The owner of an aging Hampton Inn in Burnsville wants to turn it into a rehab facility amid efforts to reinvent hotels to meet social service needs.
By Eva Herscowitz
The Minnesota Star Tribune
September 25, 2025 at 11:00AM
The owner of a Hampton Inn in Burnsville is seeking permission from the city to convert it into a drug treatment facility. (Renée Jones Schneider/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
An aging Hampton Inn in Burnsville could soon become the site of a drug treatment facility, suggesting the pandemic-era practice of repurposing old hotels in some Twin Cities suburbs is here to stay.
The owner of the hotel at 14400 Nicollet Court is seeking permission from the city to turn the building into an inpatient rehabilitation center. If plans move forward, the facility would offer 148 beds for people receiving care for substance use and mental health issues.
The treatment center would join other reconfigured spaces in the metro area that were once hotels — from an affordable housing development for veterans in Robbinsdale to a flurry of tiny apartments in Bloomington. But such conversions have sparked debate across the metro, with residents and local officials worrying about crime, strain on emergency resources and the facilities’ fit within their neighborhoods.
A homeless shelter planned for an Eagan hotel remains on pause following fierce backlash. Many Bloomington hotels that functioned as makeshift homeless shelters during the pandemic have since ended that use. And a recuperative care business that Ramsey County housing officials were operating in a Brooklyn Center hotel lost its city license and attracted scrutiny from the county.
Burnsville Fire Chief BJ Jungmann acknowledged the need for the facility at a recent City Council meeting, but also raised concerns about 911 call volume.
“It could be a great asset to the community,” Jungmann said. “On the other hand, it could be resource-constraining.”
Elected officials earlier this month delayed a vote on granting the hotel owner, MSP Burnsville LLC, a permit to give an attorney representing the owner more time to address several public safety concerns from Burnsville leaders.
Megan Rogers, the lawyer working on behalf of the owner, has attempted to dispel those worries. She noted that whoever runs the treatment facility — the owner hasn’t identified a provider — will have to follow more than 20 conditions meant to guarantee its safe operation.