Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development

Twin Cities Suburbs
twincitizen
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Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development

Postby twincitizen » March 31st, 2016, 8:23 am

Agree that the utility is questionable, but this looks really inexpensive. If MNDOT allows it, it seems like an easy decision. Direct access to the north mall area from NB 77 and quick exit to EB 494. For the latter, I'd guess their justification is that they believe the 24th Ave/American intersection will be overwhelmed when the area is completely built out. The easy entrance onto EB 494 keeps a few cars away from waiting for left turns at that intersection. Seems reasonable to me.

It doesn't take up much land or look like it would cost a whole lot, so I see no real reason why they wouldn't do this. Preferably paid for by the future development rather than the city, at any cost.

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jw138
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Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development

Postby jw138 » March 31st, 2016, 8:49 am

When this area is fully built out and quite dense, if additional pressure needs to be relieved is there enough room for a flyover to west-bound 494 for funneling traffic out of the area?

HiawathaGuy
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Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development

Postby HiawathaGuy » April 14th, 2016, 2:57 pm

Last section of apartments have now started, as has work on the central parking ramp. This is really looking nice. I was surprised/impressed to see all the windows are Pella windows!

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American Blvd & 34th Ave S. View
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Bloomington Central Station LRT Platform View
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Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development

Postby mulad » May 9th, 2016, 3:51 pm

James Lileks had a column up about the former Thunderbird (Ramada) hotel today:

http://www.startribune.com/a-final-fare ... 378657431/

seanrichardryan
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Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development

Postby seanrichardryan » May 9th, 2016, 4:11 pm

Auction Masters is selling all of the flotsam: http://www.auctionmasters.com/cgi-bin/m ... amasters12
Q. What, what? A. In da butt.

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Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development

Postby DanPatchToget » March 2nd, 2017, 9:25 am

Construction going on at the surface lot just across the street (east) from the 28th Avenue Station parking ramp. Anyone know what's being built?

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Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development

Postby Qhaberl » April 10th, 2017, 4:44 pm

Was just curious if anyone had any information on the lemar project, The project located just west of American Boulevard station. The first freeze contained 400 apartment units. Last time I went by on the train, it looks like the parking lot just south of the development was torn up. I would also be curious to know how much of the Lennar apartment complex is rented out.


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domestic traveler
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Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development

Postby domestic traveler » July 25th, 2017, 12:24 pm

Came across this board and find it very interesting.

Last month I moved into the Indigo Apts and was wary of the jet noise. It's there, but not as bad as I thought. What's worse, is the light rail amplified "bell" along 34th Street. Apparently, when the driver sounds the bell, all the loudspeakers facing both front and back play the sound. And they play it at the station and the road crossings so it's almost constant through the area. The bell sound is not a pure bell like on a real locomotive, but seems to be a a discordant chord that's just irritating enough to be a good warning signal.

Sitting on the balcony is nice. Sitting inside with the screen door open can be noisy when the jets are departing. The windows are good at sound proofing the jets, not the light rail.

The bike locker is great though with the complex is just over 50% full the bike locker is about 90% full already. Most of the residents appear to be under 35 and very few children are around.

We still need cars to get to work, but not to go downtown or to the airport. The 54 bus stops right there for a quick ride to Terminal 1, St Paul and the Saints stadium.

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Nathan
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Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development

Postby Nathan » September 11th, 2017, 11:08 am

Saw some guys with plans showing a series of 3 or more office buildings, very similar to the xcel building on Nicollet for this area. No real information, looked nice enough though.

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Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development

Postby HiawathaGuy » September 19th, 2017, 9:55 am

Bloomington locks up Kelley Farm to woo World's Fair — and maybe Amazon
https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... orlds.html
*LOCKED*

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Snipits:
If Minnesota is chosen to host the 2022 or 2023 World’s Fair, the summer-long festivities will take place in Bloomington, just southeast of the Mall of America.

The Bloomington Port Authority has negotiated an option to buy the 59-acre Kelley Farm in a deal that is a short-term play to win the Expo (the official name for the World's Fair). But the city may also use the site in a pitch for Amazon.com Inc.'s second headquarters.

The purchase price is $32.3 million. The Authority is paying $75,000 for the exclusive option for the property, which means that if the Port Authority doesn’t follow through on the deal, the O’Neill family keeps the $75,000. It basically gives the Port Authority an out if Minnesota doesn't get the Expo. The assessed value of the land is $25.2 million.

One source familiar with the Kelley Farm deal confirmed that Bloomington, as a secondary reason for the purchase, wants control of the land in hopes of luring Amazon to the site.

It appears the Kelley Farm site, with help from surrounding land owners, could satisfy the Amazon RFP. The farm has about 35 acres of developable land, but surrounding sites could push the total acreage to 100, which is what Amazon is seeking. It’s also near a light rail stop, which Amazon desires.

The city has hired Minneapolis-based Ryan Cos. US Inc. as a real estate consultant, as some of the buildings that go up on the site will be permanent.

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Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development

Postby QuietBlue » September 20th, 2017, 7:41 am

How tall can buildings be there, with the runway to the north?

HiawathaGuy
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Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development

Postby HiawathaGuy » September 20th, 2017, 10:51 am

How tall can buildings be there, with the runway to the north?
It's in the MN Safety Zone B, but it's not very easy to find specifics... I know that buildings near Bloomington Central Station cannot be over 14 stories. I also gathered that the height restrictions ease the further away from Zone A.

