Golf and the towns it built…

I read this the other day. It’s an article in the Chaska Herald about the forward-seeing plans of a golf community developer in the 1950’s and how certain decisions helped to develop and define the towns of Chaska and Chanhassen as we know them today.

Driving development: How the search for a great golf course shaped Chaska

By Mark W. Olson

In the late 1950s, Chanhassen Township farmers were being approached with the “unbelievable” offer of $400 an acre for land that typically went for half that price, recalled the late Fred Molnau, in a 2001 interview.

The Minikahda Club in Minneapolis was actually the interested party. Prompted by the expansion of Excelsior Boulevard, which bisects the Minikahda course, the club was considering building a second course where majors could be held, explained Tom Brakke, Hazeltine member and chairperson of its Heritage Committee.

Minikahda members ultimately voted down the site. However, Minikahda member Totton P. “Tot” Heffelfinger, president of the U.S. Golf Association in 1952 and 1953, later said, “I felt that this was just too good a thing to let drop.”

Tom Brakke“Heffelfinger was a force – not just in Minnesota golf, but on the national level as president of the U.S.G.A,” said Brakke. So the land was purchased through a subsidiary of grain company P.H. Peavey, Co., of which Heffelfinger was president.

Plans for a golf course and housing development became public in 1959. A couple years later, Heffelfinger officially announced plans for the “Executive Golf Club of Minnesota.” Renowned golf architect Robert Trent Jones, who designed the course, called the site’s natural terrain “perfect for a golf course.”

The course, later named Hazeltine National Golf Club, would ultimately host several majors, including the upcoming 91st annual PGA tournament

However, while the course has brought the area international name recognition, it also shaped the future of Chaska and Chanhassen.

Chan fights back

When plans began for Hazeltine, the site was located in the middle of farm country, almost four miles north of Chaska.

Chaska was confined to the Minnesota River Valley. Farms dominated the area above the bluffs. But city officials were already considering ways to get “up the hill.” (The school district banked on it, and in 1958 took an option on 77-1/2 acres of farmland for future schools along Highway 41.)

Jules SmithBut Hazeltine was the starter pistol. “It was really what kind of set it off,” said then-city attorney Julius “Jules” Smith, a Chaska resident. “Hazeltine was the big impetus for annexation.”

The city had considered annexing land north of town, but only about a mile to Engler Boulevard or the ravine along Highway 41, next to the current Chaska Elementary School, Smith recalled.

However, then Peavey purchased about 1,400 acres of land for the future golf course. And the course needed sewer and water – necessitating annexation.

So in late 1961, the city petitioned the Minnesota Municipal Commission to annex almost 5,000 acres of land. On Feb. 6, 1963, the commission approved a 3,500-acre annexation, tripling the size of the Chaska.

The Chanhassen Township annexation (challenged unsuccessfully all the way to the Minnesota Supreme Court) caught many of its residents unaware. The move prompted the remainder of Chanhassen Township to merge with the existing village of Chanhassen. “They merged as a defensive incorporation, so Chaska couldn’t take anymore of their property,” Smith noted.

The annexation prompted Al Klingelhutz to action. He ran successfully for the Chanhassen Township board to “try to incorporate the township with another municipality, or on their own, so that those things couldn’t happen again.”

At the time, the towns of Excelsior and Victoria were seeking land to expand, Klingelhutz said. “I was pushing for Chanhassen because Chanhassen had a pretty good center already,” he said. The township of Chanhassen was incorporated into the village of Chanhassen, and the rest is history. Klingelhutz went on to become one of the city’s first councilors.

Hazeltine and Jonathan

The annexation was a success, but the small town of Chaska had no way of paying for the water and sewer north to Hazeltine.

So Hazeltine agreed to finance the project, reimbursing the city for its bond payments. Then, when land between old Chaska and Hazeltine was developed and hooked to the lines, Hazeltine would be reimbursed.

So the city completed an extension of 22,700 feet of sewer line and 17,000 feet of water line to the Hazeltine development in 1966, essentially opening the way for future northerly development.

The project included a 300,000-gallon water tank. “The sky blue sphere lettered ‘Chaska’ is physical evidence of the city’s outstanding development area,” reported the Herald.

The infrastructure began setting the groundwork for Henry McKnight’s “New Town” of Jonathan, which was made public in August 1967.

McKnight owned 1,700 acres of land near Victoria. The McKnight property to the west and Hazeltine property to the east formed “two big anchors,” noted Smith, who would later become a lead official with the Jonathan Development Corporation. “All we had to do was connect the two.” So, ultimately, some of the Hazeltine land became part of the Jonathan master plan.

The large developments of Hazeltine and Jonathan ended up being a one-two punch, ultimately filling out most of northern Chaska.

“Hazeltine was a great thing for Chaska,” Smith said.

