urbanMSP

Posted: **April 4th, 2017, 8:36 am**

That's too bad.

Posted: **April 4th, 2017, 4:52 pm**

The PLACE development has already been downsized, and there is one of those worthless online petitions to get rid of it. To me, someone sitting in their chair in front of the TV and clicking a button doesn't carry any weight. Remember that petition to have the west coast of the US succeed from the union? That got real far didn't it.

Posted: **April 12th, 2017, 7:50 pm**

A report with quotes from the council members who voted against.

http://sailor.mnsun.com/2017/04/12/st-l ... velopment/

You can always count on Sue Sanger to provide the skeptic perspective on multifamily housing. But so many others carried water for NIMBYs here disappointingly.

Posted: **April 12th, 2017, 7:59 pm**

Removing the affordable housing seemed almost vindictive.

Does it need to be 6 stories to support the 3 levels of underground parking? Seems like a lot of parking for being half a mile from a future light rail station.

Posted: **April 12th, 2017, 8:08 pm**

Removing the affordable housing seemed almost vindictive.

Almost. Many Minikahda Vista residents were demanding no affordable units.

Though I'd love to see the developer turn around and propose a 100% affordable development (call it workforce housing?), four story, heavy TIF to call the council members' bluff about density.

Posted: **April 12th, 2017, 8:14 pm**

Weren't their houses "affordable" when they bought them 50 years ago? How could they deny that to other people? As you know, houses in that neighborhood are $400k+.

Ha ha. A 100% affordable development. But it sounds like the fallback plan is a 6 story office building? Not sure how that's better?

Posted: **April 12th, 2017, 8:44 pm**

Many residents of the neighborhood bought in in the past fifteen years, where prices had already pushed this neighborhood into being North Morningside. The threatened office development is in every way that the majority of opponents claimed to be against, worse. More traffic, less active street, yeah...

But the office won't need any approvals from the city that would derail it.

I still go back to something the city leaders did way back when Excelsior and Grand was just being planned. They set aside right of way for a future street north out of Excelsior and Grand to Monterey. Street never got built intending to do it when the area filled in and would need it. Like it needs it now. The northbound street from Wolfe Parkway was forecast to divert 1,400 vehicles per day, nearly equal to the amount of trips the Bridgewater/Dominium proposal would generate. Shr

Posted: **April 19th, 2017, 6:29 pm**

Many residents of the neighborhood bought in in the past fifteen years, where prices had already pushed this neighborhood into being North Morningside. The threatened office development is in every way that the majority of opponents claimed to be against, worse. More traffic, less active street, yeah...

But the office won't need any approvals from the city that would derail it.

I still go back to something the city leaders did way back when Excelsior and Grand was just being planned. They set aside right of way for a future street north out of Excelsior and Grand to Monterey. Street never got built intending to do it when the area filled in and would need it. Like it needs it now. The northbound street from Wolfe Parkway was forecast to divert 1,400 vehicles per day, nearly equal to the amount of trips the Bridgewater/Dominium proposal would generate. Shr

For the life of me, I an not figure out where this planned street is, or where Wolfe Parkway is that would divert traffic from here. Can you help me out, because it is really bugging me that I can't figure out what you are referring to.

Posted: **April 20th, 2017, 7:21 pm**

If you pull up the Hennepin County property map and zoom to Excelsior and Grand you can see the past city council fantasy hopes for future street ROW. You can see the one from Monterey to Wolfe Parkway I mentioned, plus a weird one meandering through the Park Nicollet rear parking lot that was intended to create a new street linking Target to Excelsior and Grand's west edge.

I'll try to get some screen captures of the weird ROW around Excelsior and Grand.

Posted: **April 20th, 2017, 7:55 pm**

Councilmember Tom Miller said the proposed building might work in the West End area or along Highway 7, but he said, “I think the biggest and most important thing here is I just don’t feel like this building fits onto Excelsior Boulevard.”

This statement is sort of bizarre to me. Of course it "fits" in here -- it is very similar to Excelsior and Grand, which is across the street and beloved. I know there is also development interest along Hwy 7 (especially CSAH 25 portion), but I would 10 to 1 rather have my mixed-use building on a mixed-use corridor like Excelsior.

Posted: **April 20th, 2017, 8:43 pm**

Here are some annotated screen captures of the Excelsior and Grand unused ROW, reserved for future streets.

