Nearly two decades since the visioning process began, the city of Lonsdale put pen to paper on a purchase agreement for its final spot in the Lonsdale Business Park.
Advanced Exhaust Solutions is a Northfield-based company that produces exhaust accessories and components for a number of commercial and industrial uses. It’s soon to be a Lonsdale-based company, after a $1-million purchase agreement was approved last month for construction of a $20-million, 150,000-square-foot facility in Lonsdale with 100 employees.
Lonsdale City Administrator Joel Erickson said that’s just phase one.
“I think they currently employ 65 and, between now and when they open, well, they need over 100 employees to operate the new facility,” he said. “That’s just phase one. … Phase two is basically doubling what we talked about.”
At full build out, Erickson suggested the company could operate in Lonsdale with 300,000 square feet of facility and a few hundred employees.
“How long that takes? I’m not sure,” he said. “You know, that could be the trigger for developers wanting to do some subdivisions in Lonsdale again, housing. Potentially different types of housing, multifamily. But then also, hopefully it increases our amenities. You know, commercially, restaurants, things like that.”
The purchase agreement requires the city and company to close on the land sale on or before Oct. 4, and Erickson said he believes phase one will be operational by fall 2025.
“The city had a vision and made it a reality,” Erickson said. “And now, you know, we’re seeing the results of that vision being implemented and successful. … I just can’t emphasize what a huge success the park has been. And, you know, it’s just a home run to get a business like — all of our businesses, but, you know, in this case — Advanced Exhaust Solutions to locate to Lonsdale.”
Mayor Tim Rud explained the history of the business park before approving the purchase agreement. He said it began when a company showed interest in Lonsdale in 2006, but couldn’t envision a business park where a cornfield was at the time.
As an effort to entice development, they got to work. Erickson secured a $1.5-million grant in 2012 to build the park, and construction was in 2013.
One by one, businesses came to the shovel-ready lots. The latest to join the fleet is Scan Air Filter, a manufacturer that relocated from Minneapolis last year.
Before Scan Air Filter joined though, Advanced Exhaust Solutions actually had already shown interest in the area in 2020 . Things didn’t come to fruition at the time, but Erickson said the pandemic made it “not in the cards,” so the company went to Northfield instead.
But, they outgrew the facility, and came back to Lonsdale. This time, it was in the cards.
“It is a great win and accomplishment for Lonsdale,” Rud said. “This whole vision of the business park started in 2006 and has become a tremendous success for Lonsdale, with the great businesses constructed there, as well as jobs, tax base and the overall vibrancy it brings to our community.”
The sale nearly pays off the remainder of the city’s debt on the business park. That would free up $185,000 of city funds each year. Not to mention, when all’s said and done, the tax base would increase another $40 million.
Councilor Brian Wermerskirchen mentioned the benefit to other Lonsdale businesses as well.
“I could see a lot of potential for a lot of the businesses in town,” he said. “You know, we’re talking about 60-100 new people, in phase one, here every day. It’s going to be good for Smoke, Rail 19, all the restaurants in town, Somethin’ Tasty, all of ‘em.”
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