By: Mollee Francisco 

After almost five years of waiting, Jan and Norm Kraus only had to endure a five-and-a-half hour Chaska City Council meeting before hearing the words they have long been dreaming of.

“Go out and make this happen,” Councilor Jay Rohe told the couple just after the council accepted a conceptual reuse plan for the C.P. Klein mansion on the corner of Fourth and Walnut streets.

The Krauses' plan involves renovating and restoring the mansion in order to open a fine dining restaurant. The council voted 3-1 (with Bob Lindall absent and Gino Businaro dissenting) for the long-discussed fine dining concept plan and purchase agreement for the building. As part of the deal, the city will sell the building to the Krauses on a contract for deed at a fixed rate of 4 percent over 25 years.

“For many years, we’ve talked about downtown Chaska and making that a destination place,” said Mayor Gary Van Eyll. “I think we need to be a risk taker and now’s the time, in my opinion.”

The council’s other viable option was to lease the space to the Carver-Scott Educational Co-op for adult-education classrooms and administrative space.

“I think the Carver Scott Educational Co-op would be a destination place, too,” said Businaro, who used to sit on the cooperative’s board. “And as you know I tend to be conservative when it comes to public money.”

“What makes you think this is going to work for 20 years?” asked Councilor Christopher Schulz before agreeing to go with the fine dining plan.

“We’re tenacious,” answered Norm.

The fine dining concept would involve the city selling the Krauses the mansion for $200,000, though its estimated worth is around $300,000, City Administrator David Pokorney noted. In addition, the city would financially back up to $780,000 in permanent capital improvements for the building.

There would be a perpetual historic preservation easement placed on the house to preserve the historic elements on the interior and exterior of the building and the city would have first right of refusal to repurchase the home should the restaurant cease operations with a $100,000 credit toward the purchase price.

The agreement stipulates that the majority of improvements to the house should be made within the next year.

Jan said that after they get the city’s approval, they can be ready to go as soon as their architects draw up the final plans.

The council’s decision to go with the fine dining option pleased the dozen or so attendees in the audience, including several downtown business owners that sat through the long meeting to support the Krauses vision for the historic house.

City staff will come back to the council at a later meeting for approval of the purchase agreement for the house.

To see some of the Kraus's plans for the mansion, click here: chaskamansion.com [2].

SOUND OFF: Talk about the plan in our forum: More fine dining for Chaska [2]