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Re: Ford Site Redevelopment

Posted: March 7th, 2020, 9:04 pm
by Cat349F
We have begun to mobilize equipment back onto the site, but no word yet on when work will begin.

Re: Ford Site Redevelopment

Posted: March 7th, 2020, 9:30 pm
by Cat349F
I do have couple of small items to share.
Ryan is placing their job site office trailer on the east side, directly south of Lunds. Excellent visibility of the site there. Access will be next to the employee parking lot behind their store. They open at 6:00, city has a noise ordinance thru 7:00. No excuse for someone not to be getting donuts and pastries every day. I recommend the almond caramel croissants.
Access for trucking during the remediation phase was poor. Too narrow of an entrance/exit at Ford/Cretin, with extremely poor visibility of pedestrians.
Ryan is taking steps to improve that. A second entrance by eastbound only trucks was mentioned just past Woodlawn, through the maintenance loop lane behind the bus stop. It is refreshing and reassuring to hear they are proactive on seemingly minor issues.

Re: Ford Site Redevelopment

Posted: March 8th, 2020, 8:42 am
by jtoemke
I do have couple of small items to share.
Ryan is placing their job site office trailer on the east side, directly south of Lunds. Excellent visibility of the site there. Access will be next to the employee parking lot behind their store. They open at 6:00, city has a noise ordinance thru 7:00. No excuse for someone not to be getting donuts and pastries every day. I recommend the almond caramel croissants.
Access for trucking during the remediation phase was poor. Too narrow of an entrance/exit at Ford/Cretin, with extremely poor visibility of pedestrians.
Ryan is taking steps to improve that. A second entrance by eastbound only trucks was mentioned just past Woodlawn, through the maintenance loop lane behind the bus stop. It is refreshing and reassuring to hear they are proactive on seemingly minor issues.
Appreciate you and these detailed updates-

Re: Ford Site Redevelopment

Posted: March 19th, 2020, 7:46 pm
by Cat349F
We have begun work.
Reclamation of asphalt and concrete surfaces will be stockpiled at the south end of the former paint building footprint. Once crushing starts, it will be stockpiled on-site, at the south end of the paint parking lot.
The deer are annoyed. The coyotes are skittish. The ducks are indifferent.
The bald eagle is miffed there is not any new hay bales yet for nest building. In previous years, it was common to see him scooping and compacting a bundle to take back to their nest. I got within 15 feet of him today. He’s not shy or afraid. This guy is from Hartford/Mississippi Boulevard nest. The couple across the river, south of the VA, are both noisy. They cry and fly off if you get within 75’ of either of them.

Re: Ford Site Redevelopment

Posted: April 9th, 2020, 5:54 pm
by Cat349F
Reclamation continues, should have all of the existing asphalt/concrete surfaces removed and stockpiled by the end of next week. Onsite crushing of those materials should happen soon after that, probably will take 8-10 days to process.
No word on how close the city is to approving the modified utility plan or the grading plan.

Re: Ford Site Redevelopment

Posted: April 9th, 2020, 6:09 pm
by Cat349F

Has Ryan ever identified who would build the riverfront homes or for-sale townhomes?
Pulte Homes was represented when I dug the soil classification test holes along Mississippi Boulevard two weeks ago. They were the only ones wearing PPE with their name. Others in the group were wearing Ryan PPE.

Re: Ford Site Redevelopment

Posted: April 9th, 2020, 6:27 pm
by Cat349F
All efforts to befriend and train the onsite red tailed hawk have been an epic fail, so far.

If someone could recommend an image resizer app for IPhone X, please send me a message.

Re: Ford Site Redevelopment

Posted: April 9th, 2020, 6:34 pm
by Cat349F
More information (and work) on Area C is coming soon. I will start a new thread for that. I want to emphasize that the site development and Ryan have nothing to do with Area C. That is still Ford’s circus, and what’s buried there is still Ford’s monkeys.

Re: Ford Site Redevelopment

Posted: April 21st, 2020, 7:58 pm
by Cat349F
Site grading and utility plan approval/rejection is due next week.

