"It's visible, and it's easy off and on." Lisa Wadsen, real estate development manager for Kwik Trip, said this to the Ham Lake City Council to explain why the company picked the corner of 143rd Avenue and Highway 65, ABC Newspapers reported. She said the site was chosen because southbound Highway 65 traffic can reach it easily, and she added that the J-turns communities have built make it easier for drivers to get back on heading north.
Access explains most of what changed on Ham Lake's part of the highway this year. The new storefronts are arriving at frontage roads, side streets and access points that the city and county rebuilt first. Take the corridor one corner at a time and the order is easy to see. The road gets fixed, then a business moves in.
Crosstown Boulevard: the road came first, and nine lots came with it
The clearest example sits at the southeast corner of Highway 65 and Crosstown Boulevard. The new frontage road there is finished. In the July 2026 Ham Laker, Mayor Brian Kirkham wrote that the project closes three unsafe access points onto Highway 65 and makes room for up to nine commercial lots. He also wrote that county and state sources paid for it without using city budget dollars.
Those nine lots don't have tenants yet. In the same column, the mayor wrote that he has been promoting the area to businesses that would suit Ham Lake. A meat market is one of his top priorities, and he said he hopes that work will start to pay off now that the road is done. As of late October, that is a goal, not an announcement. But the order matters. The access road is already built, and the businesses haven't arrived yet.
North of there, the city has wrapped up the Highway 65 East Frontage Road reconstruction from 171st Avenue NE to 334 feet south of Crosstown Boulevard. The November 2026 Ham Laker reports that the city accepted the project and its one-year warranty period has begun.
143rd Avenue: an upgraded side street and a Kwik Trip in the same summer
At the south end of town, the order of events is just as plain. Mayor Kirkham's July column says the upgrade to 143rd Avenue west of Highway 65 is complete. He noted that it came at an ideal time, alongside construction of the new Kwik Trip and a new building for Solid Rock Construction. Municipal State Aid funds paid for the road work, with no cost to the city's general budget.
The Kwik Trip sits on the northwest corner of 143rd Avenue NE and Highway 65 NE. According to ABC Newspapers, the company told the council it would be a 9,100-square-foot Generation 3 store, its newest design. Here's what that design includes:
- A full produce section
- Seating for 12 to 14 customers
- Two self-checkout stations
- An expanded grocery island
- A larger kitchen
Wadsen told the council the store would employ 25 to 40 people, about 60% of them part-time. She said construction was expected to begin in late June 2026 and usually takes four and a half to five months. Counting from a late-June start, that puts completion around late November or December. No opening date has been announced, so treat that as an estimate.
A full grocery island and a produce section make this a different stop than the old gas-and-coffee format. For anyone living near the south end of Ham Lake, quick grocery runs could start ending at 143rd Avenue.
147th Avenue: new owners who kept the regulars in mind
The corner at Highway 65 and 147th Avenue doesn't involve a new road, but the same thinking shows up there. New owners took over a spot that was already easy to reach and was already a neighborhood hangout.
ABC Newspapers reported that Rob and Tammy Michaletz, owners of White Rabbit, bought the former T-Box Restaurant and Tournament Liquor. They're turning the restaurant into Burrow Bar and Grill. Rob described the concept to the paper as a "sophisticated dive bar," built around the regulars who already came to the location. "This is very much a neighborhood-type restaurant, a lot of regulars…we wanted to continue that," he said.
According to that report, the planned menu includes:
- Comfort-food appetizers
- Entrees such as pot roast and walleye
- Bowls that mix salads with hot and cold ingredients
- Sandwiches and other handhelds
- Pizzas from a clay stone oven
The owners plan to give the building, which Rob said is about 18 years old, a facelift while keeping most of the layout. Eventually they want to combine the main dining room and the overflow room into one larger space that can still host events.
Burrow was aiming to open Oct. 13, pending a health inspection. In late October, the Burrow website still said "Coming Soon," so check it before you plan dinner there.
Next door is already open. The former Tournament Liquor reopened as Hop and Vine and carries some of the wines chosen for the group's restaurants, including White Rabbit, Burrow and Prime in Blaine. Denise Cosgrove, part of the ownership group, told ABC Newspapers they plan to add wine and liquor tastings and bring in new products.
Rob also explained the location to the paper in terms of growth around it. "East Bethel is growing. Ham Lake is growing, and Andover is growing. So it's in a prime location for a lot of new patrons in this area," he said.
The Crosstown Shopping Center: rebuilding the streets behind existing stores
At the Crosstown Shopping Center, the businesses are already in place, and the streets around them are what's being rebuilt. The city accepted the low bid in summer 2026, according to the August 2026 Ham Laker. The project page kept by RFC Engineering shows the contract went to D&D Contracting LLC and work started Aug. 17. It covers 177th Avenue, 176th Lane, Chisholm Street, 175th Lane and Central Avenue: storm sewer, curb and gutter, and new pavement.
The work is close to done. RFC's Oct. 22 update says storm sewer installation is finished. Base-layer paving for the north half of the site was scheduled for Oct. 23, starting at 177th Avenue and moving east, and the last concrete work was set for Tuesday, Oct. 27, weather permitting. The preliminary schedule listed an Oct. 28 finish. Rain has already moved some dates this month, so check RFC's page for the newest closures before you go.
Here are RFC's access directions as of Oct. 22. Every route starts the same way, from 177th Avenue off Highway 65:
- Maxx Bar and Grill: take Central Avenue to either driveway. Both are open.
- Dollar Tree and the shopping center: take Central Avenue to the driveway south of Dollar Tree, across from Maxx Bar and Grill.
- Burger King: use that same driveway, follow the drive path in front of the shopping center to the 175th Lane driveway in front of Open Range Cowboy Church, then cross straight into the Burger King lot.
- Ham Lake Veterinary Hospital and Zen Paws Spa: take 176th Lane to either driveway.
- 21st Century Bank drive-thru: take 176th Lane to the drive-thru entrance.
- Ham Lake Liquors: use the northern driveway at Central Avenue and 176th Lane.
Where things stand, corner by corner
| Location | What changed | Status in late October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Hwy 65 and 143rd Ave | 143rd Ave upgrade, new Kwik Trip | Road complete; store opening date not announced |
| Hwy 65 and 147th Ave | Burrow Bar and Grill, Hop and Vine | Hop and Vine open; Burrow targeted Oct. 13, website still "Coming Soon" |
| SE corner of Hwy 65 and Crosstown Blvd | New frontage road, up to nine commercial lots | Road complete; no tenants announced |
| East Frontage Road, 171st Ave to near Crosstown | Reconstruction | Accepted, one-year warranty underway |
| Crosstown Shopping Center | Street and storm sewer rebuild | Final paving and concrete scheduled for the last week of October |
The pattern continues off the highway and into 2028
The same thing is happening on Central Avenue. Farrell's Extreme Bodyshaping moved from Andover to Ham Lake in August and now operates at 15800 Central Ave. NE, just north of City Hall, the November Ham Laker reports. It's another business setting up one road back from Highway 65.
The next big piece is a few years away. The August Ham Laker says the Highway 65 and Bunker Lake Boulevard interchange is fully funded. Plans call for an overpass, a roundabout and multi-use paths, and construction is expected to start in 2028.
At The Paul E Team, we watch how projects like the Crosstown frontage road and the 143rd Avenue upgrade change the way each part of Ham Lake works day to day. If you'd like to talk about what the corridor's next few years could mean for your corner of town, we'd be glad to share what we're seeing. Contact Us anytime.
