Penn and American - Bloomington

[twincitizen]

I can't imagine an orange line station that's offline as mentioned in here. Wouldn't it be quite the stroadwalk from 35W/American Blvd to Penn/American Blvd? Hopefully that corridor can be tamed. Maybe if Southtown was redeveloped, this stretch of American Blvd could become American Multiway Boulevard with businesses and mixed use fronting the right of way.

Everything I've read indicates that an inline station would be built "between American Boulevard and 82nd St", which to me indicates that one would access the vertical circulation only from the south side of the American Boulevard bridge. How that works for people connecting to/from eastbound American Boulevard buses I have no friggin clue. HAWK in the middle of the American Boulevard bridge?

There's actually a surprising amount of transit activity in this area. Granted, it's an incomprehensible bowl of spaghetti, and probably lacks wayfinding signage entirely, but one could theoretically catch the 4 and 535 heading north/south, as well as three different suburban locals (538, 539, 542) basically right there at the corner of Penn & American or within the southtown complex.

EDIT: Some documentos http://www.dot.state.mn.us/metro/projec ... /docs.html

[ord2msp]

There are multiple alignments under consideration for the Orange Line right now at this station. Some of them stay inline with 35W while others venture on to Knox Ave. The Knox Ave alignment under consideration makes walking a possibility. Whether or not it's a pedestrian-friendly walk will be dependent on the city and developers of the (hopefully redeveloped) adjacent lots.

[twincitizen]

Phase 2 to include extended stay hotel & grocery on current City-owned property to the north of Genessee Apartments: http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/m ... ngton.html

Agenda item for tonight's Planning Commission meeting: http://www.ci.bloomington.mn.us/pccases ... 090513.pdf

a five-story mixed use building (63,150 square foot, 108 room extended stay hotel; 9,126 square feet of retail space; a 6,223 square foot, 200 seat restaurant; and3,075 square feet of common loading, dock, stairs and trash) and a one story, 28,605 square foot grocery store

EDIT: Item has been pushed back until Sept. 26 PC meeting.

[twincitizen]

Phase 2 was approved by the City Council on Sept. 26, but United Properties has just announced a 6-month delay to allow for ongoing negotiations with potential tenants: http://finance-commerce.com/transit/201 ... -approval/

It's too bad the Orange Line project isn't further along. With it projected to start service in 2019, the proposed development is more like TOD-lite and pretty much resembles mixed-use development everywhere, with no real reduction in parking or explicit focus on being transit-adjacent.

There's been some discussion over in the Orange Line topic, but the Knox Avenue tunnel option is picking up steam. That would mean a station at Knox/American instead of in the middle of the highway, putting it much closer to the heart of this redevelopment area.

[Scott16475]

A new all organic non-GMO produce grocery store is coming to the Penn and American area of Bloomington. The story can be found here: http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/m ... -penn.html

The website for the grocer is there: http://www.freshthyme.com/

Sounds cool!

[twincitizen]

I wonder if United will stick with the 6-month delay now that tenants appear to be locked up. The only piece that hasn't been announced is the 200-seat restaurant that would occupy part of the first floor of the hotel (or adjacent to the hotel, it's kind of unclear). Groundbreaking was supposed to be this month, but they pushed it back to April (see my previous post).

[twincitizen]

Rendering of the mixed-use hotel building and the separate grocery building. Home2 Suites and Fresh Thyme Market are signed on. No tenants announced for the retail space(s) in the ground floor of the hotel building.

http://resources.northmarq.com/Property ... eWidth=415

[Tcmetro]

Looks awful, but much better than a vacant lot.

[min-chi-cbus]

I don't think it's that bad. This is the I-494 Strip, afterall......not a lot between Hwy 100 and Hwy 77 looks all that amazing to me, and this would be a major upgrade over surface parking and strip malls. I especially like the round element that looks like a patio or a place for a restaurant. I'm not 100% sure why more buildings aren't built with more rounded shapes, but I'd imagine cost is a major culprit (for whatever reason).

[grant1simons2]

The supposed grocery building looks like a large storage facility imo.

[Mdcastle]

Looks like they threw darts at a blueprint to determine what exterior finish to use on a given section of wall.

[Anondson]

Southtown's owner really likes being a successful strip mall and doesn't want to be anything but. Finds prospect of adding density threatening to its success as a strip mall.

http://www.startribune.com/local/west/2 ... y#continue

In a way I can see their perspective, as much as I hate what they wish to be. They are right in that they are a very successful auto oriented strip mall and it is what they know how to do and they do it well.

[Anondson]

Bloomington backs off zoning changes requiring future redevelopment here be multi-use after car dealers and Southtown owners object.

http://finance-commerce.com/2014/09/blo ... um=twitter

[woofner]

Southtown was a rotting hole, though, as recently as what 10, 15 years ago. Suggests to me that it takes intensive management to keep it successful. Obviously KA has their heads up their asses, if they pulled them out maybe they'd realize that mixed use would diversify their revenue sources and insulate them from downturns in the various sectors as well as building in a customer base. Unfortunately they seem to have pressured their buddies on the planning commission to join them in pretending that an auto-oriented model has a future in a post-middle class USA. Hopefully Bloomington's planners will push back; despite the quote in the Strib that no residents have showed up to push for density here, people live in Bloomington for the convenience and I think they understand that adding density will maximize that.

[MNdible]

It's an interesting question. Yes, there certainly are great possibilities to redevelop the Southtown area. On the flip side, if current trends continue in the broader market area, I think we can expect to see that the densification and increasing wealth of the area will actually make the current uses much more valuable.

If you believe that we're not going to be building a lot more large retail centers in the inner ring suburbs, then those that remain become more desirable. If you believe that most people in Richfield, South Minneapolis, and Bloomington aren't actually going to be taking the bus to do their shopping errands (even if these same people are completely willing to take the bus to work), then having significant and accessible parking is important to the success of a retail center.

I'd suspect that KA isn't actually opposed to the idea of redevelopment, but that they'd much rather keep their options open. It may not be what's best for Bloomington, but it certainly makes a lot of sense for KA.

[blobs]

It's sink or swim and Bloomington is sinking. Look at Edina/SLP/Richfield they're doing things right.

[Mdcastle]

Bloomington seems to be holding it's own from what I can tell living here, and what's "right" is a matter of perspective. A lot of people want to live in an automobile oriented environment, and Bloomington has a lot to offer them, including places like Southtown where it's easy to get to and park out front.

[mattaudio]

Nobody cares what people like if we can't afford it.

[TommyT]

I can't help but wonder what would be so difficult by keeping the current structures at south town, building a level or two of underground shared parking for anything new that goes in and put the new developments on the current parking lot. Look at West End, in a way it's got the same concept with the parking garage under the center part and retail and restaurants on both sides of the road, I see this working the same way. Then again, I'm not a developer and have no idea if it would actually work or not. Just a fantasy in my head.

[min-chi-cbus]

There is also such a thing as a happy medium. I personally can't see Bloomington look like Uptown, or even South Mpls, so why force it? Maximize what people WILL accept and if you don't like it, skip Bloomington altogether.