urbanMSP

Saw this in the Longfellow/Nokomis Messenger,

http://www.longfellownokomismessenger.c ... ongfellow/

Community engagement meeting Jan. 3 at 730p, Longfellow Rec. Center. Looks very interesting.

EDIT: Preliminary plans http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups ... 192028.pdf
48k sf grocery, 150 units

Interesting project. It will be interesting to see how they handle the traffic.

Aldi & TJ usually 10-165k sq ft. Fresh Thyme around 26k. Too small for a cub or Hy vee.
Kowalskis?

“This store will bring grocery goods and services not currently offered in the trade area, and what consumers have come to expect in a grocery store: hot food bar with seating areas, grab and go options, large fresh bakery and large deli, floral, and organic offerings, as well as standard ‘center isle’ items,”

Not TJ/Aldi, that's for sure. Fresh Thyme a real possibility.

I think it's really important that this development pick up the Falls Liquor site (corner of Minnehaha Ave & 46th). The city owns the house just south of Falls Liquor, so that too could be incorporated, giving the project good frontage on Minnehaha and 46th.

If anyone wants to click around the parcels in the area, here you go: https://gis.hennepin.us/property/map/de ... 2823120085

At the meeting now, will try to rely what I can.

Informative meeting. I think it must have gone similarly to other presentations of this sort, with the usual NIMBYs bringing up congestion and traffic complaints. There were, however, quite a few attendees in favor of the density, who also brought up pedestrian and biking concerns. The power lines seem to be the most challenging aspect of the space.

A second phase could go in the space near the DQ and the Somali restaurant that's in the old Bridgeman's. Talk of redevelopment of the strip mall was brought up, but that would be in the future and depend on the current owners.

Someone brought up incorporating Falls Liquor in the project and the development team was favorable to that. The owner of Falls Liquor was there, but he didn't talk about any plans involving his store and this project.

Here are a couple of pictures. These and others should be available for download at some point soon.

https://imgur.com/APKhNde

https://imgur.com/4R1dFvF

Those blocks of homeowners between 46th and Minnehaha Park have long-standing complaints about parking - I remember them trying to push for a critical parking area, and CM Johnson was not interested. And don't get them started on Car2Go.

Regarding the power lines... Could they pay to relocate them over or next to the Hwy 55 right of way? That would free up a significant amount of land for actual development.

I think they are in discussion with Xcel in regards to possibly moving the power lines, sounded like a slow and cumbersome process. I believe the cost of burying them in the three block area was mentioned at around 6 million dollars, so they didn't foresee that happening.

They said a study of the 46th St corridor showed about 70 percent automobile ownership. Parking for the residents will be underground. The grocery store surface parking is seen in the plan image, behind the building. It will be accessible from 55, the exit that goes to Burger King, so no need to go up the 46th St and also from Snelling, which will be extended past 46th St.

The anti-project crowd was worried about their neighborhood losing its character, but the developers and CM Andrew Johnson did a good job of explaining how this project will enhance the area.

If paying to have the transmission lines buried is more than they want to spend, it would be cheaper have them relocated over to the edge of Hiawatha, like they are north of 40th St, as Matt says. It would still cost a couple million, though. (I'm not a spokesperson for Xcel Energy, nor do I have any particular expertise in transmission lines, etc.)

The anti-project crowd was worried about their neighborhood losing its character, but the developers and CM Andrew Johnson did a good job of explaining how this project will enhance the area.

Probably to no effect.

The only reason why the transmission lines are over this parcel in the first place is because the Milwaukee Road was there, and a railroad was a more natural place to put high-voltage lines when they were first installed. Remember, Hiawatha was a city street with zero-setback buildings even this far south, long before it was a DOT-built superstroad.

Will the grocery/retail cover the entire 1st level, or just the side near 46th St?

The anti-project crowd was worried about their neighborhood losing its character, but the developers and CM Andrew Johnson did a good job of explaining how this project will enhance the area.

Probably to no effect.

Haha, yep. At the end of the meeting I overheard a woman who must have a home near the site ask one of the developers if the number of stories was negotiable and why they chose 5 stories, if it was just a random number that they threw out there.

Will the grocery/retail cover the entire 1st level, or just the side near 46th St?

I believe the entire 1st floor. The main entrance to the grocery store will be facing the surface parking lot.

Haha, yep. At the end of the meeting I overheard a woman who must have a home near the site ask one of the developers if the number of stories was negotiable and why they chose 5 stories, if it was just a random number that they threw out there.

"Yeah, we actually just rolled a die, it came up 5, so we told the architect to draw it that tall."

The anti-project crowd was worried about their neighborhood losing its character

You have to admit that the existing structures are chock full of character.

Any hints as to which grocery store? Oppidan is behind the Fresh Thyme mixed-use development in St. Louis Park (west of Excelsior & Grand), so that's still where I'm putting my money.

I'm torn as to whether including the Falls Liquor site is critically important or not really. On one hand, we urbanists often claim that several smaller footprint developments are better than one large one. But on the other hand, there's the concern of leaving small, hard-to-develop parcels that might not be touched for a long time, if ever. Especially with it being a liquor store, boosting the asking price for the property, it's unlikely to be touched anytime soon if it isn't brought into this project. If Fresh Thyme (or whoever) wanted to, they would obviously have the first shot at operating a liquor store in place of Falls Liquor. But seeing as how there are already project drawings without the Falls Liquor property, it probably isn't happening...

I think about 2 or 3 people asked which grocery store and each time it was answered with a, don't know. But one of the developers did mention that they have worked with about 11 different grocers in local projects, basically trying to say that they didn't just work with one specific one. He highlighted the sit down eating, grab-and-go, ethnic foods, etc. options just like what was mentioned in the article.

Doesn't look like this got posted, they submitted plans to CPC Committee of the Whole: http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups ... 192028.pdf

This isn't a formal application, this is just basically asking the CPC what they think of the project and getting their input on the proposal.

I'm going to wager that Hy-Vee could very well be the grocery store. They just opened one in downtown Des Moines that's 35,000 sq feet in a similar development. A lot of their stores are 80,000+ sq feet and if they want to get into the city of Minneapolis, they'll have to go smaller.

Des Moines project: http://www.urbandsm.com/downtown/420-court-hy-vee

Pretty unfortunate placement of the "bike landing". Distant from the grocery doors and across the road.

If that is where the bike parking needs to be I hope the Snelling extension cold be "woonerfized".