Growing Gladstone: Developers see big opportunities in small city

Talk about it

Gladstone could become a powerhouse of services for Interstate 94 travelers if preliminary plans come together for developers eyeing property north of the community. But growth won’t happen here quickly if the city can’t overcome its infrastructure limitations.

Gladstone officials recently spoke with Jay Orth and Brian Main about the duo’s proposed 310-acre development that would offer a mix of industrial and residential buildings, including a truck stop, hotel, steak house, convenience store and mobile home community.

“I think they were just there to feel us out if we would be something that the city would look favorable on,” Mayor Kurt Martin said Thursday regarding a Sept. 10 meeting.

There have been many developers showing interest in the city of about 239 people, he said.

Plans are in the beginning stages, Councilman Darcy Fossum said, but would be good for Gladstone if they would come through.

“With the traffic that goes along the interstate there I think it would be something that would probably be beneficial,” he said. “It’d be a little ways out of town and (we) don’t have to deal with some of that traffic.”

According to a proposal, a truck stop would be developed first with the rest of the offerings to follow.

“We’re certainly favorable for a truck stop and a hotel and convenience store and whatever else they were planning to do,” Martin said.

Also expressing interest in developing land in Gladstone at the meeting was Shawn Rowles of Dickinson-based Centennial Development, a division of Centennial Homes.

Any plans at this point are “very, very preliminary,” he said.

Interest in Gladstone has grown with the oil boom.

“We’ve got a lot of interest, there’s no doubt, we’ve been talking to investors and developers all year,” Martin said.

But the city’s water transmission line needs to be upgraded before any more major development can take place, he said.

“We’ve probably had 20 houses go in — roughly 20 houses so far this year — and ... that alone is really tapping our water supply that we have left,” Martin said. “It’s pretty hard for us to act on a trailer park where somebody wants to bring in 50 or 60 trailers because we just know that we don’t have the capacity to handle it right now.”

The city has applied for energy impact and other grants to help defer the cost of transmission line, he said.

“I just wish we would get our — energy impact would give us some money for some water for our transmission line so it would make all of our decisions easier,” Martin said. “We’re kind of on hold with making some big decisions until we get confirmation on some help.”

Plans for the truck stop will be discussed at the next meeting at 6 p.m. Oct. 10 at Gladstone Community Center, Main Street.

Tags: truck stop, oil, news, gladstone, development, growth, construction, housing