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If you would like help buying or selling a home in Eden Prairie, Chanhassen, Minnetonka, Chaska, or Bloomington, contact me, Brace Helgeson, by email or at 952-974-3466.

Barrier-Free Playground Coming to Eden Prairie

Jenny and Mike Garvin are the parents of 3 beautiful little girls, 5-year-old Ashley and 4-year-old twins Isabel and Abigail. Like most children their ages, they love to play at the park. However 5-year-old Ashley has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. This makes playing on non-handicapped accessible playground equipment difficult or impossible for her. As a result of their desire for Ashley and other children with physical challenges to play freely with less assistance, the Gavin’s are helping to bring barrier-free playground structures to the Eden Prairie park system.

Over $100,000 has been raised to fund this project and is enough to being Phase 1. The Miller Park Barrier-Free Playground will feature accessible pathways and surface structures, and will give non-mobile children and adults the opportunity to reach all levels of the play structures.

To view a map of the playground plan, click here.  To learn more about the fundraising efforts or to contribute, visit The Ashley & Friends Barrier-Free Playground website.

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If you would like help buying or selling a home in Eden Prairie or elsewhere in the Minneapolis area, contact me, Brace Helgeson, by email or at 952-974-3466.

EPHS: One of the Nation’s Best!

Eden Prarie High School is one of the best schools in the nation. We already knew this of course, but now it’s a published fact! Newsweek magazine released a list this week of the top 1500 high schools in the nation and Eden Prairie came in at 1045. Among the Minnesota schools on the list, Eden Prairie ranks at number 16. The 2008 list ranked Eden Prairie High at number 1253 nationwide.

According to Newsweek:

Public schools are ranked according to a ratio devised by Jay Mathews: the number of Advanced Placement, Intl. Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2008 divided by the number of graduating seniors. All of the schools on the list have an index of at least 1.000; they are in the top 6 percent of public schools measured this way.

The Twin Cities area has many schools appearing on the list. This simply confirms what we have known all along. Minnesotans are a smart bunch!

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If you would like help buying or selling a home in Eden Prairie or elsewhere in the Minneapolis area, contact me, Brace Helgeson, by email or at 952-974-3466.

Begin your home search at BraceHelgeson.com.

1 Penny, 2 Pennies, 3 Pennies…4 Million!

The other day I was searching for some information about a local school and came across this blog post. It made me think about what a great community Eden Prairie is.

One Little Penny…One Big Difference
In a program that gives kids a chance to help other kids, students at Oak Point Intermediate School in Eden Prairie, MN, raised an incredible $42,858.24 through Pennies for Patients, one of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s School & Youth Programs.

That is over 4 million pennies!

Oak Point Intermedia School students in Eden Prairie MN and teacher Mark Wavinak, celebrate being top fundraising school for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Pennies for Patients program.

Not only is Eden Prarie a pleasant place to live, but in the midst of a deep recession, our community came together to raise this record setting amount. I am sure the students at Oak Point are thrilled with their results, but the patients who need the care these funds will provide are the biggest winners.

Overall, more than $700,000 was raised in the Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota areas for the Pennies for Patients program. I hope that many lives will be saved thanks to the wonderful people of this community and region who dug deep into their pockets.

Click here for a news video from WCCO about Oak Point’s successful fundraiser.

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If you would like help buying or selling a home in Eden Prairie or elsewhere in the Minneapolis area, contact me, Brace Helgeson, by email or at 952-974-3466.

Begin your home search at BraceHelgeson.com.

Are first-time home buyers fueling a housing market rally?

Buyers who are still waiting for the residential real estate market to hit bottom may have waited too long. The first week in May is signaling changes and while there will still be bargains to be had, they might become harder to find.

Housing sales were up for the second month and after five months of declines. At the end of March, there were 3.74 million existing homes on the market, taking an average of nearly ten months to sell. But foreclosures, short sales and bank-owned properties are suddenly selling briskly.

At the beginning of 2009, it was not uncommon to see foreclosed homes sit on the market for a year or more. Suddenly, starting at the end of April, real estate agents who specialize in foreclosed and bank-owned homes are reporting getting multiple offers after only a few days. Many of these homes need work. Some need a lot of work. Many of these buyers are investors, bringing in professional crews to fix and resell the homes in a couple of months. But, first-time buyers account for more than half of recent home purchases.

For those planning on living in their newly bought homes, low interest rates and the $8,000 tax credit/rebate for first-time buyers can help pay for needed repairs. Before clinching the deal, buyers need to have an eye for potential and an ability to look beyond bad paint jobs, ugly carpet and dirt. They also need to hire a professional inspector take a look at the house. It’s best to find hidden problems and be able to walk away before the final papers are signed than to discover that the ‘cosmetic only’ fixer-upper needs all new plumbing or major electrical work.

