Hiawatha-Minnehaha Corridor - General Topics

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twincitizen
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Re: Hiawatha-Minnehaha Corridor - General Topics

Postby twincitizen » May 27th, 2021, 1:33 pm

I don't know how the Planning Commission will receive it (probably harshly), but it's worth noting that the neighborhood organization voted to support it, and I think Andrew Johnson is lukewarm on it (he won't oppose it over the neighborhood's support). His main concern was that the retail space(s) that Uhaul added to the 4-story building (facing 42nd) are only being put in for the purpose of meeting city requirements for active frontage, and he's skeptical that Uhaul will put any effort into filling those spaces in a timely manner. I completely agree with that skepticism and that's basically my only concern on this project. It sucks that there already so many storage facilities on Hiawatha, but that is not a legally supported justification for denying a new one. This proposal has nothing to do with existing properties elsewhere...that would be no different than the NIMBY line of "we already have lots of apartments, we don't need more". This proposal actually has a high FAR and tax-base benefit, relative to the older/derelict one-story facilities along the corridor. The proper response to that problem is for the city to push those other storage facility property owners to plan for redevelopment and provide the necessary incentives for them to do so.

As someone who actually lives here, it's silly to call 42nd & Hiawatha "a TOD area", as the article does. 42nd is a 1/2-mile hike to either 38th or 46th, and you have to cross Hiawatha to catch the train. There's really no better spot along the corridor for an inactive use like storage or light-industrial or whatever. I'm in favor of letting this proposal go forward and putting pressure on other properties closer to stations to redevelop.

At this same intersection, word is that the Starbucks/office proposal for the Wash Me carwash site is dead. PW was not going to allow left turns into the site from EB 42nd Street (not sure how exactly as there's no median), due to the likelihood of traffic backups extending onto Hiawatha, and that restriction kills Starbuck's interest in the site. That site design never made a ton of sense to me...the best and simplest access plan would have been no curb cuts on 42nd, and have the only vehicle access be on Hiawatha, which would be right-in, right-out only (RIRO, for the acronym nerds). Even better would be no curb cuts on this property at all, and get an access easement from the property to the north (Elevated Liquor), via their parking lot.

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Re: Hiawatha-Minnehaha Corridor - General Topics

Postby John21 » May 27th, 2021, 7:29 pm

Interesting about the Wash Me proposal. I was never a fan of it. As far as tod, was a 42nd street station ever considered? Is it possible now?

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Re: Hiawatha-Minnehaha Corridor - General Topics

Postby mattaudio » May 27th, 2021, 7:58 pm

Re: U-Haul... Wasn't that old Mobil/Taylor Auto remodeled a year or two ago? Brand new storefront system? Did anything ever move in there?

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Re: Hiawatha-Minnehaha Corridor - General Topics

Postby John21 » May 28th, 2021, 11:23 am

Re: U-Haul... Wasn't that old Mobil/Taylor Auto remodeled a year or two ago? Brand new storefront system? Did anything ever move in there?
Yeah, which made me think the Uhaul proposal was dead. Never saw any business actually move in though.

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Re: Hiawatha-Minnehaha Corridor - General Topics

Postby twincitizen » May 28th, 2021, 12:23 pm

Uhaul’s original plan a couple years back was to renovate the old gas station building and use it for their retail store, with the multi-story storage building located to the south. They have essentially reversed that plan now, with the storage building pulled up right to 42nd and a new smaller building to the south. Why they started renovating the gas station building prior to securing approval of the original plan, I have no idea.

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Re: Hiawatha-Minnehaha Corridor - General Topics

Postby Hero » May 29th, 2021, 1:41 am

Hwy 55 will be resurfaced soon. The project states that there will be accessibility updates at intersections, and interchange improvements at Lake Street. I really hope they can include some additional bicycle and pedestrian improvements in this project as well.

https://www.dot.state.mn.us/metro/proje ... nneapolis/


55 is probably my least favorite road to cross on foot. Any improvement would be welcome.

I wonder if running 42nd or 35th under the tracks and 55 is an option. It would be nice to get rid of a couple stop lights and have a quick path across 55.

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Re: Hiawatha-Minnehaha Corridor - General Topics

Postby Mdcastle » May 30th, 2021, 5:12 pm

The boom in self-storage facilities has been noted before. I still wonder if it's people that want to buy a cute little condo in the North Loop instead of a place that actually fits their needs and they put most of their stuff in storage, or online sellers using the place for inventory storage, or ???. For a while Bloomington was a dumping ground for them because of their looser restrictions, but they've now tightened up their ordinances. Notably they're not allowed in protected industrial areas, within a 1/2 mile of a LRT / BRT transit station, or in the Lyndale Suburban Retrofit initial focus areas (86th and 98th at Lyndale).

I also wonder how many projects the mandate to include ground floor retail that no one seems to want, especially not now, or be able to afford and the owners certainly don't want to build because their business scope does not include being a commercial real estate landlord has killed.

I've also thought a few grade separations along Hiawatha would benefit all users of all modes along the road, although I was thinking more along the lines of sinking Hiawatha and maybe also the LRT under 46th with retaining walls in a tight diamond configuration, maybe even extending the Minnehaha Park cap. There was actually a overpass for 46th that was never used built, then torn down when the current iteration was built around 1990.

Light Rail in the Twin Cities already has too many stations making it more like a slow streetcar as far as levels of service

As for pedestrian improvements, don't get too excited because while I haven't seen this specific project layout I expect mainly adding APS and truncated domes to the intersections that don't already have them, and upgrading them as needed in intersections that do. A reconfiguration of the Hiawatha ramps was awarded as a separate popup project as a tab grant.

