Southside - News & General Topics

[mattaudio]

Apparently the new Linden Hills restaurant(s) slated for the former Bayer Hardware space
(http://blogs.citypages.com/food/2014/11 ... harcey.php)
...is dead due to Harcey apparently backing out.

[cooperrez]

Peppers and Fries opened this week. I haven't been yet, but the place was quite busy the past two nights.

[cooperrez]

I joined some friends for Bingo at The American Legion (classy right?) last night in the Longfellow Neighborhood and overheard a some women talking that one of the women was opening another pizza place across from the chatterbox pub in S. Minneapolis. "Another" would assume they already have one if not multiple locations around town. Anyone know what pizza place this might be and which of the two buildings it's going into? Looks like there is a one story brick building on one corner and another one story gray building on the other.

Looks like the interior of 3507 23rd Ave S, the brick building, is getting some work done to it. The white sheet in the window that you can see in Google Street view is still there and there are a couple of bags of Mortamix in there too. That would be my guess for the pizza place.

[twincitizen]

I have a juicy rumor for you Corcoranites: Maaco is looking to leave its current site at 2005 East Lake Street. So if you know any developers looking in the area or want to snap that property up before it gets re-used by another automotive tenant, keep an eye out.

That whole stretch from 19th-21st looks pretty ragged. What's the big vacant lot at 19th & Lake?

[PhilmerPhil]

Another juicy rumor for this area that should be taken with an enormous grain of salt.

A coworker of mine told me that someone she knows who works for Home Depot said that they might open up in the former Rainbow space on Lake and Minnehaha.

This would be a mixed blessing for me. On one hand I'd hate to see the continuation of big box land use here, but on the other, it'd save me lots of driving trips to the burbs on weekends when I have lots of home improvement stuff to get (smaller stuff I get at the Nicollet Ace), and I'd be able to easily bike there!

[twincitizen]

A home improvement store would be great (as a big box re-use can be), but I'm skeptical on it being Home Depot...Seems too close to the Richfield location, just 4 miles down Cedar.

[Silophant]

Its also only about four miles from the Quarry location.

[mattaudio]

I spent PLENTY of time at the Richfield HD... which is already a smaller store than their average size. Rainbow would be much smaller, and does not have the same level of dock access, side area for outdoor garden space, etc. But maybe they have a new urban store layout that fits into smaller big boxes.

That said, I have noticed a definite shift with HD over the past few years, at least at Richfield, to carry things that fit more with an older housing stock... 32" exterior doors, more materials that fit with old house aesthetics, etc. Menards OTOH is still selling products geared for a 1996 exurban ranch home with a pole barn next to it.

[FISHMANPET]

I worked at Menards for a year and a half, I think that company just has no idea what it's doing. It's 1996 and everybody needs a polebarn, forever.

[seanrichardryan]

John Menard Jr. is worth like $8 billion, so they're doing something right.

[HuskyGrad]

John Menard Jr. is worth like $8 billion, so they're doing something right.

My dad worked for Menard's in the 80's building pole barns. Menard's required the foremen to self-warranty the structures they constructed.

[mattaudio]

I have a juicy rumor for you Corcoranites: Maaco is looking to leave its current site at 2005 East Lake Street. So if you know any developers looking in the area or want to snap that property up before it gets re-used by another automotive tenant, keep an eye out.

That whole stretch from 19th-21st looks pretty ragged. What's the big vacant lot at 19th & Lake?

I hope TacoTaxi stays under any circumstance.

Also, despite awful vinyl windows and siding, the original building that now houses Jackson Hewitt has some really cool craftsman-inspired shed dormers on both sides. But yes, that stretch is rough. It would have a much better chance of filling in once the Hennepin County/MPS project gets done east of there. It's not a welcoming walk to the LRT, especially after dark.

[seanrichardryan]

That Jackson Hewitt building is really interesting. The chimnies (sp?) are high quality brick work, which leads me to believe the building is actually pretty under all that remuddling.

[FISHMANPET]

John Menard Jr. is worth like $8 billion, so they're doing something right.

My dad worked for Menard's in the 80's building pole barns. Menard's required the foremen to self-warranty the structures they constructed.

Menards as a company seems to built around screwing independent contractors. Delivery drivers are contractors, not Menards employees, for example. At my store they negotiated a rate before gas prices started to skyrocket in the mid 2000s and because a dude with a truck is a much shittier negotiator than a large company, they're basically screwed. So the driver was always just grumpy and crabby and really not a pleasant person. I imagine the delivery experience was not great for the customer either, but Menards can wipe their hands clean and say "welp independent contractor!" while trying their damndest to to squeeze as much blood from that stone.

I mean, 1996 exurban ranches (or 1986, or 76, or whatever) built that company. Hell, look at the Midway store, it's got rough timber columns with river stone facade. It's an exurban design dumped straight into the middle of an urban area.

[TommyT]

John Menard is an ass hole. Plain and simple. I'm from Eau Claire, which is where he lives and the company is based. He won't allow Home Depot, Lowe's, or any other competitor into the city or he threatens to pull the plug on the whole operation there and move it to another city. I'd say good riddance if I didn't know how much of that city is supported by Menard's.

[FISHMANPET]

He was actually in my store once. The "main office" was in the same area as my department, so there's a little conference room back there. It's just cubicle walls, and it's about 15 feet away from where actual customers would congregate around our desk. And he was on the phone with somebody at "corporate" and he was just swearing up a storm and berating this dude. Where customers could hear.

[twincitizen]

I have a juicy rumor for you Corcoranites: Maaco is looking to leave its current site at 2005 East Lake Street. So if you know any developers looking in the area or want to snap that property up before it gets re-used by another automotive tenant, keep an eye out.

That whole stretch from 19th-21st looks pretty ragged. What's the big vacant lot at 19th & Lake?

I hope TacoTaxi stays under any circumstance.

Also, despite awful vinyl windows and siding, the original building that now houses Jackson Hewitt has some really cool craftsman-inspired shed dormers on both sides. But yes, that stretch is rough. It would have a much better chance of filling in once the Hennepin County/MPS project gets done east of there. It's not a welcoming walk to the LRT, especially after dark.

So apparently Maaco (and the rest of that city block, including the Jackson Hewitt bldg) are being bought up by MPS for their new facility. How is that not public knowledge? Seems like MPS would have hinted by now where they planned to relocate the adult education facility. Knowing MPS, they probably will buy up and bulldoze the 1900 block of Lake Street as well, for surface parking (see new northside HQ parking largess).

Snark aside, I wouldn't be surprised if MPS is targeting both of those 1/2-blocks between South High School and Lake Street. Long term, that's actually a smart move by MPS...and it's really not [img]that[/img]much property. I'd hope that they don't put up blank walls on Lake Street though. The YWCA is enough of a life-suck already. The corner of Lake & 21st should have at least one small *public* retail space.

[cooperrez]

I have a juicy rumor for you Corcoranites: Maaco is looking to leave its current site at 2005 East Lake Street. So if you know any developers looking in the area or want to snap that property up before it gets re-used by another automotive tenant, keep an eye out.

That whole stretch from 19th-21st looks pretty ragged. What's the big vacant lot at 19th & Lake?

Here's a little blurb about the vacant lot at 19th and Lake from a while back:

http://www.pulsetc.com/article545a.html ... t&sid=1077

[blobs]

We need a roundabout at MN-121 and 58th street S. The light cycle takes forever.

[mattaudio]

There are plans to completely redevelop the 121 corridor and reconnect Lyndale as a two-way street without the jog at 58th. Though I cannot find the plans right now.