urbanMSP

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150 units
Lakewinds Natural Grocery
Farmers Market Space?
Really great public spaces

Site Plan:

I could not find ANYTHING more detailed about the height of the project or any renderings! I DID find the project page though:

http://www.lyndalegardens.com/site-plans/


Based on the little we do know about this project, it seems as if the residential apartments portion of this site is relatively small, yet is somehow going to fit 150 units. Maybe it'll be fairly tall? It wouldn't make a dent in the "RIchfield skyline" considering there are neighbors that are 17 floors in the immediate vacinity! But I thought I remember hearing an original proposal for this site and it was a more meager 4-5 floors......we'll see I guess.

It's crazy how Richfield is more dense & amenity laden than like 2 whole swaths of south Minneapolis that precede it to the north.

They have done a tremendous job on the transformation of the Lyndale corridor over the past 20 years. I would've done the K-Mart redevelopment (now LA Fitness) a little differently. There are still tons of opportunities for change in the spaces between the recent developments. The Nicollet & Penn corridors need some love too.

I feel like if the schools and single family housing stock were improved, Richfield would start inching up those "Best suburb" informal polls.

Richfield's location and accessibility (highways and airport) make its development potential unbelievably high, and I'm kind of surprised it is not MORE developed than it is, and that may be in part due to its lackluster schools and community support (in relation to neighboring areas anyways....so I've been told). But remember, Minneapolis has a lot of other parts to it where it can redevelop and thrive, while in Richfield this IS the downtown for the city, and outside of this it only has the I-494 strip and possibly Hwy. 77 going for it.

So I think you are correct in saying that Richfield COULD be one of THE most sought-after places to live in the metro, depending on the circumstances. But I also think it could take a nosedive and become a suburban slum like Brooklyn Center....or worse! I think Richfield knows this and is doing everything it can to re-invent itself as a place for the elderly and young families (mostly immigrants). I'm excited to see how this specific area will continue to transform, and I'm also excited about the potential along Hwy. 77 and some of the redevelopment visions they have over there!

P.S. Call me crazy, but I kind of like Penn Ave the way it is!

I really like the way this project creates a sense of place around what body of water they do have. It really seems that they are looking to play for keeps, I agree this could become a great area.

For the life of me I cannot tell from those site plans if they plan to keep any of the existing structure. I drive past it semi-regularly to get to LA Fitness and they've really fixed things up lately. The glass has been cleaned and repaired and it almost looks like they're planning to reuse it. But those plans—despite the light gray area that roughly aligns with the current buildings—make it look like everything would get knocked down. Does anyone know more?

From the StarTrib article, all of the old Garden center will be demolished. It has apparently been vandalized...

The entire building will be demolished. It has been a fixture in Richfield for a long time, so there has been some desire by Richfielders for the new development to give it a "shout out" (my clunky wording, not theirs).

Cornerstone, who recently finished Lyndale Plaza across the street, is working on this one as well. Now that Lakewinds Co-Op has entered the picture as a co-owner, the development scenario has changed. Cornerstone will develop the 6-story apartments and adjacent retail sites, along with the community amenities (trails, splash pool for the kiddies, open air market space, etc). The apartments, especially the townhome portion are going to have a great view of the lake.

Lakewinds Co-op will own their store and develop it as a separate piece from everything else. On the southern end of the Co-op parking lot, there will a pad site reserved for future development.

The piece I'm really excited about is the on-street parking on Lyndale. It will be a curb cut-out, rather than using the existing roadway, but I think it could have a real effect on slowing down traffic in the area and making it a little more pedestrian friendly. I'm pretty sure speed limits are 35MPH on most of the major roads in Richfield, and I'd like to see that brought down to 30MPH. There's really no reason that speed limits are 30MPH throughout Minneapolis, but jump to 35MPH or worse as soon as you hit Richfield.

The part I'm not thrilled about is all of the parking lot fronting the street. The NE portion of the development is shown as surface parking and mentions an "outdoor market" or something like that. I imagine it will be used as surface parking 95% of the time. I'm not sure why you wouldn't pull the apartment a little closer to the street, leaving room for more open space near the lake. I wish some of the Co-op parking was structured as well, to leave a little more room to develop street-facing retail or more apartments.
Check out how crazy this parcel is: http://gis.co.hennepin.mn.us/property/m ... 2824110088

Thank you for the updates!

