An announcement was made late on Tuesday by the City of Hastings that the final hurdles for the offical transfer of ownership of the former Hudson Manufacturing building have been cleared. After more than 5 years, the 100,000 square foot industrial plant can formally begin the process that some feared would never take place. Paired with the purchase of the former First National Bank building located just across 2nd street from the site, plans can now get underway to construct a multi-facet property that will include a hotel, some apartments, event and retail space and provide a western bookend to the flurry of development along Historic Downtown over the past 5 years.
Confluence Development representative Pat Regan assured the nay sayers that the project would indeed proceed, despite several stops and starts, due to environmental and financial issues that plagued the process at every turn. HEDRA purchased the property and was responsible for the payments on the 3 million dollar loan until the official transfer could be completed. The next steps will be to remove the former bank building to construct the parking ramp and adhere to the timeline to meet an August 1st deadline to submit building plans to the city. Once approved, construction would then begin within 30 days after a building permit is issued. A completion date of December 15, 2019 will be another target, with the terms requiring that a the development must be substantially completed.
