Kiger's Notebook

Crossroads vs Wild Wings case could be nearing conclusion

After more than a year in legal limbo, the final fate of a plan to build a second Buffalo Wild Wings in Rochester could possibly be officially resolved in the next few months.

On Thursday morning, the Minnesota Court of Appeals is slated to hear the dispute between the owners of the Crossroads Shopping Center and BWW owner Graf Enterprises and as well as the City of Rochester.

The Crossroads owners, Bob Meek and Vic Scott, are once again taking their objections to a higher court. They object to Tom Graf's development plan to build a 7,000-square-foot sports bar and eatery in front of the shopping center.

This all started when Graf purchased Pannekoeken Huis restaurant and then demolished it in September 2011 to clear space to build a south side version of his very popular, north Rochester Buffalo Wings sports bar.

He submitted a building plan to the city, which approved the project in December 2011. The Crossroads folks say the plan does not actually meet the city's requirements and should never have been OKed as it is.

The approved plan calls for 55 spaces — 35 on Graf's plot of land and 20 spaces in the surrounding Crossroads parking lot. The mall owners contend that that the 20 parking spaces on their property could limit future expansion plans. They say they would welcome the Buffalo Wild Wings, if all of the parking was restricted to land owned by Graf.

Meek and Scott first took their objections to the Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals. When the board ruled in favor of the Graf project, Crossroads appealed to the Rochester City Council. The council backed the zoning board's decision.

Next the mall owners filed the lawsuit against Graf and the city of Rochester to appeal the council's ruling. In June, Olmsted County Judge Nancy Buytendorp dismissed the lawsuit saying, "Crossroads has no justifiable controversy to pursue this lawsuit against the city of Rochester or Graf…"

Crossroads responded by filing for an appeal of Buytendorp's ruling claiming she applied the wrong standard of judgment to the case.

As the case has been batted around courtrooms by attorneys, Graf has repeatedly said that no matter how case is finally resolved, he still plans to build a BWW on his land in front of Crossroads.

If he loses, he'll adjust the plans to meet the rules. If he wins definitively, then Graf will turn Weis Builders loose to start work on the square of dirt surrounded by Crossroads pavement  and in the shadow of "Coming Soon" sign.

On Thursday, a panel of three judges in St. Paul will give both sides 15 minutes each to make their case. Graf's attorney and the City of Rochester's attorney will split their side's 15 minutes.

The appeals court will have up to 90 days to issue a ruling on whether Judge Buytendorp's erred in her judgment in favor of Graf and the city.

One possible course of action that could stretch out this case even more would be a ruling that sends the case back to Olmsted County to be decided by a jury trial.

Even if that doesn't happen, it could still be a while before Graf's plan to build moves ahead.

Roch. golf course won't re-open in 2013

Here's some from my article on the end of Meadow Lakes Golf Course:

As the leaves start to turn, area golfers scramble to squeeze in as many rounds as possible before snow flies.

Autumn's surge on the links is bittersweet for Rochester's Meadow Lakes Golf Club, because this is expected to be its final season. The 18-hole course at the intersection of Second Street Southwest and West Circle Drive does not plan to reopen in 2013.

Meadow Lakes, which is owned by a group of local investors, recently notified its roughly 60 members of its pending closure.

"In a nutshell, the land it sits on is worth more than the business," Meadow Lakes General Manager Steve Scholl said. "Everybody feels rotten about this. This is a trend that's happening across the U.S. Golf is changing and not necessarily for the better."

The course's 130 acres of land and its clubhouse are up for sale. A few developers have looked at sections of the property, Scholl said. Representatives from Rochester's Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1213 took a tour of the clubhouse, though no offer was made. There doesn't seem to be much hope for a buyer to purchase all of the land and keep it as a golf course.

Meadow Lakes is not alone in shutting its doors after years of struggling to survive. About 157 U.S. golf courses closed in 2011, according to the National Golf Foundation. During the same period, only 19 courses opened.

The golf industry boomed in the late 1990s and early 2000s. More than 3,000 golf courses were built nationwide between 1990 and 2003, including area golf courses like Meadow Lakes, Oak Summit, Somerby in Byron, The Jewel in Red Wing and Pine Island.

