Did a little google searching:
http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_ ... attracting
"Cleanup costs and the national economic slump prompted a local developer, the Ryan Cos., to walk away from a proposed $850 million mixed-use development in 2009. The plan was to build 1,750 units of housing units next to offices and shops."
Not very thorough, but there you go.
At 2.3 persons per household, that would be 4025 new residents in little ol' Arden Hills. Is growth of that scale in presumably a very short time period (a couple of years) really good for a community that size?
I don't think of it as growth for the "little community of Arden Hills", but rather, the Twin Cities suburbs. In that light, yes, I can see the growth of 4K-5K people within 5-10 years as very very managable.
Preferably, given this site's proximity to both downtowns and accessibility to the freeways, population densities with this construction SHOULD be exceeding 5,000 ppsm, and more like 8,000-10,000 ppsm, if possible. We have so few opportunities to build this close to the core, and we've already sprawled out 20+ miles in every direction from the core with low-density development that I feel that any opportunity to build more sustainable urban/semi-urban housing is a must! In fact, I think city or county legislators should mandate than any new developments in landlocked cities should portray more urban-like amenities, such as density, walkability, access to mass transit, etc.