Updated plans for Wayzata hotel, condos could get approval this month

Wayzata got its first look recently at updated plans for a much-anticipated hotel and development of the fifth and final block in the Promenade of Wayzata project.

Plans initially called for a boutique hotel — one of the first on Lake Minnetonka in decades — along with retail and office space. But the success of new condos sold in Wayzata prompted developers to alter plans, swapping 27,000 square feet of office space with 29 condos.

The city's Planning Commission will be asked April 6 to recommend the changes in the project's planned unit development and building design before it goes to the City Council for approval by the end of April or early May.

The city first approved plans in 2008 for the Promenade of Wayzata, a 14.5-acre project that demolished the old Bay Center Mall, a 1960s-vintage shopping center on swampland near the lake. It includes five blocks of senior housing, retail, office space and a 1-acre park — the largest redevelopment project in Wayzata's history.

The east block is the last to start construction. It includes a restaurant, spa, 14,000-square-feet of retail, 29 luxury condos and the boutique 89-room hotel called The Landing, which will be managed by New England-based Hay Creek Hotels.

"We're getting back to the grand ol' history days of Minnetonka," said Steve Bohl, president of Wayzata-based BohLand Development, adding that the hotel is estimated to draw 22,000 to 25,000 visitors to the lakeside city each year. "It's almost magical what it can create for the community."

Hotels and resorts used to dot the shores of Lake Minnetonka in the 1800s, with the last one closing in 1964. Across the lake, plans for a hotel near the lakeshore in Excelsior is awaiting final city approval.

In Wayzata, construction is expected to start by summer, with the east block opening by late 2016 or early 2017.

Kelly Smith • 612-673-4141