Hartley to sell empty downtown lots

New real estate listings are coming to downtown Hartley.

The city council on Oct. 14 agreed to sell two parcels of land at 170 S Central Ave. and 176 S Central Ave. The now-empty lots previously housed Create-A-Craft and Real Reflections, respectively. The former was removed in 2023 and the latter was torn down in August of this year.

The lots will be sold at auction during the November regular council meeting. Anyone interested in purchasing them may place a bid. Another city-owned property directly west of the former newspaper office at 51 1st St. SE was also considered for auction, but the council did not act on the matter. Consensus was to keep the lot for off-street parking and other purposes.

The city acquired the Create-A-Craft building from former owner Mary Rons several years ago after it was deemed hazardous due to its dilapidated condition. Once it was removed, issues were discovered at Real Reflections. Moisture had penetrated between both structures and went unnoticed for decades, leading to decay of the salon's north wall.

The problem forced owner Tricia Elgersma to move her operations across the street to Salon West shortly after Create-A-Craft was torn down. Eventually, the Hartley Economic Development Corporation bought Elgersma's building for $20,000 and passed the deed over to the city at no cost. Elgersma later bought the Salon West building and is now operating her business out of that location fulltime.

On a related note, the council tabled a request to pay for all or a portion of repair costs associated with exposed exterior walls on downtown buildings owned by Keith and Jackie Stoltz. The walls were exposed and/or damaged in 2019 when the city removed the former dry cleaners and barbershop building located at 37 1st St. SE.

The Stoltzes said they've been dealing with issues like new water infiltration ever since. The council instructed the couple to obtain repair bids from local contractors and report back.