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Just south of Victoria  * 952-443-2993

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Victoria * 952-443-2740
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Text Box: Drawn to Develop Continued

July 2012

Point Victoria "Neighborhood"

         Fred was part of Victoria Development Corporation, a group of business men that put together a package that accommodated the location for HEI, a new bank building, the renovation of the Old Public School into an Office Building, Park Vista Apartments, and other projects.  They called it Point Victoria.

         Point Victoria included land from HEI to where KleinBank is located today.  As Fred stated in July of 1981, "We subdivided the land and redid the concept plan to fit the needs of HEI and subdivided accordingly.  We got the necessary city approvals and extended sewer to them from existing lines."

         HEI, a company that manufactures very tiny electronic devices and employed 97 people at that time, was the biggest company to move into Victoria.  Its construction was completed in July 1981.

         Point Victoria also included the construction of Commercial Avenue, a site for apartments, and commercial property that is today the Hi-5 Market, Liquor Store, and Subway Shop.

 

Deer Run Neighborhood

         "It all started out with a call from Bob Lindall, an attorney from Chaska," said Fred.  "I worked with Bob in Jonathan with the McKnight thing.  He called one day and said, 'Would you be interested in listing Victoria Farms?' and, believe it or not, I said, 'No.'  It was already on the market and it was grossly overpriced."

         Victoria Farms had become a place for horse trials featuring many breeds of horses and both amateur and professional riders.  The acreage was owned by Grace Lindley, former wife of Henry McKnight.

         But in short order, Fred came to list Victoria Farms for sale. "Meanwhile, I had visited a golf course neighborhood in Fountain Hills, Arizona," he said. "I thought to myself, why not here in Victoria?"

         Here's the detailed scoop from Fred:

         "I recruited Bill Maple to bring his investor group to Deer Run, rather than to Chanhassen, to own the golf course part of it," explained Fred.  "I added a few to his group, including myself.  I bought all 365 acres -- subject to me finding my own investors -- and laid out the general configuration of where homes and golf course would go, with the help of Gene Ernst, a landscape architect from Chaska who now lives in Deer Run.

         "We then sold the land designated for the golf course to Bill's group for half the price per acre that we paid.  Then Mike Schulz, the pro at Hazeltine National Golf Course, and a Dr. White, an agronomist from the University, did the basic design of the course.

         "Jeff Hartman built the course, assisted by his ace equipment operator Tom West, and they added some of their touches.

 

Click here to continue Drawn to Develop.

Ruth M. Fink and Edward B. Plocher (the parents of Fred) were married on December 11th, 1919.  They had seven children; an infant son died as a baby.  E.B.'s father came over from Germany and lived on Plocher's Lake, also called Wasserman's Lake.  The Victoria Lumberyard became E.B.'s life.  Stated Ruth in 1980, "Ed was at the store six days a week and every night and every Sunday afternoon.  Ed and Ben Wartman did the work alone for so many years.  They hauled all the cement and coal.  At the very beginning, people came to get the lumber and stuff with their horses and wagons, but then the store got trucks and Ed and Ben did the deliveries."  Ed died in 1974 at the age of 90.  Ruth died in 1983 at the age of 83.