Re: Ford Site Redevelopment

Posted: June 5th, 2020, 11:22 am
by twincitizen
F&C interviewed Maureen Michalski, now overseeing this project for Ryan. She was previously head of development at Schafer Richardson for many years. Good interview: https://finance-commerce.com/2020/05/qa ... b-at-ryan/ (unlocked)

Re: Ford Site Redevelopment

Posted: July 2nd, 2020, 9:15 pm
by pannierpacker
Any news yet on what they are doing with all of those old mining tunnels? At one point I heard St Paul was considering using these for utilities to manage the new site.

Re: Ford Site Redevelopment

Posted: July 3rd, 2020, 10:36 am
by Cat349F
All of the deep sandstone tunnels mined for glass production are sealed off. They are deep enough that they are useless for site utilities, and will not affect building foundation stability.
The vehicle tunnels to the river were bulkheaded at each end, and the elevator shafts were filled during demolition of the plant.
One deep tunnel still carries power from the hydroelectric dam to the transformers on Ford Parkway. It is over 40’ deep where it crosses the former north parking lot. It will not affect any future building built there.
That only leaves the two deep utility tunnels, of which only one is still accessible. It will be sealed off soon.

Re: Ford Site Redevelopment

Posted: July 3rd, 2020, 10:43 am
by Cat349F
The building pads where Pulte will be working is nearing completion. The deadline to have those sites ready is August 1st.
Site utility work has begun with sanitary sewer main installation. They started at the new Cretin/Montreal intersection.

Re: Ford Site Redevelopment

Posted: July 4th, 2020, 7:09 pm
by twincitizen
First apartment building revealed, for the SE corner of Ford & Cretin: https://myvillager.com/2020/06/24/five- ... ford-pkwy/

5 stories, 230 units, 50k sq. ft. grocery.

Has to be a relocation for Lunds, right? Seems sort of unlikely another full size grocery would locate that close to Lunds. Hyvee has more or less stalled their Twin Cities expansion plans, and this is too close to the new Cub on 46th & Minnehaha across the river. Whole Foods would seem the only other option if it’s not Lunds, and Ryan has worked with them recently on the Vintage at Snelby. Would they really open right next to Lunds? Seems unlikely. My money is on Lunds taking this opportunity to get a brand new store vs. remodeling the sort-of dated building there currently in.

Re: Ford Site Redevelopment

Posted: July 15th, 2020, 7:33 pm
by twincitizen
Townhomes listed by Pulte Homes, starting upper 300s: https://www.pulte.com/homes/minnesota/t ... dge-210597

And the overall development has a name: Highland Bridge

www.twincities.com/2020/07/14/no-longer ... -paul/amp/

Re: Highland Bridge: Ford Site Redevelopment

Posted: August 12th, 2020, 3:22 pm
by Anondson
If those row houses end up looking like that, I would love a whole lot more around the Twin Cities like them. Copy. Paste.

Re: Highland Bridge: Ford Site Redevelopment

Posted: August 24th, 2020, 2:37 pm
by Cat349F
Has anyone close to the site been bothered by the blasting? The ‘rock trencher’ was ineffective at carving out the utility trenches. (too wet) There is no way to stay on schedule using excavator mounted hydraulic breakers, so we switched over to blasting last week.

Re: Ford Site Redevelopment

Posted: September 15th, 2020, 12:49 pm
by twincitizen
First apartment building revealed, for the SE corner of Ford & Cretin: https://myvillager.com/2020/06/24/five- ... ford-pkwy/

5 stories, 230 units, 50k sq. ft. grocery.

Has to be a relocation for Lunds, right? Seems sort of unlikely another full size grocery would locate that close to Lunds. My money is on Lunds taking this opportunity to get a brand new store vs. remodeling the sort-of dated building there currently in.
Called it, Lunds will relocate to the new development: https://m.startribune.com/lunds-byerlys ... 572418562/

Re: Highland Bridge: Ford Site Redevelopment

Posted: December 13th, 2020, 3:50 am
by Cat349F
The first footings for that building were poured on Thursday. Two weeks to get it completely excavated.

Re: Highland Bridge: Ford Site Redevelopment

Posted: January 11th, 2021, 4:43 pm
by Cat349F
We should finish sub level footings and pads by mid week for the new Lunds.
Precast and starting on the bridges on the central water feature 3-4 weeks out.