Hawks Point cottage expansion nearly full: Bue Hawk Square and Elks Historic Building on their way to completion

• Hawks Point

Press Photo by Katherine Grandstrand Crews work on one of the 14 new independent living cottages at Hawks Point in Dickinson on Monday. The expansion is part of the plans for the six-year-old assisted living community.

Talk about it

Interest in the new independent living cottages at Hawks Point in Dickinson is high, despite being more than two months away from completion.

A dozen of the 14 two- and three-bedroom cottages are spoken for, leaving two for potential renters. The original 11 cottages are also full.

Expansion was always the plan for Hawks Point, which celebrated its grand opening nearly six years ago, Executive Director Robert Hitchcock said.

“The entire project inspired the expansion,” he said. “From the get-go this has been the plan, to add additional cottages.”

The project combines pre-manufactured homes from Custom Touch Homes in Madison, S.D., with stick-built two-car garages began in November, developer Granville Brinkman said.

The cottages should be move-in ready by early spring, Hitchcock said. A few will be walk-through ready by the end of this week.

“I think that the growth of the city has helped the demand for those cottages,” he said. “From a timing standpoint it’s really probably pretty good.”

There have been a few uncontrollable delays in the project, like weather or waiting for inspections, Hitchcock said.

The new cottages are individual units, while many of the originals are twin homes, Director of Sales Starla Odegaard said.

The new ones include all appliances and a basement, which is something a focus group suggested about two years ago, with the 2009 tornado in mind, she said. The basements are mostly utilitarian, containing the furnace and a place for storage.

Those who have already put down deposits were allowed to make decorating decisions in the unit, Odegaard said.

It costs $3,850 per month to rent a two-bedroom cottage at Hawks Point and $4,025 for a three-bedroom. This includes all amenities of Hawks Point, including two meals per day, snow removal and student-level access to programs and activities as Dickinson State University.

“All the appliances are included,” Odegaard said. “Basically you bring your furniture to make it your home.”

Two of Brinkman’s other projects in Dickinson are on their way to being complete.

Blue Hawk Square, the DSU student apartments on Villard Street, opened late in August after a few construction delays. When it opened there were still finishing touches needed on the building and the elevator was not yet functional.

“We’re just finalizing some items in the lobby and then we’ll be able to hopefully next week start to moving furniture in,” he said.

One of the bigger delays in the project was the elevator, Brinkman said, which is now fully-operational.

“The modular part of the project was done on time and on schedule,” he said.

The Historic Elks Building, which Brinkman has been involved with since 1999, should have occupants by the end of March, he said. He purchased the building from the city in 2005.

The building has been through some ups and downs over the years, including a fire that completely gutted it and burned down the Wells Fargo Bank next door in 2007.

There were some issues with construction deadlines in 2010 and 2011, but the project got back on track in 2012.

“We’re looking for some retail on the first floor,” Brinkman said. “We’re in negotiations with a restaurant right now.”

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