Hastings Beauty School of Minnesota
Hastings Beauty School in the News
Beauty school plans for new digs - Gardner House slated for extreme makeover.
Published on 07/10/2005
By Frederick Melo, Pioneer Press
HASTINGS - What's a beauty school to do when the coifs are cutting edge but the digs are a drag? In downtown Hastings, history has a date with hair care, and their budding romance is funding the makeover of one of the state's oldest hotel buildings.
Employees at the Hastings Beauty School like to joke that theirs is the "funner" school of cosmetology, where students, according to the school motto, "learn to help people feel beautiful" in a chatty, relaxed atmosphere.
But the school's two-floor layout in a Second Street storefront has budding beauticians all but bumping heads. As students run up and down stairs, customers weave around them to get from a cramped waiting area to awkward twin rows of salon stations.
"It's a dump," said instructor Wendy Gardell, a mountain of highlighted, reddish-orange curls bobbing with her laugh. "It's really outdated. And there's no room for growth."
Banking on the benefits of a beauty school makeover, school owner Dan Lynch has found his students a new home right next door in the Gardner House, a three-story building dating back to 1884. Lynch, who bought the site in April, said he is putting roughly $1.5 million into acquiring and renovating the former hotel, one of the downtown historic district's largest and most prominent properties. He hopes to move by Monday.
Excited by the hammering of work crews, neighboring business owners call Lynch's investment the largest private historic renovation project to grace the sleepy downtown main street in recent memory.
Once a bright spot for city events and social gatherings, the old hotel hasn't attracted a sizable crowd in at least 30 years, say residents. From a series of antique shops to an old "Pizza Ranch" restaurant franchise, small businesses have come and gone through the property in quick succession.
"It's just kind of been on hold for several years ... but it used to be the life of town," said 66-year-old Dick Reissner, of Reissner's Meat and Grocery, recalling childhood days when the Gardner held free eggnog socials every Christmas Eve.
There may not be rum-laced drinks this Christmas, but the school's relocation still promises to be an unusual blending of old and new. Soon, pedicure tubs and vibrating massage chairs will line new hardwood floors. Tiltable shampoo sinks will dunk clients into the 21st century, even as customers catch their reflection in long mantel mirrors above a century-old fireplace and beneath an ornate tin ceiling.
The city's Housing and Redevelopment Authority gave Lynch a $48,000 low-interest loan toward painting and refurbishing the building's Italianate-styled exterior.
Employees are looking forward to classroom space, facial rooms and the salon clinic being situated on a single floor. Lynch is improving 11 upstairs apartments, which are helping to pay the mortgage on the $910,000 property. The Gardner House, which alone runs 87 feet wide and 140 feet long, includes the adjoining Fitch building, a narrower structure constructed in 1881 that once served as the hotel bar.
Lynch acknowledges the relocation is a pricey departure from tradition for the small beauty school, which has 32 students but hopes to grow to 60.
"As far as schools go, this is really upscale," said Lynch, who hopes to draw more customers and more interest in the school's newer services, like hair extensions and chemical peels.
Not everyone is pleased with the Gardner House's new direction. As Hastings struggles with ways to attract tourists and foot traffic to its historic district, some residents had hoped to see the building accommodate an anchor attraction, like an upscale restaurant or high-end hotel.
"There are people who feel that this building should be returned to its original purpose," Lynch said, who considers his school the proven proposition.
But risks have paid off for him in the past. Lynch, who has a degree in English literature with an emphasis on creative writing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, bought the beauty school three years ago knowing little about the field. To learn, he sits in on classes and submits to facials and hair colorings, a human guinea pig for the student body. He also runs Lynch Capital Corp., which brokers the leasing of automotive, airport ground support and fitness equipment for companies and municipal groups.
Beauty school to move
Published on 6/9/2005
By Ben Ganje - Star Gazette Managing Editor
Dan Lynch hopes his renovation of two downtown buildings - which is one of the most ambitious in recent downtown history - will boost his beauty school business. Others hope his project, which is one of the most ambitious in recent memory, help revitalize the area. His $1.5 million project will move Hastings Beauty School, which he bought two years ago, about 50 feet east into the ground level of the Fitch and Gardner House buildings. It's that 50 feet that Lynch said will send his business into the 21st century by creating a state-of-the-art school that will attract new students from around the southeast metro area. "My difficulty is that I'm in the beauty business and I have a facility that is not up to what we deem as industry standards," he said. "Now, we'll have a business that exceeds industry standards."
The move was necessary because Lynch couldn't buy the building he was in and couldn't secure a long-term lease. He's happy with the current course of events, though, he said. "I think the Gardner is the queen of the block down here," he said. As long as he's at it, Lynch is trying to enhance some of the historic character of the building, while creating a modern space that will attract new students and clients.
