Gertens Plans to Expand Production, Facilities

Lew Gerten’s germination greenhouse is a marvel of modern automation.

Each spring, the machinery of the greenhouse comes to life. Suspended conveyor belts carry hanging plants past hoses that dole out a precise amount of water. Automated mesh canopies retract and unfurl like flags across the ceiling of the facility to help prevent heat loss. Even the heated concrete floor plays a part — warming plants from the bottom up for maximum energy efficiency.

As large as a small airplane hangar, the germination greenhouse represents just a portion of the more than eight acres of greenhouse space Lew Gerten oversees at Gertens Greenhouses on Blaine Avenue in Inver Grove Heights. But that number may soon grow, thanks to a planned, 300,000-square-foot expansion.

As part of the proposed construction project, the company will likely build a new, 250,000-square-foot greenhouse on the southern side of its property, which extends down to Upper 55^th Street. The remainder, approximately 50,000 square feet, would be added to existing greenhouse facilities on the property.

A ‘Regional Draw’

Gerten, a co-owner of Gertens Greenhouses since 1989, wants to break ground on the first phase of the expansion this spring. The multi-phase, multi-year project, he said, could serve his business’ needs and facilitate growth for a decade or more. It would also allow Gertens to expand as many as 20 part-time positions into full-time jobs and increase the company’s total production by as much as 60 percent.

It’s not the first large expansion Gertens has undertaken: In 1996 the business expanded its 12,000-square-foot facility by almost 30,000 square feet. Because the business can grow plants on a tiered, multi-level system in the greenhouse, indoor growing is more space-efficient, Gerten said. Indoor greenhouses are also less vulnerable to extreme weather than outdoor growing fields, a lesson Gertens learned in 1967, when a hailstorm devastated a whole crop, Gerten said. Since then, the business has systematically moved more and more of its plants to indoor growing facilities.

The benefit isn’t just in the numbers: Gerten believes the expansion would also boost the business’ regional presence.

“If we’re going to draw people from Minnesota to Inver Grove Heights to buy horticultural products, we have to have something they’re going to drive out of their way for,” Gerten said. “We need to be a regional draw.”

Jumping Through Hoops

Before they can get there, however, Gerten and his business have a few more hoops to jump through. Chief among them are several stormwater and drainage issues. The proposed project, City Engineer Tom Kaldunski said, would add a significant amount of impervious surface to site in the form of greenhouse roofs. Which is why Gertens spent the last three months negotiating with Kaldunski and the Minnesota Department of Transportation to come up with a stormwater management plan that doesn’t push any of the adjacent collection ponds — including one owned by MNDoT near Interstate 494 — past capacity.

To complete the project, Gertens has also asked the city to rezone a portion of the Gertens’ property from Commercial Planned Unit Development to the Southeast Quadrant Planned Unit Development. That decision is expected to come before the Inver Grove Heights City Council at its Feb. 24 meeting, if Gertens can resolve its drainage issues before then.

City Planner Allan Hunting believes the proposed construction fits with Inver Grove Heights Comprehensive Plan, which calls for large-scale, regional development in the area near the heavily-trafficked intersection of I-494 and Hwy. 52.

“There has been a long history of the city trying to get commercial development there,” Hunting said. Since 1996, he added, developers have built several restaurants and hotels in the area, in addition to the AMC movie theater and the Inver Grove Professional Building.

For Gerten, whose family has owned the business for four generations, the project is more than just a commercial expansion.

“I think this project is necessary for our business, just to keep it thriving and healthy, and give us a very clear sense of direction for the next 10-15 years,” Gerten said.

“You have to keep moving forward, you can’t just sit on you heels and do nothing … if you don’t, you’re going to fall behind.”