urbanMSP

A CVS on one corner and a Walgreens on the other?
http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/b ... .html?page

I actually like the existing mid-century modern building, and it would look great with some sort of L shaped mixed use around it on the corner.
http://goo.gl/maps/PGoZC

Pretty disappointing. I doubt a mixed use development (retail/housing) would work well in such a high traffic location (noise, etc). A Walgreens is pretty uninspired though. There was a plan to replace the building a bit further south that houses the Big Top Liquor store with a combination Walgreens/Big Top. That development was going to be kinda nice, two stories, street/sidewalk improvements, etc.

Ugh. Some of the most prime (non DT) real estate in the Cities... What the heck.

Isn't this the busiest intersection in the state? There should really be something with height here...

Is there any indication of what sort of building they're planning? The article doesn't say much other than who it was sold to.

I don't think a standard one-story Walgreens would be compliant with the current T4 zoning, which among other things requires a minimum height of 25 feet, and does not allow drive-throughs.

Ah, I see -- there's already a Walgreens at Midway Shopping Center, so they'd move closer to the street. Theoretically, possibly.

Pretty disappointing. I doubt a mixed use development (retail/housing) would work well in such a high traffic location (noise, etc).

Really? I moved to Loring Park because it's a higher-traffic area and I knew I'd hear more traffic (thank goodness I invested in earbuds). Living at one of the busiest areas of St Paul would be a huge draw for some people, but if residential developments aren't built they won't have the choice to move there. A quick stumble to/fro the Turf Club could be enough for some.

The building is staying, apparently. What a wasted opportunity.

http://finance-commerce.com/transit/201 ... still-tbd/

I actually rather like that building, and it has a good set back for a more urban setting. I actually drove by it earlier today and wondered if anything was going through with the walgreens, and how cool it would be as a drug store, even if there was one across the street.

The existing building could easily be worked into a mixed use complex. I don't understand the need to tear everything (especially mid century buildings) down... just like when they tore a bunch of turn of the century stuff down in the mid century.

Yeah, I would much prefer this bank building to a newly built Walgreens store. I don't think a design was ever released for the Walgreens proposal, but there is no doubt that it would be pretty bland.

The building is attached to a large drive-thru awning which I would think will be removed since drug stores and offices don't tend to need four or five lanes. Which means more empty surface lot on the single busiest corner in the city and at a major light rail stop. While the building may be nice (I happen to think it's hideous), repurposing it in this case means that possibly the most important corner in the city will be a parking wasteland with a redundant business. Maybe I'm biased since I live in the area, but preserving mid-century architecture at the cost of maintaining a truly terrible pedestrian environment isn't worth it to me the way it might be to someone on the other side of the cities.

I get what you're saying, but none of that has anything inherently to do with the building itself. Nothing would prevent them from keeping the original building and then putting on an addition that takes up most of the parking lot. Except for the fact that even when you're steps from LRT, developers still will want to provide parking.

I get what you're saying, but none of that has anything inherently to do with the building itself. Nothing would prevent them from keeping the original building and then putting on an addition that takes up most of the parking lot. Except for the fact that even when you're steps from LRT, developers still will want to provide parking.

Exactly, they could build out units over the drive through for the Pharmacy, just like they are doing for the bank at the corner of Central and University... Creating a good solution for preservation and good urban fabric isn't hard.

Huh. Firing up https://maps.co.ramsey.mn.us/MapRamsey‎, this parcel is a bit smaller than expected. Looks like the southern part of their parking lot (=15 spots) must be on an easement from the Midway Shopping Center. The property line is kind of visible as the point where the widened sidewalk along Snelling ends abruptly -- there's also a parking lot barrier that ends at the property line by the eastern row of parking.

Still, it's a tick over 1 acre. The footprint of the main building could easily be doubled.

South of here, the Met Council is looking to sell its big empty lot just to the south at Snelling & St. Anthony, a remnant of the old Snelling Avenue streetcar shops. The St. Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority also has an option on the neighboring parcel to the east. Together, they add up to 15 acres.

http://metrocouncil.org/News-Events/Tra ... ty-of.aspx

Personally, I figure they should look into dividing it up into smaller, more bite-sized parcels to sell off, especially since that's an oversized superblock to begin with.

There's always the Snelling Commons option.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... 1U0ix2-aOA

One can dream, I suppose.

I just received my new Monitor local news paper and there a bunch of University Ave development updates. The info isn't online yet but here's what it had to say about the CVS on this corner:

-CVS has pulled building permits for the store. The $450,000 project includes renovations to provide a University Ave entrance and to make accessibility upgrades.
-It also mentions that the store door on University was debated when the building went through city approval process years ago, but the door was never added as promised. (their words not mine)

Wait, Walgreen's? Right?

I believe that he is talking about CVS which when they built there current store was to have an entrance to University and not just the parking lot. But it did not happen, from what I read and I kind of remember going by it is pretty much the window shells in name only. Now with the LRT on University, they will have to pay to retrofit the store to get those people who will walk along University and maybe not want to walk around and into a parking lot to still come into their store. This is especially true if Walgreen's were to make a store on the corner that was more pedestrian friendly.

The article said CVS and I do recall the item being a sticking point when it was built years ago.