The pillars that epitomize the building, in dire need of refurbishing, will be replaced with pillars that the Hastings Historic Preservation Committee approved for a previous owner. The tin ceiling, too, will be restored and a featured part of the school's reception area. Attention to historic detail is a good sign in a new building owner, according to Hastings Housing and Redevelopment Director John Grossman. "It looks like Dan Lynch is an owner who plans to be there for awhile and that's good for the building," Grossman said. "It's good he's interested in the building. "The porch and the pillars and the paint all need redoing. He has plans to do that." Even those not attune to historic rehabilitation will notice the difference in the exterior of the Gardner House when Lynch is finished, however.
The pillars, now white, will be painted a deep, dark green, to reflect a likely color from 1885, when it was built. "That period was a time when deep, dark rich colors were used on commercial property," Grossman said. Other downtown business owners are pleased with the renovations, as well. "I just think it's terribly exciting," said Laurel Cox, owner of Professor Java's, a downtown coffee shop. "Dan's going to bring that business into the current century, someplace that's fun," she said. Lynch said he wouldn't be able to modernize his school without a good working relationship with Hastings' city staff. He has mapped out an aggressive schedule - the project complete by July 1 and the school moved by July 5. Both he and a Crew Commercial representative, his general contractor, said that Grossman and building official Tom Bakken have been very helpful.
"I'm feeling nothing but support from the city," Lynch said. Cosmetology is not new to downtown, Hastings Beauty School has operated out in the Mertz building since 1981, but the beauty business is new to the Gardner House. When it was built in 1885, the Gardner House was not a beauty school, it was a hotel. For much of its life span the building housed tenants. During that time, however, bankruptcies and turnover were common. Renovations are nothing new, either. During its first 15 years, the Gardner House - named after Hastings' pioneering miller, Stephen Gardner - underwent several remodels. Lynch hopes his is different. His businesses success, he said, is linked to its location in Hastings. The school serves the southeast metro and many of the small towns in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
"Hastings is probably the best for us," he said. "It gives the students a tremendous opportunity." Lynch will continue to operate 11 apartments on the upper levels of both buildings. He plans to gradually upgrade those, as well. There are some, including the former owners, who wanted a hotel in the Gardner House, to reflect its original purpose. Lynch, for his part, is interested in creating a successful business in downtown Hastings. Right now, he's in the beauty business, he said. Grossman said Lynch's financial commitment to renovation in the area is the largest in recent memory and a good indication of stability. Cox said it's nice to see someone taking care of the Gardner House. "He's going to finish it," she said. "Finally."
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Hastings Beauty School provides the following guest services. Styles: Haircut with Shampoo included, Shampoo & Set/Blow Dry & Curling Iron, Shampoo & Set with Haircut, Haircut, Blow & Iron, Long Hair up-do, Beard Trim, Hot Oil Scalp Treatment, Shampoo & Conditioner, Clarifying Treatment, Deep Conditioning Treatment. Perms - Style Included: Regular Wrap, Specialty Wraps, Spiral, Weave, Chemical Relaxer. Color - Style Included: Full Color Application, Corrective Color, Foil, Frost or Cap, Retouch, Full Bleach Application & Toner, Retouch Bleach Application & Toner, Additional Color, Men's Highlight, Shoeshine. Nails: Manicure, Hot Oil Manicure, Spa Manicure, Pedicure, Spa Pedicure, Nail Art Available, Polish Change. Skin Care Services: Brow Shaping Lip Wax, Chin Wax, Under Arms, Half Leg, Brow and Lip, Make Up Application, Facial, Make Up and Facial.
At Hastings Beauty School we teach cosmetology students from these Minnesota and Wisconsin cities and more: Minnesota Cities: Afton, Apple Valley, Bellechester, Cannon Falls, Castle Rock, Coates, Cottage Grove, Dennison, Dundas, Eagan, Empire, Etter, Farmington, Frontenac, Goodhue, Hader, Hammond, Hampton, Hastings, Hay Creek, Inver Grove Heights, Kenyon, Lake City, Lakeland, Lakeville, Mazeppa, Miesville, Nerstrand, Newport, Pine Island, Randolph, Red Wing, Rosemont, St. Paul Park, South St. Paul, Stanton, Vasa, Vermillion, Wacouta, Wanamingo, Waterford, Welch, White Rock, Zumbro Falls, Zumbrotta Wisconsin Cities: Baldwin, Bay City, Beldenville, Diamond Bluff, Durand, Eau Galle, Ellsworth, Elmwood, El Paso, Hager City, Hudson, Maiden Rock, Martell, Menomonie, Moeville, North Hudson, Plum City, Prescott, River Falls, Roberts, Spring Valley, Trimbelle, Weston, Wildwood