their house in a different city and moving to Forest Lake.”
Gaughan has done other projects in Forest Lake, including Plaza on the Lake and a development near the new city hall.
“We build really high-quality buildings, and we invest in the community,” said Hebert, who lives in Forest Lake. “Some developers build to flip. We’re not flippers. We are long-time owners.”
The Forest Lake City Council earlier this year approved $1.34 million in tax-increment financing for up to 14 years for the project.
“We were looking for something to be a significant development in our project and (to) position that site to add additional vitality to our downtown, which we really think it’s going to do,” said City Administrator Aaron Parrish.
Lighthouse Lofts should appeal to young professionals and snowbirds, he said.
“We hear from a lot of people who want to have a summer presence in Forest Lake,” he said. “This is where they are from, they want something nicer. They might have a retirement home elsewhere, and they are looking forward to being back near family for a certain part of the year.”
City officials put the old city hall building on the market in 2012 with an asking price of $700,000, but received no offers, Parrish said. The city sold the building to Gaughan for $1.
City employees, including the police and fire departments, moved to the new Forest Lake City Center on U.S. 61 in December 2014.
