urbanMSP

I hope so. Seems like a development that the transit center could integrate with nicely. Hopefully no one objects to the transit center staying put because they don't want "those people" being close to their luxury tower, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Wouldn't a better location for the transit center potentially be the south side of the mall? It would add a little extra running time to the 515 and other routes that come into the current location from the north/east, but the potential ridership gains by moving the transit center into the walkshed of all the dense housing south of Southdale would seem worth it. Agreed that a good location would be on 69th near AMC and Galleria.

In the southbound direction, the E Line would still swing through the hospital campus (65th & Drew Station), then take 66th to southbound York, where it would turn right on 69th to the new station. In the northbound direction it would barely be a change from the current route pattern, as buses leaving the current transit center first head south around the ring road to York & "68th" (Cub Foods stoplight) to go north on York. It would add like one minute of running time to have buses layover somewhere on 69th.

Moving it further north to 66th Street seems a big step backwards to me. Also, it seems worthwhile to explore if we really need a "transit center" on mall property, or could the transit needs in this area be met by building eastbound and westbound BRT station platforms on 69th St (or 66th if there's no appetite to shift it south of the mall)? I'm picturing extra long aBRT platforms in each direction that could accommodate buses laying over, with a restroom at one or both of the platforms. All of the features of a transit center without the "center", built in existing ROW instead of on mall property.

When they say first floor, I assume that they mean the ground floor with frontage facing northeast? If so, that's going to become a very congested little area, with a pretty terrible parking layout for a grocery store.

Macy’s furniture store to be redeveloped with housing and offices.

Quite overdue. https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... loped.html

When they say first floor, I assume that they mean the ground floor with frontage facing northeast? If so, that's going to become a very congested little area, with a pretty terrible parking layout for a grocery store.

Looks like the Kowalski's will be on the upper floor of the old Herberger's (facing southeast). That would seem to make a lot more sense, since they'll have that corner of the parking lot all to themselves. Curious what becomes of the lower level now.

Also, I wonder how they'll handle deliveries -- grocery stores take a lot more deliveries from many different vendors, way more than any other stores at a mall would need. I can't imagine that they'll push deliveries through one of the mall's common loading docks.

Following the news of P.F. Chang's closing, it appears there are more moves happening on that side of the mall:

Macy’s furniture store to be redeveloped with housing and offices.

Quite overdue. https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... loped.html

Here's the Environmental Analysis Worksheet (EAW): https://www.bettertogetheredina.org/746 ... ents/43260

The Macy's Furniture redevelopment site plan has been updated: https://www.bettertogetheredina.org/ske ... -site-2024.

No major changes, slight reduction in units to accommodate larger setbacks from the promenade trail. They're still talking about a bike/ped bridge over France to connect the 9 Mile Creek Trail, but that's not shown in the sketch plans. Is Three Rivers Parks even advocating for such a bridge, or is that something the public has been requesting? It certainly isn't going to be built by the developer without a majority contribution of public dollars. It would certainly be an improvement over waiting to cross at the France/Gallagher stoplight, but I'm not sure how they make it work without taking some property on the SW corner of the intersection, which isn't currently being redeveloped.

There's a market for new suburban office space?

WSJ reports on Southdale’s $400M revamp bringing luxury national retailers.

If you have Apple News

https://apple.news/A4pI027lCRlWtv6X2ilTAtA

Or web, https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... coach.html

https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/commerc ... e-d1051098

“The company has signed leases with luxury brands Burberry, Gucci, Moncler and two other retailers to fill the new shops, which are scheduled to open next year. Other high-end retailers are also taking space inside the mall near the new luxury wing, including Max Mara, Kate Spade, Tory Burch, Breitling and Coach.”

Southdale played the long game and the Galleria lost. Wonder if the exodus form the Galleria picks up more now.

I know they are closing some Macy's and I wonder how that affects Southdale. I don't think it will close but if this is going high end some Macy's are being converted to Bloomingdale's or the smaller format Bloomie's. It should be interesting as I didn't see this coming.

The rumor that I am hearing is that the Southdale Macy's stays as is and the Ridgedale Macy's is converted to a Bloomingdales to better compete with the Nordstrom at that mall. Lifetime and Equinox (would be the 1st location in Minnesota) also have their eyes on the JC Penny's space at Ridgedale.

I was at Galleria yesterday. I wouldn’t worry about them too much. It was packed with shoppers of all ages and had only a few closed storefronts. It felt like shopping in the 80s again.

If they're trying to inch up market a bit, hopefully someone will think to buy a vacuum for the movie theater.

If they're trying to inch up market a bit, hopefully someone will think to buy a vacuum for the movie theater.

Seriously LOL - we go to that AMC all the time since it has the only Dolby Cinema in the West Metro.

Billionaires be billionaires. Having the Galleria & Southdale Mall compete for the many luxury retailers is good.

Now if only they could treat the many workers and residents in the area with respect by (a) having a legit transit station on the county library property as part of its redevelopment, and Southdale Mall creating a grid of streets on its property to make it more walkable & bike able.