Excelsior and Grand mystery ROWs by Eric Anondson, on Flickr

Excelsior and Grand with marked ROWs by Eric Anondson, on Flickr
I'm not sure what it would take to get this council to ever fulfill a street in the ROW linking Monterey and Wolfe if this project wasn't going to be a reason.

Posted: **May 3rd, 2017, 10:55 am**

Maybe they're waiting for either of the apartments adjacent to the Wolfe Parkway extension to redevelop (although the one north of Monterey just got a new paint job, so no redevelopment there any time soon).

Either (or both) of those potential streets would be a godsend. It is so hard to get from place to place there; or get in or out. Really brings home the problems when you don't have a street grid of any kind.

Posted: **May 3rd, 2017, 1:25 pm**

A report with quotes from the council members who voted against.

http://sailor.mnsun.com/2017/04/12/st-l ... velopment/

Very glad to see that Tim Brausen was the lone supporter. I know him well. We haven't always agreed (though we do 95% of the time) but I could always count on him giving serious thought to ideas. He checked off all the things we've talked about in the past: affordable housing, density, transit and the importance of co-locating all three.

Posted: **May 4th, 2017, 9:53 pm**

The six no-votes did come up with reasons not to go with the proposal.

http://sailor.mnsun.com/2017/05/04/st-l ... r-project/

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Read them yourself.

Posted: **January 8th, 2018, 9:02 am**

Bridgewater unveils look at proposal to build HQ at site where apartments were voted down.

http://m.startribune.com/bridgewater-ba ... 468162823/

Not bluffing after all. But this is really attractive. I’m interested to see what it looks like on the north side of this.

Posted: **January 8th, 2018, 10:50 am**

Bridgewater unveils look at proposal to build HQ at site where apartments were voted down.

I'm glad they are following through on their "threat." I never understood why people thought apartments would generate more traffic than an office building. There will be way more people working here and patronizing the retail than would have lived in those apartments. Maybe I'm wrong.

Posted: **January 8th, 2018, 7:41 pm**

Not a fan of the plaza. More storefronts would be a better use of space.

Posted: **January 8th, 2018, 11:54 pm**

With cars whizzing by on Excelsior at 40+ mph, how enjoyable is that plaza going to be? Maybe the city/county will slow traffic?

Feels oddly suburban, especially with the 4-, 5-, and 6-story buildings nearby.

Posted: **May 31st, 2018, 9:54 pm**

I read the Bridgewater HQ was approved last week. 5-0 with one abstention. Huh. Guess traffic never really was the problem for the city council though there has been some turn over and new faces.

Posted: **August 13th, 2018, 6:31 pm**

SLP’s “Connect the Park” initiative on hold in the Excelsior & Grand area. (Not sure if I posted this in SLP or Bike Infrastructure last time.) There should be a meeting soon.

https://www.stlouispark.org/government/ ... 8-projects

Bikeways

Browndale, Minikahda Vista and Wolfe Park neighborhoods

The city has begun preliminary design for the 2018 Connect the Park bikeways and sidewalks in the Browndale, Minikahda Vista and Wolfe Park neighborhoods. The first open house was held on Dec. 19, 2017 to gather information from residents.

The project has been postponed in order to incorporate additional feedback from the December meeting and to coordinate with the Bridgewater Bank redevelopment in the northeast corner of Excelsior Boulevard and Monterey Drive. Staff will be scheduling an additional open house in late summer 2018 to get feedback from the community. The project is expected to be constructed in 2019.

urbanMSP

Excelsior and Grand Area - St. Louis Park

Re: Excelsior and Grand Area Development - St. Louis Park

Re: Excelsior and Grand Area Development - St. Louis Park

Re: Excelsior and Grand Area Development - St. Louis Park

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Excelsior and Grand Area Development - St. Louis Park

Re: Excelsior and Grand Area Development - St. Louis Park

Excelsior and Grand Area Development - St. Louis Park

Re: Excelsior and Grand Area Development - St. Louis Park

Re: Excelsior and Grand Area Development - St. Louis Park

Re: Excelsior and Grand Area Development - St. Louis Park

Re: Excelsior and Grand Area Development - St. Louis Park

Re: Excelsior and Grand Area Development - St. Louis Park

Excelsior and Grand Area Development - St. Louis Park

Re: Excelsior and Grand Area Development - St. Louis Park

Re: Excelsior and Grand Area Development - St. Louis Park

Re: Excelsior and Grand Area Development - St. Louis Park

Re: Excelsior and Grand Area Development - St. Louis Park

Re: Excelsior and Grand Area Development - St. Louis Park