Burnsville Gives Hampton Inn Treatment Center Plan One More Year

TLDR

• The council voted 3-2 on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, to give the owner of the former Hampton Inn at 14400 Nicollet Court one more year to open a 134-person addiction treatment center.
• The owner asked for 24 more months and got 12. The permit now runs through Oct. 20, 2027.
• The owner still hasn't found a company to run it. Its attorney pointed to staffing and funding trouble.
• Council Members Dan Kealey and Vince Workman voted no, just like last year.
• If no operator signs on within a year, the owner's attorney says it'll rethink the whole site.

Remember the plan to turn a Burnsville hotel into an addiction treatment center? It's still alive, but behind schedule. At its Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026 meeting, the Burnsville City Council gave the property owner one more year to find someone to actually run the place.

Quick backstory

Last October, on Oct. 21, 2025, the council approved a plan to turn the Hampton Inn at 14400 Nicollet Court into a long-term care facility. It would treat up to 134 people recovering from substance use disorders and related mental health problems. The site is tucked between two major freeways, I-35W and I-35E.

The owner, MSP Burnsville LLC, didn't have an operator lined up back then. The plan was to get the city's OK first, then find a provider. The city's approval was a "conditional use permit." That's permission to use a property for something that's only allowed with special conditions. This one has 28 conditions, and the owner proposed 22 of them.

The permit would have expired on Oct. 21, 2026, unless a building permit and a certificate of occupancy (the city's OK to move in) were issued. Neither has happened. So on Sept. 29, the owner asked for a 24-month extension. The council gave it 12 months instead, through Oct. 20, 2027.

Why it's taking so long

The city's staff report says the owner hasn't found an operator or applied for a building permit, citing challenges in the healthcare industry. Megan Rogers, an attorney with Larkin Hoffman who represents the owner, told the council there are two big problems.

Staffing. Rogers said the owner promised a top-tier facility with more nurses and doctors than usual, and that the nursing positions have been hard for providers to fill.

Funding. Rogers said money for treatment has gotten tighter across the country and some state funding is on hold. Because of that uncertainty, she said, interested providers aren't racing to get the facility open.

Rogers said the owner is still committed. If the project doesn't move forward within the next year, she said, the owner will go back to the drawing board and come up with another plan for the site.

Where each council member landed

Against:

• Vince Workman voted no last year and again this time. He said a treatment facility of this size and scope didn't seem like a good fit for this part of town. He was clear that he isn't against treatment itself. He said his opposition has nothing to do with whether treatment is needed or whether addiction is real. It's about logistics.
• Dan Kealey also stayed a no. He said a facility like this should exist in every community, but he doesn't see Burnsville needing to be the regional provider.

For:

• Dan Gustafson pointed to the behavioral health issues the city already handles. He called addiction a disease and said this kind of facility is needed for the entire area.
• Cara Schulz was all in. She said residents deserve the best health care possible, and that she'd personally be excited to see something like this happen in Burnsville.
• Mayor Elizabeth Kautz said the owner did everything the city asked last year, including steps to address concerns from nearby businesses. She said she sees what police officers and fire paramedics respond to, and that a facility like this would help people get healthy again.

The extension passed 3-2, with Kealey and Workman voting no, according to Sun Thisweek. Gustafson, Schulz and Kautz voted yes.

Is the location a problem?

Workman asked a fair question: is a site squeezed between two freeways really the right place for a treatment center?

Rogers said that hasn't scared off providers. The permit limits the facility to a lower level of residential care. Rogers said people at that level of care often head back to work fairly quickly, which makes freeway access a plus, not a minus.

The Bottom Line

Nothing is opening at the old Hampton Inn anytime soon. The owner now has until Oct. 20, 2027, to find an operator and pull permits. If that doesn't happen, it'll likely come back to the city with a different plan for the site.

This is part of a bigger conversation Burnsville is having about mental health and addiction. The city recently put opioid settlement money toward a mental health partnership. Nearby Lakeville's crisis response program shows another way cities are handling it. For background on substance use disorder treatment in Minnesota, see the Minnesota Department of Human Services. If you want to follow along, agendas and video are on the city's meetings page. The city's long-range land use plans are in the Burnsville 2050 comprehensive plan update.