Scooter's Coffee, Kitchen, Baths and More among coming developments

Nov. 7—Looking for more space and more exposure for his business, Jake Schrom plans to renovate a former car dealership building on North Riverfront Drive to relocate his Kitchen, Baths and More business from Eagle Lake.

It is one of several business projects moving through reviews with the city of Mankato.

On the Madison Avenue hilltop, the former Long John Silver's building is to be razed and replaced by Scooter's Coffee shop, a fast-growing franchise chain.

At the intersection of Victory Drive and Adams Street, Holiday Stations is locating a large gas station/convenience store.

And further north on Victory Drive, west of Home Depot, a large 300-unit apartment complex featuring heated walkways leading to heated garages is in the works.

In North Mankato a new shop selling frozen, restaurant-quality food called The Beast is near opening.

Scooter's Coffee

Founded in 1998 by Don and Linda Eckles in Bellevue, Nebraska, Scooter's Coffee has been opening new locations across the country.

The company, which features drive-thru-only stores, has more than 300 locations in 21 states and is aiming for 1,000 shops by 2024. The company is targeting markets stretching from the Ohio Valley down to Florida and as far West as Utah, Nevada and Arizona.

Plans show a nearly 700-square-foot building located centrally on the Madison Avenue lot with a drive-thru lane around the new building.

There will be access points from Pfau Street and a right-in, right-out access from Madison Avenue.

Scooter's sells coffees, smoothies and teas as well as a selection of wraps, breakfast sandwiches, bagels and muffins.

Long John Silver's was at 1060 Madison Ave. for decades before closing in August of 2019.

The Beast

Jeni Bobholz, owner of the Circle Inn in North Mankato, is nearing opening a nearby business that will sell frozen restaurant-quality food and products from many local vendors.

The Beast will be at 422 Belgrade Ave., next to The Washboard laundromat.

Final interior renovations are underway and Bobholz hopes to open soon.

Holiday station

A new Holiday station is slated for the east side of Victory Drive, across Adams Street from the MVAC Again Thrift Store and kitty-corner from Madison East Center.

Plans show a 5,200-square-foot station built on nearly 6 acres of land.

Holiday Stationstores was founded by the Erickson family in the Twin Cities in 1928 and was listed as 133rd on Forbes' list of America's largest private companies before it was sold in 2017 to Montreal-based Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., one of the fastest-growing gas station and convenience store companies in the world.

Kitchen, Baths and More

Jake Schrom said his father, Troy Schrom, of Schrom Construction, opened the first Kitchen, Baths and More in 2007 in Janesville and then moved to a new strip mall in Eagle Lake in 2016.

Jake Schrom said they are cramped for space and spread out, having the store and two locations for storage.

"We explored options for expanding in Eagle Lake, but there just wasn't anything that worked for us," Schrom said.

The future site, at 1116 N. Riverfront Drive, was formerly a Honda and then Kia dealership and then home to Pontoon 1, all of which relocated to the Madison Avenue hilltop.

Schrom said they plan to start renovations on the site next spring and be open next fall.

"This gives us enough storage and allows for more growth, and the traffic on Riverfront is good."

Currently the business mostly does design services and buys products directly from manufacturers and supplies them to local builders and their customers.

"We hope the Riverfront location will help us get more retail customers and more walk-up traffic and exposure," Schrom said.

"We sell cabinets, countertops, flooring and window coverings, but we will do any room in the house."

Apartment complex

Several recent apartment complexes feature underground parking garages, sometimes heated. A project slated for property near Home Depot would take that to the next level, featuring enclosed heated walkways from four apartment complexes that lead to individual, enclosed and heated garages.

The big, high-end complex would consist of four separate buildings, each containing 75-units for a total of 300 units. It is being planned on land that is now a farm field on the north side of North Victory Drive and west of Home Depot.

Each building would be three stories with an enclosed heated walkway from the buildings to individual enclosed and heated garages. There would be additional surface parking for visitors and residents. Access to the site would be to/from Birkdale Drive.

Initial plans call for green courtyard areas between the buildings for outdoor gathering spaces.

A 130-foot buffer-yard transition zone on the north end of the property would buffer adjacent single-family properties from large complexes. In this area, there could be lower-density units built to match the height and density of the adjacent single-family homes.

Campbell Properties, of Fargo, North Dakota, hopes to break ground in the spring and build one building each year for four years.

Several more steps will be needed before the project reaches fruition.

The parcel is now in Mankato Township and will need to be annexed by the city under its orderly annexation agreement with the township.

The property is currently designated for commercial use and the developer is seeking to have it changed to a multiple-family residential use designation.