ROCHESTER, Minn. – Parking lots are so mundane – unless you desperately need a place to park. Such may be the future of the sites of the old Kmart and AMPI dairy along the Zumbro River in Rochester. Mike Mattingly, of the Hastings real estate developer Camegaran, confirmed that the company is preparing an application to the city to level most of the sites  for a 700-vehicle lot within walking distance of downtown. Camegaran paid $7 million in 2019 for Kmart and $3.7 million for the Associated Milk Producers plant in 2021. Speculation: The parking lot as a placeholder for further expanding the upscale downtown medical, residential, office and retailing complex?

Vacant dairy. Sold by Associated Milk Producers to Hastings developer Camegaran in 2021.

Mundane yet practical. The site is strategically between the Zumbro River and downtown.