Parkwood Knolls
In 1949 the Edina city council was hoping to replicate the success of the Country Club neighborhood in the bluffs and hills on the city’s western edge. One of the Country Club Districts pre-eminent builders, Carl Hansen managed to persuade the city to view the lush rolling meadows to the west as a pastoral, suburban setting with meandering streets, larger lots and walkout lower levels.
Hansen had acquired the Jones, Kyte and McLarty farms, which comprised over 600 acres in the western-most section of Edina. The first two streets he developed were Parkwood Road and Knoll Drive. Subsequently, this new neighborhood of ranch-style homes, became known as Parkwood Knolls.
Today, Carl Hansen’s grandson, Carl M. Hansen, carries on the third generation of building. In 2008 he opened the western ridge of the old McLarty farm, the only remaining open land in Edina, for development. Residential areas comprise the largest portion of the City, which is now more than 95 percent developed. The parcel is divided into 36 lots with the company averaging four builds a year, it will be close to a decade before the area is filled out.