It'll be interesting to see what Ryan Companies puts together for the Expo bid.

Bloomington approves purchase of Kelley Farm for possible World's Fair site

http://www.startribune.com/bloomington- ... 446104783/

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sdho
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Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development

Postby sdho » November 16th, 2017, 6:45 pm

https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-l ... 457750723/

Bloomington's mayor saying that the Port Authority should give up the 60-acre chunk of land -- adjacent to another 15 acres of land that is owned by MAC -- because they didn't get the world's fair.

What the hell? I had always assumed the World's Fair was a temporary use, and the goal was to have more precise direction of the full development of the South Loop area.

The price agreed to seems like a good deal. I can't imagine why they'd back out.

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Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development

Postby HiawathaGuy » November 17th, 2017, 9:10 am

https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-l ... 457750723/

Bloomington's mayor saying that the Port Authority should give up the 60-acre chunk of land -- adjacent to another 15 acres of land that is owned by MAC -- because they didn't get the world's fair.

What the hell? I had always assumed the World's Fair was a temporary use, and the goal was to have more precise direction of the full development of the South Loop area.

The price agreed to seems like a good deal. I can't imagine why they'd back out.
Quote from the Business Journal article when this purchase agreement was first announced:

"The purchase price is $32.3 million. The Authority is paying $75,000 for the exclusive option for the property, which means that if the Port Authority doesn’t follow through on the deal, the O’Neill family keeps the $75,000. It basically gives the Port Authority an out if Minnesota doesn't get the Expo. The assessed value of the land is $25.2 million."

I think they always had the plan to back out if Minnesota didn't land the Expo. And paying ~$7 million more than assessed value may not be a "good deal" to Bloomington. It'll be interesting to see what happens next.

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sdho
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Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development

Postby sdho » November 17th, 2017, 10:12 am

I'm not sure the County assessed value reflects the potential value after fuller build-out of the district. By comparison, Port Authority paid $18 million for the Thunderbird -- $2 million an acre (which understandably was more valuable being by freeway and having improvements on it — but their intent was to level and develop the vacant land). IndiGo developer paid nearly a million an acre for that site.

I'm not necessarily a cheerleader for Bloomington's South Loop -- which seems outrageously auto-centric for a TOD district. But I think they would be standing in their own way to let this go.

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Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development

Postby HiawathaGuy » November 29th, 2017, 1:09 pm

https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-l ... 457750723/

Bloomington's mayor saying that the Port Authority should give up the 60-acre chunk of land -- adjacent to another 15 acres of land that is owned by MAC -- because they didn't get the world's fair.

What the hell? I had always assumed the World's Fair was a temporary use, and the goal was to have more precise direction of the full development of the South Loop area.

The price agreed to seems like a good deal. I can't imagine why they'd back out.
Looks like you might be correct about them holding onto this...

Despite lost Expo bid, Bloomington still wants to buy the farm near Mall of America
https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... ts-to.html
*LOCKED*

Tidbit:
Bloomington still might buy a 59-acre farm near Mall of America, even though it no longer needs the land for hosting the 2023 World’s Fair.

Members of the Bloomington City Council and Port Authority directed staff on Monday night to negotiate a new purchase agreement for the farm, said Port Authority Administrator Schane Rudlang.

It’s unclear if Bloomington will seek a better price on the acquisition. The city could also be seeking an extension on its option to buy the property. Rudlang said he couldn’t discuss the new parameters the city is seeking in a purchase agreement.

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Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development

Postby HiawathaGuy » December 14th, 2017, 4:19 pm

Indigo Phase II - 400 units, plans to break ground in early 2018.
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Another 400 apartments planned next to Bloomington Central Station

*LOCKED*

Tidbits:
The six-story project is very similar to the one Lennar Multifamily Communities finished last year just north of the site, which is called IndiGo.
The project would have 607 parking stalls, less than the 841 required for such a project.
The building also would have 3,900 square feet of retail space.

“The Lennar project leased up really well and quickly and that’s why McGough is excited to move forward with another phase,” said Bloomington Port Authority Administrator Schane Rudlang. “If these residential projects continue to be successful I think there could be more residential [in future phases].”

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Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development

Postby Tcmetro » March 3rd, 2018, 8:37 am

The project in the post above (Indigo Phase 2) is going to Planning Commission on March 8th. All the supporting docs are here:

http://meetings.bloomingtonmn.gov:8080/ ... lect=49362

From the looks of the Central Station map (in the documents above), this rounds out the residential portion of the project. The rest of the project seems to be 1.9 Million Sq Ft of office space (400K for HealthPartners) and ~9900 parking spaces in 6 garages. That is quite a bit of space (with what seems to be little interest right now); I wonder if they will proceed with the office plans or switch to more residential.

mattaudio
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Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development

Postby mattaudio » April 6th, 2018, 10:12 am

Southtown losing Herbergers anchor:
http://www.startribune.com/herberger-s- ... 478985953/

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Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development

Postby Anondson » April 6th, 2018, 11:43 am

I think the Southtown location has a pretty high opportunity to be redeveloped especially seeing the BRT will run right next to it. I hope the shopping center owner is open to something.

The Southdale location would not be as easily repurposed though I can imagine something creatively.


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