Since 2006, there has been a cumulative net reduction of about 358.5 golf courses in the U.S., according to the Golf Foundation.

"It is a fact of life today that people have less time and less money to spend on playing golf," says Scholl. "After family, work and everything else, recreation is at the bottom of the list. We're the first to go."

Roch. pizza slinger one of best in state

A Rochester man's dough-manship recently earned him a spot as one of the pizza slingers in Minnesota.

"It was kind of exciting for us. We were all cheering for him. He was on the big screen and everything," says Shannon O'Neill of O'Neill's Pizza Pub in the Crossroads Shopping Center.

Cam Kvittem of O'Neill's soared to second place in a pizza tossing contest at the U.S. Foods industry show in the Twin Cities earlier this month.

"If he had been able to use to the dough for our cracker crust, I'm sure Cam would have gone all the way to first," says O'Neill.

He had to use the officially sanctioned "Throw Dough," which is used at all professional pizza competitions.

This is not your mother's pizza dough tossing. This is a true athletic competition.

To set the stage, the "Food Fanatics" convention featured a dough throwing demonstration by the official U.S. Pizza Team. Yes, there really is a U.S. Pizza Team, which travels around the circuit of official dough tossing competitions.

This culinary sport puts a new spin on pizza preparation with fancy moves, spins and elaborate routines.

Once the dough pros left the state, Minnesota's best pizza slingers stepped up to show what they could do. The big crowd of hopefuls quickly thinned out as the panel of judges trimmed out the less graceful of the pizza throwers.

Soon it came to down to the final three, the O'Neill's crowd cheering Kvittem.

"He can do it all…rolling it down his back and the fancy throws," she says. "That's what the free-style contest comes down to…who can do the most tricks."

His moves impressed the panel, which awarded Kvittem the silver pepperoni medal (OK. I made the pepperoni medal up).

Bob's Smokestack is hitting the road and Rooster's moving in

When a local barbecue joint goes mobile at the end of this month, it will open the door for some Rochester restaurateurs to cook up a new place for breakfast.

Bob's Smoke Stack Ribs will end its one year run at 2280 Superior Drive N.W. at the end of the month. However, local Bob fans don't need to worry about missing Bob Lewis' acclaimed barbecue ribs. 

"I'll still be around. I'm still catering from my trucks," Lewis says, as he's looking at a very full schedule of private events, festivals and fairs this summer.

He is closing with "a heavy heart" but is upbeat about the future. He says the past year taught him a few lessons that should help with his next place. 

"I'm looking for a smaller place, small enough that I can keep my hands on all of the food coming out of the kitchen," says Lewis, whose barbecue was once called the best in the state by Minnesota Monthly magazine. While he looks for the new home for Bob's Smokestack Ribs, Lewis is returning to his roots — on wheels.

"The trucks are where I started from and I'm OK with going back to them for now," he says of the rolling kitchens that introduced the Rochester area to his barbecue.

His move out of the restaurant overlooking Superior Drive clears the way for Rooster's Bar-n & Grill, a new country-style that its local owners say will focus on "The six Bs - breakfast, burgers, broasted chicken, billiards, bullseyes and a full bar."

Ross Manahan and Krisse Zabel, co-owners of Top Shots! billiards bar in downtown Rochester, are joining forces with local veteran restaurant manager and bartender Mike Brakke to launch Rooster's.

"We're hoping to be open in August," says Manahan. "Like you see in small towns, we want it to be a bar and grill where people also go to eat breakfast. We'll start at 6 a.m. and we'll serve breakfast all day."

There will also be pool tables, dart boards, food with a country flair and possible car cruise-ins in the parking lot.

Why open a new place when the downtown bar is already hopping?

"Krisse and I have been talking about doing something else with food for a while," he says.

And the pool and dart leagues have been so popular at Top Shots! that they've turned away a lot of teams. The building previously housed Leo's Pizza Palace and Catch-22 Bar & Grill, which both closed after relatively short runs.

"That location has a lot of opportunity. It will be awesome with Costco opening across the road," says Manahan. "The location doesn't scare us."

Sports bar coming to downtown Roch.

