F&C Top Projects: Vista Prairie at Eagle Pointe
Tuesday, July 7th, 2026
Vista Prairie at Eagle Pointe was selected as one of Finance & Commerce’s Top Projects of 2025, recognizing Minnesota’s top design and construction projects for the year.
An independent panel of judges selected 50 honorees for the annual program. Projects are judged on their degree of difficulty, creativity in design, innovative construction techniques, cooperation among contractors and management, and sustainability efforts. Congratulations to the entire Vista Prairie team on this recognition!
Vista Prairie at Eagle Pointe
23440 Ambassador Blvd NW, St. Francis, MN
Vista Prairie at Eagle Pointe is a new 134-unit senior community in the rural area of St. Francis, Minnesota. The campus fills a critical gap for the local market by offering housing and services from independent living, assisted living, memory care and care suites, to allow local residents to age in place as their needs evolve. Eagle Pointe is a beautiful new senior community in an underserved market, and it was completed despite many regulatory, staffing, construction market and financing challenges.
One of the main challenges was Minnesota’s new Assisted Living regulations. The project team worked closely with the Department of Health and made significant progress to understand new limitations and opportunities. Unlike communities in the past where levels of care could be stacked vertically, the new regulations limit building height for evacuation, and therefore require more expansive campuses to provide separate parcels/addresses and entrances for AL/IL/MC housing types. The owner was committed to St. Francis, and the design and construction team studied extensive options to find a solution that was financially feasible.
Design started in 2020, and the team faced several starts and stops as they navigated the pandemic aftermath, financing hurdles, and even tariff restrictions. Due to the project’s rural location, traditional bank loans were difficult to secure. The financing team partnered with five banks, securing a $30 million tax-exempt loan using Series 2023A Bonds, with Sunrise Bank as the senior lender, and a $7.1 million C-PACE loan from PACE Loan Group to bridge the construction financing gap.
The building was thoughtfully stepped and set back from neighbors, minimizing the impact of its 89,000 SF footprint, while making optimal use of the 17-acre campus. The design responds to new Health Department regulations that created separate licenses for each level of care, influencing building height, construction type, separations, and access.
Eagle Pointe is the first construction project of its scale for Vista Prairie, and despite the challenges and hurdles, the community will be home to over 135 residents.
PROJECT TEAM
- Owner: Vista Prairie
- General Contractor: Bauer Design Build
- Architect & Interior Designer: Pope Design Group
- Civil Engineer: Sambatek
- Structural Engineer: ERA Structural Engineering
- FF&E: Monogram Design Consultants
- Mechanical Design-Build: J-Berd Mechanical Contractors
- Electrical Design-Build: Collins Electrical
See the rest of this year’s honorees on the Finance & Commerce’s announcement.
This year’s Top Project will be celebrated at an upcoming event on July 23, 2026.
See more images of Vista Prairie at Eagle Pointe on our project page.