Nisswa summer resident sets $75M record for donation to college

NAPLES, Florida — Lee and Penny Anderson, a couple who now summers in Nisswa, recently set the record for the largest donation to a Minnesota university with a $75 million donation for construction of the Lee and Penny Anderson Arena at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.

That donation represents not quite half of the estimated $175 million price tag to raze three older buildings and construct the 4,000-seat arena in their place.

The Lee and Penny Anderson Arena is being constructed as a multi-use building, suitable for both hockey and basketball. The project is expected to be complete in time for the 2025-2026 season.

"They're building these arenas so they are convertible," Lee Anderson said by phone from Naples, Florida. "They can be set up for basketball and they have an ice sheet underneath that. It can be converted reasonably quickly, which is great because you don't need two facilities. You just need one.

"It's going to be the nicest outside the University of Minnesota's facilities and the largest private university in Minnesota,” he said.

The building will be constructed with the same type of stone and architecture used to construct the rest of the buildings on campus, maintaining a unified feel across the board.

This isn't the only St. Thomas building the Andersons have funded. Another sizable donation of $60 million helped construct two buildings.

That included the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex, an athletic facility featuring facilities for swimming, diving, intramural sports, lockers and offices.

The same donation also supported construction of the Anderson Student Center, a four-story building with six dining establishments, meeting rooms, an atrium and more.

"It's a gathering place for all the students on campus," Anderson said. “It was really needed. In the old days the only place the students found to meet was the McDonald’s on University Avenue."

That's not the only place the Andersons like to donate to. Lee's alma mater is the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, which he, understandably, still feels a strong connection to.

"Even though it's a public facility, there's many, many items that the government doesn't provide in them," Anderson said.

Approximately 15 years ago, the Andersons donated to construct a rugby stadium at West Point, and two years ago they contributed to the Anderson Athletic Facility, a volleyball and softball facility there.

They have also made other, less specific donations supporting West Point's football, basketball and hockey programs.

"Higher education is one of the things we're most interested in, as well as military veterans," Anderson said.

The Andersons started their patronage at St. Thomas after years of serving on the board. Anderson was owner of the API Group when he first got involved. He was in the business of construction, mostly of businesses and specializing in fire protection, alarms and security.

He sold his stake in API in 2019 for a reported $3 billion, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.

They had over 200 offices in the United States and United Kingdom. He got to know a lot of other movers and shakers in the Twin Cities, including most of the board of trustees at St. Thomas. They eventually invited him to join.

"I had always considered it a very prestigious group," Anderson said. "I served on the board 12 years. Just a few years back I got off the board and our daughter, Katherine, serves on the board now. So our family is still represented there."

One of the Andersons' grandchildren attends St. Thomas, and other relatives have attended in the past, the St. Paul Pioneer Press story said.

Over the years serving the St. Thomas board, Anderson said he fell more and more in love with St. Thomas, its mission, spirituality and student integrity.

"I think it's as good as any I've ever seen," he said.

That's what has prompted his generosity toward the college even now while he lives nearly the whole year in Naples, Florida.

While the Andersons technically are residents of Naples, and formerly of Minneapolis, they are also known and respected in the Brainerd lakes area.

The Andersons are the former owners of Nisswa Marine. Before Wells Fargo bought the building in 1997, they also owned a bank in Pequot Lakes, in addition to 16 other banks.

His son still runs Nor-Son Construction in Baxter and Wayzata. His son-in-law still runs API Supply in Nisswa.

Anderson also owns a fleet of wood boats he’s shown at the Whitefish Chain and Gull Lake classic boat shows over the years. And he supported the Nisswa-stamman Scandinavian Folk Music Festival that was a popular Nisswa summer event for many years at the Pioneer Village.

Anderson said he has always felt an affinity for the Nisswa area.

"I grew up in Nisswa," he said. "I remember Main Street when it was dirt. Going back to the late ‘40s and early ‘50s I always loved that area. Our children and grandchildren and so forth love it up there as well. There will be Andersons there forever, I believe. It's a great town as well as Pequot Lakes."

Travis Grimler is a staff writer for the Pineandlakes Echo Journal weekly newspaper in Pequot Lakes/Pine River. He may be reached at 218-855-5853 or travis.grimler@pineandlakes.com.