The District 196 School Board unanimously approved an agreement with the University of Minnesota at its July 22 meeting to purchase land that will become the site of a new Rosemount Middle School. The university’s Board of Regents approved the agreement following the School Board’s action.  

Part of the UMore Park property, the 75.6-acre parcel is located in the southeast corner of the intersection of County Road 42 and Biscayne Avenue in Rosemount, adjacent to the Amber Fields development and Dakota County Technical College to the east. The agreement is for a purchase price of $2.20 per square foot, or $7,242,408 total. That is within the amount the district budgeted for land acquisition, according to Director on Special Assignment Mark Stotts, who is overseeing construction of facilities improvements approved by district voters in May 2023. 

Stotts thanked university officials and Dakota Aggregates for making the purchase of this land possible. He said the site offers optimal accessibility and is large enough to house the new school building and athletic fields for physical education classes, games, and other school and community activities.

The district has been searching for available land for the new middle school for more than a year. Because of how long it took to acquire the site, the anticipated opening date for the middle school has been moved back from fall 2026 to fall 2027. Part of the middle school project will be extending Boulder Trail east of Biscayne Avenue. This new stretch of road will run along the south side of the middle school. A large berm that currently runs through the property will need to be relocated to the south of the middle school site, Stotts said. 

The new middle school will replace the current Rosemount Middle School, which is the oldest building in District 196. It includes the original 1918 school that once housed all grades K-12 and is still being used today. The district plans to repurpose the building for other uses after the new Rosemount Middle School opens.