Handymen and women have an advantage, but whether new home buyers plan to do the work themselves or have experts do it for them, they need to factor in the costs of repairs. Real estate experts recommend that buyers come armed with a sharp pencil and knowledge what they can afford. If there are multiple offers, buyers should avoid getting caught up in a bidding war and paying more than the home is worth or more than they can afford. There are always more homes coming on the market from which to choose.

The price of foreclosed properties have also driven down the price of other non-foreclosed homes nearby and sometimes these homes are even better deals. They are usually in good shape and buyers have more bargaining power than with a foreclosure home, when every negotiation has to go through a bank.

The warmer weather and longer days are also a factor bringing out the buyers, especially in colder climates. Will this summer see an end to cheap homes prices? Maybe and maybe not. No one knows for sure, but what is certain is that right now is a good time – especially for first-time buyers – to buy a home.

If you are ready to take the leap into purchasing or selling your home, contact me, Brace Helgeson, at 952-974-3466 or by email.

Begin your home search at BraceHelgeson.com.

Awesome Women Talent Show in Eden Prairie

For all of you Awesome Women out there, The Talent Show is coming up on Thursday, May 21, from 5-8 pm. Hosted by the organization Awesome Women, Faith Ralston, Ph.D., CEO of Leaps of Faith, and Talent Expert will be teaching area women how to discover and embrace their talents and use them to enhance their personal and business lives.

Dr. Ralston will teach women how to talk about what they do in a “way that attracts others to your services.” Talent Show participants will have the opportunity to showcase their talents and will receive positive feedback on their most valuable assets. Then they will learn to take their talents and transfer them into career and work opportunities to help them “secure great projects and never run out of meaningful work.”

Great for both the self-employed and the employee, knowing one’s talents and how to use them will open the doorway to endless possibilities and greater appreciation.

This event will be held at the Diamond Center in Eden Prairie. For more information visit the Awesome Women website.

The Awesome Woman mission “is to develop, encourage and promote women leaders. The Awesome Women community provides education, connection, support and development for existing women leaders and emerging women leaders.”

Providing real estate services to awesome women and men is my talent and I would love to help you in selling your home and searching for your next home. Contact me, Brace Helgeson, today at 952-974-3466, or by email, bhelgeson@cbburnet.com. To search Eden Prairie home listings, visit BraceHelgeson.com.

Eden Prairie Company Expands World-Wide

Eden Prairie is a great place to live, work, and even to launch an international business! A great example of this is Compellent. An IT company, they are based here in Eden Prairie, but their reach is world-wide. A leading provider of enterprise-class network storage solutions, they announced on April 30 that they are growing their sales model across North America, Europe and Asia. There is a growing demand for Storage Center, the company’s enterprise network storage solution. Last week the business was formally launched in France and Italy. To date, Compellant has over 1300 customers worldwide.

Next week the company will be hosting a record number of channel partners at its annual conference, C-Drive, in Minneapolis. More than 300 international resellers and end-user customers will preview the company’s eagerly awaited next-generation SSD and disaster recovery technologies.

If you would like to find the perfect place to start your own business, give me a call, 952-974-3466.

Are You Ready for a Football Draft Party?

If you love Minnesota football, you should attend the 2009 Miller Lite Vikings Draft Party this Saturday, April 25 at the Winter Park Fieldhouse in Eden Prairie. The party will feature live NFL Draft coverage, player autograph sessions, Minnesota Vikings Cheerleaders, and fan contests. The party will last until after the Vikings first round draft pick, currently at number 22 and projected to pick around 6:30 p.m.

2009 Miller Lite Vikings Draft Party

The autograph session is one of the favorite features in the annual draft party. There is a $10 charge per autograph session, with all proceeds benefiting the Vikings Children’s Fund (VCF). There will also be a free session for children ages 12 and under. The players scheduled to appear* are Jared Allen, Aundrae Allison, John David Booty, Jeff Duggan, Ray Edwards, Heath Farwell, Charles Gordon , Tyrell Johnson, Sage Rosenfels, John Sullivan, and Pat Williams.

Doors open at 1:30 pm and pre-draft coverage begins at 2 pm. General admission tickets are $15. Tickets can be purchased through the ticket office at 612.33.VIKES or at Ticketmaster.com.

Do you want to be settled in your new home before football season arrives? Contact me for expert advice on buying or selling real estate in or near Eden Prairie.

* Session times and players are subject to change without prior notice.

Housing Supply – What is the Outlook?

According to the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors, the months supply of inventory continues to decline.  The number for February 2009 is 7.7 months, down 13% from last year.  Condominium sales are down by nearly 23%.  The only area where months supply has increased is in homes for over $500,000.

New listings are also down however pending sales are 25% higher than they were this time last year.  This is great news because having fewer listings on the market combined with an increase in sales will reduce the months end supply. If you would like more information please read the full Weekly Activity Market Report.

Please visit my website to perform a free search for Edina real estate, Chaska real estate, Eden Prairie real estate as well as homes in other Twin City areas.