Hot Property: A new industrial park planned for Cottage Grove

Type: Industrial

Size: 549,060 square feet

Area: 38.7 acres

Developer: Hillcrest Development

Architect: Opus Group

Details: A development group looking to bring more than a half-million square feet of new industrial warehousing capacity to the southeastern Twin Cities entered the approval process in Cottage Grove.

Minneapolis-based Hillcrest Development and the Opus Group of Minnetonka on Monday won the unanimous approval of the city's planning commission for the Southeast Industrial Park site plan, which calls for 549,060 square feet of bulk warehouse space spread across two buildings.

Hillcrest Director of Sustainability Kristina Smitten and Opus Development Co. Director Phil Cattanach said approval was being sought now to assure prospective tenants the building plans could be implemented quickly once lease deals were signed.

When the park was announced in April, three potential concepts were floated. The largest of them, including one building of 362,240 square feet and a second of 186,820 square feet, was ultimately chosen.

The 38-acre site is just south of Hwy. 61 and served by a spur of the Canadian Pacific railroad. Along with the site plan, a conditional use permit for outdoor storage and trailer parking was also approved by the commission. The project now goes to the Cottage Grove City Council, which will consider it on Feb. 20.

Hillcrest and Opus have targeted a fall 2016 occupancy date for the new park.

Don Jacobson is a St. Paul-based freelance writer. He can be contacted at hotproperty.startribune@gmail.com.