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Re: Hiawatha-Minnehaha Corridor - General Topics

Postby mulad » June 5th, 2021, 9:43 am

This photo is almost two weeks old now, but RS Eden's Amber Apartments at 4525 Hiawatha Ave (across from the 46th St. LRT station) is topped out.
Image
PXL_20210522_143144372 by Michael Hicks, on Flickr

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Re: Hiawatha-Minnehaha Corridor - General Topics

Postby mulad » June 5th, 2021, 10:01 am

The project at 3801 Hiawatha Avenue is now known as CityLine Apartments. This continues to be somewhat strange for a residential building, since I'm seeing steel beams and supports.

Image
PXL_20210527_001426679 by Michael Hicks, on Flickr

Image
PXL_20210605_011544996 by Michael Hicks, on Flickr

Image
PXL_20210605_011633114 by Michael Hicks, on Flickr

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Re: Hiawatha-Minnehaha Corridor - General Topics

Postby mulad » June 16th, 2021, 12:46 pm

I noticed there has been some prep work for this project combining the three 3122, 3124, and 3128 Minnehaha Ave parcels into a shared site, though I'm not clear on how many units it will have -- seemed like perhaps 30 if I read the site plan correctly, though that only shows an outline for a single floor across the two adjacent buildings that will be there (with a common area between them). The site plan and rendering were both posted along the sidewalk at the site when I went by last night.

Going by the aerial photography layers available in the Hennepin property map, one of the three parcels has been vacant since before 2000, a second one lost its house between 2009 and 2012, and the last one had a house on it until it was recently demolished.

https://longfellow.org/2021/05/18/virtu ... ehaha-ave/

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Re: Hiawatha-Minnehaha Corridor - General Topics

Postby Hero » June 24th, 2021, 12:07 am

Noticed a couple weeks ago fencing going up around the dentist office across the street from cub. Hopefully something good is happening.

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Re: Hiawatha-Minnehaha Corridor - General Topics

Postby HiawathaGuy » June 24th, 2021, 9:41 am

Noticed a couple weeks ago fencing going up around the dentist office across the street from cub. Hopefully something good is happening.
Looks to me like they are adding an addition. They've dug a hole on the west side of the building and have the dirt piled in front of the existing building.

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Re: Hiawatha-Minnehaha Corridor - General Topics

Postby mulad » June 24th, 2021, 10:02 am

Oh, right, the northwest corner of 46th and Minnehaha (4554 Minnehaha). I was just guessing it would just be a redo of the parking lot when I went by several days ago, but maybe it's something more. Had that been a service station in a previous life? Maybe they're doing some environmental cleanup?

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Re: Hiawatha-Minnehaha Corridor - General Topics

Postby HiawathaGuy » June 24th, 2021, 10:42 am

Oh, right, the northwest corner of 46th and Minnehaha (4554 Minnehaha). I was just guessing it would just be a redo of the parking lot when I went by several days ago, but maybe it's something more. Had that been a service station in a previous life? Maybe they're doing some environmental cleanup?
It was a gas station at one point, before it was a coffee shop and now a dentist. When the coffee shop took over, they did all the remediation. So that's why I think this is just an addition, since they seem to be just extending the left side of the current building.

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Re: Hiawatha-Minnehaha Corridor - General Topics

Postby twincitizen » June 25th, 2021, 1:36 pm

I’d guess that means she isn’t planning on selling for redevelopment any time soon. With all of the vacant commercial spaces at this corner, it would be really nice to see current businesses like the dentist and liquor store move into them, followed by redevelopment of their current 1-story buildings. Win-win for all as their business would be able to move uninterrupted rather than closing for 18+ months (or permanently)

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Re: Hiawatha-Minnehaha Corridor - General Topics

Postby fehler » June 25th, 2021, 2:19 pm

I love that dentist's office building, hate to see it torn down and redeveloped. Enough traffic yet to make it back into a coffee shop?

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Re: Hiawatha-Minnehaha Corridor - General Topics

Postby martykoessel » June 25th, 2021, 4:59 pm

I love that dentist's office building, hate to see it torn down and redeveloped. Enough traffic yet to make it back into a coffee shop?
I agree! I like this building, and having it tucked into the neighborhood is enjoyable. Variety is the spice of life.

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Re: Hiawatha-Minnehaha Corridor - General Topics

Postby mulad » June 27th, 2021, 8:38 pm

Unless something has changed really recently, the site has the same owner ("Dr. Joan World Holdings"), so they're probably just expanding.

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Re: Hiawatha-Minnehaha Corridor - General Topics

Postby Mdcastle » June 28th, 2021, 7:46 am

Apparently these businesses don't consider it a win to be stuck paying astronomical rents in new construction spec retail forever as opposed to owning their own appreciating asset. Otherwise they would do so. I'm sure the owners have noticed the "for lease, call 555-5555" signs on the vacant spots right across from their buildings, and would call 555-5555 if it would be a win for them.

Come to think of it, citywide, how many vacancies are there in older commercial buildings as opposed to the spec retail space the city is forcing developers to build as a price to pay in order to build housing.

It does seem that the trend for new dentists fresh out of dental school is to join an established practice rather than to start their own or buy one out. Maybe the practice is adding a new dentist.

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Re: Hiawatha-Minnehaha Corridor - General Topics

Postby amiller92 » June 28th, 2021, 7:58 am

Unless something has changed really recently, the site has the same owner ("Dr. Joan World Holdings"), so they're probably just expanding.
The permit posted in the construction office trailer says "dental office expansion."


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