In case you missed it in the weekend paper, here's some info on the new bar in works in the former Gilligans space. It is already looking pretty sharp inside:

A local duo are working to create a new sports bar legend in downtown Rochester.

Jeff Fieseler and Travis Fischer, both of Rochester, have construction crews working hard on their new Legends Bar and Grill. The goal is to open the doors in early February.

It is located at 11 Fourth St. S.E. in the AFL Labor Temple. That's the former home of the sometimes controversial Gilligan's, which closed in September.

"It's going to be a sports-themed bar for average working-class people," says Fieseler. "We want it to be a comfortable and secure place for people to watch sports, play some pool and have a drink."

It is being renovated to expand seating and to create a more open environment. The bar will offer easier access to the restrooms, while restricting access to the rest of the Labor complex.

The revamped bar will be decorated with displays of sports legends. It will not have a dance floor as in the past.

The two owners, who are financing the project themselves, have both worked in the local bar scene for years. So they realize that the ex-Gilligan's location comes with some history.

"We know there is some concern about the crowd," Fieseler says.

Legends will be working with the Rochester Police Dept. as well as the Rochester Downtown Alliance's self-appointed Clean & Safe Task Force to follow the bar guidelines established by that monitoring group.

They plan to have a minimum of four security staffers on duty during the weekends.

"We will work with everyone to make this a clean and safe business," says Fischer.

Once Legend is up and running for about a month or so, they expect to fire up the kitchen and offer a menu of traditional bar food.

They are closing off the area that was used for dancing when it was Gilligan's. Eventually, the owners hope to remodel it to serve private gatherings.

Two Links connect fitness and nutrition

Two Rochester brothers are putting their fitness and nutrition experience to work with their new shop and exercise studio.

Ray and Ryan Link opened Link Nutrition on Saturday at 1841 Third Ave. S.E. That's just south of the Gluten Free Cupboard.

They are offering lines of sports nutrition supplements, vitamins, minerals, weight reduction products and a few energy drinks.

"One of us or someone we trust has tried every product here," Ray Link says.

He started using nutrition supplements about 15 years ago when he became serious about working out. Ray turned his brother on to fitness, and Ryan later began competing in bodybuilding contests.

Now, years later, they are taking what they have learned to market.

"I've always wanted to do this," says Ryan Link, who is diabetic as well as a bodybuilder. "It's always been kind of a big thing to me to encourage and help people to eat well."

Recently, the brothers decided the time was right to take things to the next level.

"We discussed it, and we thought we should go for it now," says Ray Link.

While they are starting out with the supplements and vitamins on the shelves, the Link brothers hope to start offering one-on-one personal training services early in 2012.

They are creating a private workout studio in the back section of the store building.

"We'll design individual workout programs and nutrition for people," says Ray Link.

People will have the option of working with the Links either in their private studio or elsewhere. They will also create programs for people to use on their own, though Ray Link says they won't be able to guarantee results as they will for people working with them.

Chef by, taxidermist by night - Roch. man's career path

When Mark Kranz tells people about his career change, the reactions range from stunned to jokes.

"They always get a really shocked look," he says with a chuckle.

After spending most of his adult life working in Rochester restaurants as a chef, he recently went to school to learn a new trade.

Now he is supplementing his day job cooking for the Creative Cuisine restaurants, like 300 First and Newt's, in Rochester with a new sideline business.

After serving up walleye for diners for years, he now is stuffing and airbrushing trophy fish for sport fishers as well as preparing displays of other animals like deer and turkeys.

Kranz recently put together his own home-based business, Gray Ghost Taxidermy.

"Chef by day, taxidermist by night," he says lightly, knowing full well how that spurs puzzled looks.

How does this happen, going from stuffing peppers and mushrooms to stuffing bobcats and pheasants?

It's easier to explain than you might think.

Besides his interest in cooking, he is a longtime outdoorsman with a love of hunting. Kranz is also an artist, who uses an airbrush and other methods to create pieces.

Once when he took a trophy deer to a taxidermist, Kranz found himself thinking that he might be able to do a better job.

"It just kind of popped into my head," he says.

That thought led him to a leading taxidermy school. After a few years living on the East Coast, he and his wife recently moved back to Rochester.

