Golden Valley Post 523 constructs a new club, sells old one to Breck School

A new post home!

GOLDEN VALLEY — In the 1990s, the Breck School approached Chester Bird American Legion Post 523 about its land. The post home was on 4.5 acres just off the southwest side of the private school’s campus.

The post was out by baseball, softball and football fields. Motorists could see the post and its tall flagpole from Highway 100, but it could be difficult to find at the end of dead-end Lilac Drive.

The Breck School had been purchased land in the area and wanted to trade land. The post declined. However, it signaled to the post’s leadership to watch the land market.

“Usually, property sold before we had a chance to make an offer on it,” said Post 523 Commander Craig Hartman.

Breck was patient, and, at one point, the post sold the school a piece of its land, bringing the post’s parcel to 3.29 acres. Over the years, the school hired a land acquisition firm, and the post began working on a renovation.

Breck held the option to buy for the former Red Lobster on 2.3 acres along Highway 55. Hartman was on his Bobcat skid one morning in 2024 when Breck’s chief financial officer walked over to ask about trading for the Red Lobster site.

“You are out of your mind,” Hartman told him.

He brought the proposal to the Post 523 membership, and they agreed to swap contingent on Breck purchasing the post’s property. Hartman said it was the toughest negotiation in his life.

“We still have a great relationship with Breck,” he said. “They let us stay in the old post from January through August for $1 a month while we were busy building the new place.”

Hennepin County property records show that Breck bought Post 523 for $3.2 million and the Red Lobster for $3.34 million. The deals went down in January 2025, and how they went down, Hartman said, are confidential.

Property records indicate the restaurant was granted bankruptcy Dec. 18. The post was granted a deed Feb. 6. The post took out a mortgage with MidwestOne Bank, recorded on April 30.

Hartman said Breck hasn’t divulged its plans for the former post home.

The post had owned it since 1947. Hartman’s father, and member Larry Schnack’s father had been two of the World War II veterans who built it.

Getting it done

The first Red Lobster opened in Lakeland, Fla., in 1968. Business boomed, and General Mills took notice by 1970. The Golden Valley-based company put its resources into expanding Red Lobster coast to coast, with the one along Highway 55 going up as the flagship restaurant in 1975.

General Mills spun off all of its restaurant chains to its own subsidiary in 1995. That portfolio included names like Olive Garden and Capital Grille. It sold off that subsidiary in 2014 to an investor group, which sold it again in 2020. The new owners, in 2024, took Red Lobster into Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Promptly after Post 523 took it over in the middle of winter, the pipes burst and a water heater went out.

“The back parking lot turned into a skating rink,” Hartman said.

They got that mess cleaned up and brought on board general contractor Plymouth-based DJ Kranz Co. The company guided them through the scope of work. By mid-February, they had a game plan, Hartman said.

Permits for demolition were acquired so the members could remove walls and gut the place. The post got all the assets inside: booths, chairs, plates, stoves, ovens, washers, glasses, plates, measuring cups, you name it. They brought in conex containers to store much of it. They sold a lot of unneeded stuff, too.

“The building had good bones, but everything in it was dated and corroded and old,” Hartman said.

They spent a lot of time fixing the damage. He and Schnack estimate volunteer labor saved $500,000 in costs.

Schnack said they saved thousands in board feet of wood during demolition by saving the good wood for the reconstruction.

Volunteer Kris Arthur helped with landscaping in front. A company called Designing by Nature did a design around the flagpoles, and Arthur continued that look for other areas such as the front entrance.

Schnack said the front patio has boulders around it to prevent a motorist from hitting people.

SAL Squadron 523 John Ernston photodocumented the work and donated sheet metal from his company.

Some of the flagpoles are from the old post. However, the post erected a new 80-footer for the American flag. Another pole was left behind by Red Lobster. The electronic sign is the one from the old post but on Red Lobster’s former sign poles and framework.

 

Since when?

The Post 523 volunteers had a question: When was the last time a post opened a new post home?

That would be Mora Post 201, which dedicated a new post home and veterans memorial on Sept. 8, 2024. Its post home is a museum and community gathering space, not a full-on club.

There have been posts that sold their club and moved into spaces without a bar, such as Cambridge Post 290 and Marshall Post 113.

But the last time a post opened a club — the kind with a bar, pulltabs and restaurant seating — appears to be Rochester Post 92. It closed its downtown post home on New Year’s Eve 2018 and reopened in March 2019 on the southeast side of the city where a bar called Kings Crossing had been.

What’s inside?

Schnack said the new Post 523 home has great visibility and access along Highway 55. It is surrounded by workplaces and apartments, which should supply a reliable customer base, and it is without competition in the surrounding business area.

Post 523 was planning a soft opening for Oct. 8. It might be open by the time you read this story. (Or maybe not.)

The building has 7,156 square feet. It can hold 447 people. There will be 17 taps for beer. Pouring hard liquor is done through a bottle control system called EZ Bar.

The pulltab booth has 14 boxes and 12 etab displays. It has a handy coiling door for security when it closes. There will be two ATMs.

Challenge coins decorate the totally new bar, including the one for The Minnesota Legionnaire. Look for it when you go.

Soundproof dividers allow for splitting the hall into three parts. The bar can be open, and the Legion can meet in one area while the Auxiliary meets in the next one. The three won’t hear one another.

There is a built-in bingo booth, new TV sets and sound system and a stage for bands. Almost all of the kitchen equipment is new. The food cooler, beer cooler and freezer are new, too. New wiring. New softener. New restrooms. Many new walls.

Hartman said Post 523 will have a grand opening this fall, perhaps early winter, once they get their business operation running smoothly.