An outside interest in Huron's future

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Editor’s note: This story is part of a series on Huron downtown renovation. To see previous stories on Craig Lee, Jeff Pownell, and Connie Winegar, go to plainsman.com.

HURON — The introduction on Jordan Hanson’s Facebook profile reads simply, “On a never ending quest for knowledge.”

In meeting with Hanson for a moment, it’s obvious that he’s seeking knowledge in order to match an already-significant amount of passion and energy.

Hanson is the owner of Park View Estates, located at 546 Dakota Ave. S. He purchased the building in 2021 and has been busy renovating the 21 units within ever since, with the final unit to be completed this month.

“We purchased in June of 2021, and we’ve been averaging turnaround of about 20 days per unit,” Hanson explained. “If we can get all the units done by the end of September, that’d be a 15-month turnaround, which would be a new record for my crew.”

Hanson and his “crew” reside in Mitchell, but make the trip up to Huron daily to do the work on Park View. He states that he is part of the group that does tear down in each apartment, then he has members of his crew specializing in each part of the renovation, from flooring to electrical to plumbing, that provide their specialty in renovating the unit before everything is buttoned up and ready for a tenant.


This courtesy photo shows the Dakota Avenue-facing side of the Park View building.

Hanson is undertaking the remodel of a building that has been a landmark of Huron since 1920. Originally the Costain Apartments, the building once served as a hospital when the Huron Samaritan Hospital suffered a fire in 1943 until St. John’s Hospital opened in 1947.

The apartments have gone through multiple hands since, with the Campbell Park Historic District listing the apartments as part of the district in 1974.

So what would bring a Mitchell resident to Huron to invest into this community?

“Greater Huron has really invested back into businesses here in town for sure,” Hanson said. “Really, though, there are some big things happening in Huron.”

Hanson cited the growth in the Huron school district and the diversity in the city as some factors that portend continued growth for the city.

While he frequently invests in a property with the intention to flip the property, Hanson has made some significant investment into Park View that he wants to see come out on the other side first.

“Initially, we knew the electrical was going to be an issue,” he recalls. “However, once we got into it, it was a bigger issue than we thought. We had to completely set up all new electrical breakers in the building. Residents weren’t even able to have a microwave and a television on at the same time without popping the breaker for their apartment, so that required rewiring the whole building, and that was a significant investment.”


This combination of photos shows the before and after of a kitchen in an apartment within Park View.

Hanson also believes that the time and effort that he has put into the building will be rewarded by his residents.

“We just had our first tenant leave after fulfilling a lease in a redone unit,” Hanson noted. “Six months in the renovated unit, and that tenant will be getting 100% of deposit back. If you provide an excellent place for someone to live, the tenants will take care of their place as well.”

The changes to the building overall are fairly immense. Beyond the electrical, Hanson has expanded the parking behind the building to allow for every resident to have a parking space. Extensive landscaping has been done, the laundry room has been upgraded, and the front and back doors have been secured, something that Hanson partnered with Greater Huron Development Corporation (GHDC) to do.

Ted Haeder, the President/CEO of GHDC, said that Hanson’s building falls outside the typical boundary of “downtown Huron” but that what Hanson was doing was worth the investment.

“When you see the work that Jordan is putting into that building, it was an easy decision,” Haeder said. “We typically would have our facade grant program focused on downtown businesses, but he’s right on Dakota, essentially in downtown walking area, and he’s absolutely investing into the community.”

“We were happy to get on board,” Haeder added.


In this YouTube screen shot, Jordan Hanson walks through a renovated apartment on his YouTube channel. Hanson has recorded the teardown and renovation of the Park View apartments on his channel over the last year.

Hanson sees his apartments as filling a housing niche need in the Huron community as well.

“It’s a common housing need right now,” he observed. “There are cheap, small apartments and houses and anything getting built is luxury or built for an established family unit. There’s no middle or upper-middle housing anymore.”

Hanson continued: “I intend to price these as an upper-middle level apartment, likely in the low- to mid-$700 per month range.”

Hanson isn’t done with his investment into Huron, either. Hanson purchased the Top Hat motel on Old Highway 14 in June and is currently renovating the rooms there. He’s hoping to be done in 3-4 months there and has more plans going forward!