Now he is getting ready for the hunting season with hopes of creating displays of fish, big bucks and just about anything else people might want prepared.

While he continues to work in the culinary arts at restaurants, Kranz sees his side gig as creating a different kind of art.

"Besides all of the blood and guts and working with the stinky dead fish … and all of that, when it comes time to put it up on the wall, you smile and say it was all worth it," he says.

New store is for people who dig volleyball

Here's some from my today's column and well as a video clip about a new volleyball store.

By the way, I butcher the Prizlers name in the video. PRIZE-lers is the correct way to say it.

This is another good example of why I'm in print news rather than TV.

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A Rochester family really digs volleyball, but they often hit a bump when shopping for gear.

So they made a game plan.

Today they are set to serve up a volleyball-centric store called Side Out.

Rachel and Lon Prizler hope to open the doors of their new sporty shop next week.

It is at 2571 Clare Lane N.E., almost in the shadow of Rochester's National Volleyball Center off of Viola Road.

 That's not a coincidence.

"We thought this would be a good opportunity with the volleyball center expanding," says Rachel Prizler. "It is a perfect location."

Now she is outfitting the about 2,000-square-foot shop with racks of volleyball clothing, shoes, pads, braces for ankles and knees, training equipment and, of course, volleyballs.

"We'll have the funky shirts and clothing that they like," she says.

It will also offer embroidery services for team jerseys and uniforms.

The Prizlers have a daughter who is a volleyball player, and that's what inspired them to create their own store.

"We started to notice the need to have quality volleyball equipment in town. Our daughter would get frustrated when looking for something," Prizler says.

Actually, they say the challenge for young female athletes reaches beyond just volleyball.

It is tough to find much of a selection of sports gear specifically for girls, the Prizlers say.

That is why after Side Out gets warmed up, the plan is to branch out into girls sporting gear for basketball, softball, soccer and whatever else local athletes are shopping for.

"We want to fill that niche," says the sports mom turned shop owner. "We want to be a fun place for younger female athletes."

Golf biz teeing up in Roch.

Here's a golf-related biz tidbit as well as a short vid of myself at the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce golf bash.

Look for Chamber golf pics to be posted later today. Lots of interesting things to see there at Willow Creek yesterday. Heh.

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A couple of returning Rochester natives are teeing up a new business that will let Med City golfers play a round on the famed Pebble Beach course and still be home in time for dinner.

To launch the Double Eagle Indoor Golf Center, Pam and Jim Sebesta are installing nine high-tech indoor golf simulators in the lower level of the complex at 2765 Commerce Drive N.W.

They expect to open in October.

"These simulators are the top of the line as far as sophistication. They don't look like video games," says Pam Sebesta. "You can hear the wind blowing and the crowd cheering a good shot as they play top courses like Myrtle Beach or Pebble Beach."

And if you're wondering why you're slicing your 3-wood, the machine will watch your swing and give you advice to fix it.

 In addition to the computerized critique, the Sebestas are working with local golf guru Paul Pehler to offer flesh-and-blood classes.

Like any good clubhouse, look for the Double Eagle to serve beer, wine and munchies for golfers as they hit the virtual links.

The center will have a couple of large meeting areas for groups or businesses to use for special events, holiday gatherings or nonprofit fundraisers.

They also may team up with area schools to also work with young players.

Part of the goal of this project is bring the couple back to their hometown. Jim Sebesta graduated from Mayo High School in 1972 and Pam is a member of the John Marshall High School Class of 1974.

"We're really about coming back to Rochester. We have a lot of friends and family here," she says.

And the retailer moving between Trader Joe's and Chuck E. is…

What I'm rambling about today is what retailer is moving into the empty slot between Rochester's Trader Joe's grocery and Chuck E. Cheese.

 

 

Yeah, this is the deal I teased at the end of June. Sorry about the inadvertent, misleading hints. That space really has always been a blind spot for me. I kept forgetting it existed, even as I drove by it.

Interestingly enough, this brand also includes a guy's name. All the info is my column today.

Side note - If you think I look and sound goofy on these videos, I can assure you that I'd look and sound much, much more goofy if it was not for skills and infinite patience of my producer, director and one-man production crew, Ken Klotzbach.

Thanks for all of the good work, Ken.