Why do people keep saying these streets are too fast? 35 mph (or 40 if you bend the rules) is quick but nothing out of the ordinary, especially for most streets with major commercial activity. I believe that's what the standard is actually. I realize Lyndale has both residential and commercial uses, but in this particular area it's heavily commercial and 35 mph makes sense to me.

Maybe it's because I'm not a cyclist...

For me, it mostly has to do with the risk of death in a collision -- a pedestrian is almost certain to survive a crash that occurs at 20 mph, and almost certain to die in a crash that occurs at 40 mph. There are graphs of this data somewhere, but I haven't been able to find a good version online.

There's also a problem that the human visual cortex generally evolved to deal with slower-moving things. For me, 35 mph is around the point where objects can "appear out of nowhere". When I'm a driver, I tend not to see pedestrians waiting to cross the street until it's too late to slow down or stop and let them go. When I'm a pedestrian, oncoming cars sometimes don't really seem to be moving -- remain part of the background -- until they're right on top of me. It's not so bad when everyone is paying attention, but if I'm at all distracted and am relying on innate and learned reflexes, things could end badly.

I get that, and sympathize with cyclists out there, but what do you think when you're driving? 3I know when I'm going 30 can it can feel SLOW at times when I have to get somewhere! But yeah, if I were sharing the street and going half the speed of traffic it would make me pretty nervous!

Plus, once you get to Richfield, there is generally a lot less on street parking and you can see a really long way most of the time. 35 seems fine. This area has certainly changed over the last several years. I still picture Lyndale hardware on the corner of 66th there. I'm excited to see how the feel of the street changes when this is finished. Plus - at the risk of sounding too ignorant - I had no idea there's a lake.

I get that, and sympathize with cyclists out there, but what do you think when you're driving? 3I know when I'm going 30 can it can feel SLOW at times when I have to get somewhere! But yeah, if I were sharing the street and going half the speed of traffic it would make me pretty nervous!

If you're going 35 instead of 30 on surface streets (because you're in a hurry) and your destination is less than 10 miles, any ground you gained as a drive is instantly killed at a stop light so, I don't really see the difference for the driver other than their perception of their speed while driving.

Planning Commission Monday night: http://www.ci.richfield.mn.us/modules/s ... entid=2791

The apartment and retail portion of this project has been approved by the City Council, pending approval of the Lakewinds Co-op portion of the site. The Co-op is going to own their building and is considered a separate project, as far as the approvals process goes. The apartment/retail portion is pending due to the shared parking and cross access agreements between the two developments. No reason to think it won't all go through.

Check out this connectivity plan/study that SEH recently completed for the "Lakes at Lyndale" area, which is basically the greater Lyndale & 66th area. I'm glad they aren't forcing a "Downtown Richfield" branding on the area.

http://www.ci.richfield.mn.us/index.aspx?page=646

It looks like the current lane widths on both Lyndale and 66th are a whopping 13.5 feet. The same number of lanes will be maintained, but all through lanes will be reduced to 11 feet. This will leave room for 5' bike lanes on both 66th and Lyndale. The medians, boulevards, and sidewalks will all see some improvements too.

66th Street is planned for full reconstruction in 2016-7, from Xerxes to Cedar. That is a huge deal for Richfield and will define the community's main street for decades to come. I really hope Hennepin County gets it right! http://hennepin.us/portal/site/Hennepin ... fe4689RCRD

This project has been under way for a while now. The right lane of Lyndale is closed going past the site and an awful lot of dirt has been moved. There are even some prefab concrete walls and the start of an elevator shaft (?) standing in place. I'm surprisingly excited to see how this turns out.

I think the construction up to now is just for the new Lakewinds Co-Op. The apartments are in the far northwest corner of the site. Coincidentally, it looks like it will start very soon, as the project was just awarded funds from the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency.

http://www.mnhousing.gov/wcs/Satellite? ... dardLayout

http://www.mnhousing.gov/wcs/Satellite? ... inary=true

Lakewinds Co-op is open, and it is nice. Happy to have Peace Coffee as well.

The apartment building has yet to begin construction. It could be early 2015 before it breaks ground.

Unfortunately coming down Lyndale, your view is of the blank rear corner of Lakewinds. They missed an opportunity there.

Plans are to add a retail building on the back of Lakewinds.

http://www.lyndalegardens.com/wp-conten ... leView.jpg (SB Lyndale view)

Site Plan: