Hopkins - General Topics

[Anondson]

Environmental review of Blake Road Station beginning. https://finance-commerce.com/2020/08/ho ... -near-lrt/

[Korh]

I wonder which project will be completed first between the Cold Storage site and the Blake Road Station given how there maybe less then 1000 ft away from each other.

[alexschief]

Has there been any talk about redeveloping the car dealership directly next to the future Hopkins Station?

It has always struck me as strange that there's been so much chatter about development at Blake and at Wooddale, and of course there already has been development at the Hopkins Station, and yet there's been nothing big that I have seen about one of the SWLRT's most developable plots of land.

[Anondson]

Luther is silent. They also bought the abandoned industrial lots in the triangle plot by the highway just so nothing could be built there to block line of sight to their main building.

And their big Mainstreet plot of land on the east end of Mainstreet sitting as mostly empty parking.

My lowest expectation hope is they sell their station-adjacent parcel, then rebuild on the highway adjacent site. But their silent.

[twincitizen]

They aren’t likely to shut down just because the property is valuable. This is a huge business. Bigger than the few million bucks the property would sell for over the cost of any new property they’d be buying, plus relocation/rebuilding costs.

They also can’t move anywhere that would violate dealer rules that forbid operating within X miles of another Honda dealer. With Jaguar Land Rover, it was 10 miles...not sure if Honda is the same. Let’s assume they can’t get any closer to Richfield-Bloomington Honda (only 7 miles), so that rules out moving south or east. And Brookdale Honda is about 10 miles northeast. The only plausible spot looks like 394 corridor, likely west of 494, in the Wayzata auto strip. Great location for them to land, but property isn’t exactly cheap there

[Anondson]

In the City Council agenda for Oct 20, the EAWS for Blake Road Station’s proposed 750+ apartments is in New Business. Mildly pleased to see MNDOT recommend raised crossings for sidewalks and also recommend U-style or post-and-ring bike racks.

But we are also seeing finally a proposal for Hopkins Village II. A few years back Hopkins Village, an 11-story senior apartment on Mainstreet came to the city looking for feedback about developing housing on their massive surface parking lot at the corner of 6th and Mainstreet.

There is now a proposal for 44 units of housing at the corner of 6th and Mainstreet, including eight 3-bedroom units. Ground floor has four walk up units.
Scroll to the end of the agenda for the proposal.

https://www.hopkinsmn.com/AgendaCenter/ ... ?html=true

[Korh]

Bit of some late news but the Manns theater on Mainstreet is now permanently closed.
No idea if another movie theater chain will take it over after the pandemic ends or if the land will be used for a new development.

[Anondson]

Drove by this evening to see the sign saying it’s permanently closed, after the Nextdoor raging about the belief it’ll be apartments.

It’s done for good.

[Korh]

I don't know what I'd prefer.
Part of me kind of wouldn't mind if someone would turn it into something like the Trylon Cinema or the Uptown Theatre (maybe even change the tower to make it look like the old Hopkins Theater).
Part of would be fine with another project like the Moline but on Mainstreet.

But tbh I'm expecting it to just sit as an empty building for 2-3 years before any plans are announced and/or approved.

[Anondson]

Beard group has a website of their proposal to replace the budget Mann theater on Mainstreet.

https://hopkinscinemaflats.com/

“This project is a mixed-use development with both 2,776 square feet of retail space on the first floor and 131 luxury, market-rate apartment homes.”

Down the block is the Vista 42 proposal of supportive housing.

It’ll be wild to see people swing from “the low income housing is too close!” to “where’s the affordable housing?” all on the same block.

[Anondson]

The city of Hopkins is taking community feedback.

https://twitter.com/CityofHopkins/statu ... 0607738881

[Anondson]

Minneapolis Business Journal on the Cinema Flats proposal of 131 “luxury” apartments to replace the Mann discount theater.

https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... ments.html

[Korh]

I didn't know that the Beard group already owned the building/land the theater was on. I may take back my early comment about it being 2-3 years before anything is approved cause there might be a lot less hoops to jump through due to having to purchase land if you already own it.
Might be soon actually since looking at their portfolio the group already has 6 developments in Hopkins (2 on mainstreet, 3 around 2nd st NE, and 1 on excelsior)
That being said, not to big of a fan of the design of the building in the proposal, and I kinda think the retail space could be used for something else besides everyday services and goods, but I guess its alright.

[mckilanowski]

Well... It's been a while since I've been on here. I need to keep keeping up.

Minneapolis Business Journal on the Cinema Flats proposal of 131 “luxury” apartments to replace the Mann discount theater.

https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... ments.html

Am I sad that my days of walking to the theater with the kids and spending under $20 for a movie and treats are done? Yes. Am I okay with another of these 4-story apartments going up downtown? Also yes. You can't have businesses and amenities in a city without people there to use them. Hopkins can stand for a little more density.

Perhaps the Center for the Arts could do some family movie days to make up for it. You know, when there isn't a pandemic anymore.

[Anondson]

Word is that Beard (decades-long property owner of this site and apartment developer) pulled back the proposal after getting feedback from city staff, and will resubmit after adjustments.

[mckilanowski]

Random find: https://www.hopkinsmn.com/AgendaCenter/ ... 042020-186

Apparently there was a denial of a variance to turn an existing single-family home on 7th Ave into an up-down duplex. To be honest, it seems ridiculous that the variance was denied for the sake of restricting as many houses as possible to single-family. I mean, on my block alone there are two side-by-side duplexes and one up-down duplex, neither of which are discernible from the single-family homes without a pause for scrutiny. If you ask me, the closest thing to an eyesore on my block is the mini-McMansion jammed in to the narrow lot across the street from me.

Also in the paperwork is mention of ADUs, but only as something that has been potentially recommended but not adopted in the city's zoning. Hopkins is starting to get pricey, and it's projects like this that could add much needed affordable housing, one project at a time.

[mckilanowski]

Word is that Beard (decades-long property owner of this site and apartment developer) pulled back the proposal after getting feedback from city staff, and will resubmit after adjustments.

Any idea what the feedback was? I'm guessing that there were complaints of too many units. God forbid we have density in the one part of our city where it makes most sense to have it.

[Anondson]

That duplex denial was a big disappointment. The city is not serious about making strides to housing affordability variety when this low hanging fruit is shut out for the reasons city staff cited.

[Anondson]

Any idea what the feedback was?

No idea. But I doubt staff would voice feedback about density proposed. More likely about façade facing Mainstreet and the Center of the Arts being plain and comparatively non-distinct to what it’s replacing.

[Korh]

Now that you mention the facade, doesn't the lot fall in the area of mainstreet that has a few guidelines of what buildings can look like?
I forget where the zone is and what the guidelines are exactly but I know it's in place to keep to a similar style.