HomeConstruction & Development
Pulte Homes proposes housing on challenging Cottage Grove site
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A development team led by Pulte Homes of Minnesota wants to bring 183 new housing units to a difficult-to-develop site in Cottage Grove.
Up for review at Wednesday’s City Council meeting is Pulte’s plan for 99 single-family and 84 townhome units on part of a 72-acre site at Jamaica Avenue and Military Road. The developer is seeking a zoning amendment and preliminary plat approvals for the project.
Located just north of The Waters at Michael’s Pointe development, the site is challenging to develop in part because of its proximity to Lake Robert, the presence of bedrock in the soil, and the need for “extra right of way” on the site to accommodate future improvements on Jamaica Avenue, according to Samantha Pierret, Cottage Grove senior planner.
“The bedrock is one component of it, plus that lake or wetland down in the southern part restricts the buildable area,” Pierret said in an interview, adding that “all of those factors” have contributed to previous projects on the site being scrapped.
To help offset high site work costs, the developer — working with Rachel Development — is proposing “a diversity of housing products allowing for additional units,” according to a city staff report. That includes the townhomes, which would be a mixture of attached “four- and six-unit side-by-side structures.”
Haley Daily, manager of Land Planning & Entitlement at Pulte Homes of Minnesota, told the Cottage Grove Planning Commission in January that Pulte put “a lot of thought” into what could work at the site, and that there’s a need for townhomes in Cottage Grove.
“We have a whole market research team that does a lot of analytics and determines what exactly we feel the market could support. And in this particular location … we feel that townhomes, as well as a single-family product that we have, could meet different buyers at different stages in their life cycle within Cottage Grove.”
The city, for its part, is also looking for diverse housing types, Pierret said at the planning commission meeting.
“The townhomes are definitely providing a different type of product for a different homebuyer, someone who is looking for something different than just a traditional single-family home,” she said.
The diversity of housing types and difficult conditions weren’t the only topics at the planning commission meeting.
Also at the meeting, seven residents of The Waters at Michael’s Pointe and Preserve development raised concerns about plans to include a walking trail around Lake Robert as part of the project. The residents objected on the grounds that the trail would invade their privacy.
“We have tons of walking paths already,” one resident said. “I would prefer not to have a walking path pretty much right through my backyard.”
Though the city’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan shows a trail around the lake, one resident said she was verbally assured by the city that a trail would not be built.
“On the phone, I was told that that land was not conducive to a walking path and it wouldn’t be happening, so we made the investment to move,” resident Kristel Rogers said. “We’ve been very happy where we’re at, and we’re quite concerned about the potential walking path that would be literally within a few feet of our private oasis.”
If the City Council approves the developer’s requests, the Pulte Homes project will proceed to a final plat review, Pierret, said, adding that construction could begin at the end of 2025.
“We’re very excited about the opportunity. We’re very excited about the location. … We’re optimistic about the prospects of the development,” Kevin Campbell, vice president of Land Acquisition for Pulte Homes of Minnesota, said in an interview Tuesday.
Generally speaking, Cottage Grove has been a hot spot for single-family homebuilding in recent years. In 2024, the city issued permits for 317 new housing units, mostly single-family homes, which was good enough for seventh place among all metro area cities, according to the Keystone Report.
Other notable developments moving forward in the city include the Mississippi Landing project. As part of that project, Rachel Development wants to bring 377 single-family, owner-occupied houses to part of the long-shuttered Mississippi Dunes golf course property at 10351 Grey Cloud Trail S.