The Flats at West End - St. Louis Park

[twincitizen]

Mod note: Thread locked after project completion. Please see West End area development thread here: viewtopic.php?f=17&t=3648

Biz Journal story announcing groundbreaking: http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/b ... tml?page=2

Recent Strib article talking about the luxury apartment boom spreading to the burbs: http://www.startribune.com/business/149 ... ml?refer=y

6 story, 119-unit luxury units. BKV/Ryan Co.

The Flats feature an expansive, welcoming lobby, The Pub (a community room) that walks out onto a spacious second-floor patio and pool, a 24-hour, fully-equipped fitness center, and a roof-top terrace with outstanding views of the Minneapolis skyline and The Shops at West End. "

[twincitizen]

Apparently this is going in immediately south of the Homewood Suites hotel & east of Noodles.

Interesting...I thought this project was actually one block further east, in the large vacant lots.

Does anyone know what those vacant lots are planned for? That's a lot of prime real estate, adjacent to the West End complex, hotel & office towers in the area.

[Wedgeguy]

Apparently this is going in immediately south of the Homewood Suites hotel & east of Noodles.

Interesting...I thought this project was actually one block further east, in the large vacant lots.

Does anyone know what those vacant lots are planned for? That's a lot of prime real estate, adjacent to the West End complex, hotel & office towers in the area.

I believe offices, but I'd be hard pressed to say they will be tall tower that block the skyline view from the apartment. If they did that the rents would drop because of it. But they have plenty of land for more towers to the south.
I look for the market in offices to be flat or stagnant for about 5 years at least. Will have to see if the SW rail get built and what other markets happen to be hot at that time.

[min-chi-cbus]

Believe me, as a former 6th floor resident you don't have much of a view from that height -- it doesn't get over the treeline entirely (some trees are 80+ feet tall).

That vacant space that is covered in dirt that abuts Hwy. 100 near I-394 is for Offices in the future, when the market can handle that type of development. It'd be a solid 5 years out from right now, but theoretically you could see renderings in 2 years and construction in 3 for it to be ready in 5 years. This would be assuming the market does NOT "double dip" or fall back into a Recession, which is easily possible at this point. That space is incredibly opportunistic for the developer to build as expensively as possible though, because the location along with the nearby amenities make it nearly perfect for corporations looking for ideal new office space.

[lorwest]

FlatsatWestEnd.jpg

[beykite]

A lot of progress has been made since the last photo.

Flats.jpg

Flats2.jpg

[Nick]

I still can't believe they built all the retail over here with nothing over it. Also it's kind of terrible to drive in, but I'm a bit of a n00b when it comes to suburban parking lots.

[go4guy]

That sure is an interesting car in the middle of the intersection of the first pic. Haha. Thanks for all the pics of all of these projects, Nick. It is great to see how they are all coming along.

[twincitizen]

Did anyone else catch how close to the hotel this thing is? You could almost shake hands. Definitely unusual for suburban development.

I concur with both of Nick's statements. It's odd that they didn't make the West End truly mixed use like Excelsior & Grand. And yeah, West End is a nightmare to drive in. Some of that is due to the age/design of the Hwy. 100 interchange and access roads though, and not the W.E. development itself.

[min-chi-cbus]

Did anyone else catch how close to the hotel this thing is? You could almost shake hands. Definitely unusual for suburban development.

I concur with both of Nick's statements. It's odd that they didn't make the West End truly mixed use like Excelsior & Grand. And yeah, West End is a nightmare to drive in. Some of that is due to the age/design of the Hwy. 100 interchange and access roads though, and not the W.E. development itself.

Maybe it's a nightmare to drive in to deter people from driving there......I've heard developers do such things, although I'm unsure if that was the intent here.

[mamundsen]

I work in the Moneygram building and have been following and questioning many of this decisions made about the West End.

1. The driving and parking is horrible. Most people know about the underground parking, but not about the parking ramp behind the movie theater. I see lots of people parking in the Rainbow Foods lot and walking over, which is supposedly off limits.

2. The placement of shops seems odd. If they really wanted to have full development they should have spread out the restaurants. They are the only busy places. Everything else is dead.

3. This residential unit has always been in the works. I think that is why they did not model after Excelsior and Grand.

4. The intersection in picture 1 is only going to get worse. It has blind and sharp corners and will soon have the entrance to the residential parking.

I assume they are hoping that the residents will give a boost to the shops.

[Didier]

The parking lot behind the movie theater is the most confusing, pedestrian unfriendly parking lot I know of.

[min-chi-cbus]

The parking lot behind the movie theater is the most confusing, pedestrian unfriendly parking lot I know of.

Is it worse than the one they built near Centennial Lakes to service the new Container Store and that strip of retail that includes Potbelly and 5 Guys, Burgers & Fries? I'm not a fan, personally!

[go4guy]

Regarding not more mixed use above the retail. Keep in mind they still plan on building 1.1 million square feet of Class A office just east of this apartment building.

[min-chi-cbus]

I thought it was 1.5 million...

[nordeast homer]

I thought it was 1.5 million...

Like we'll ever see even half that on this site...
I've got some ocean front property in Nevada I'd like to show you.
The Parkdales next door are maybe 50% full. Unless a really large tenant really wants to be in this particular location I don't know that this will ever be fully developed.

[mamundsen]

Plus I know they have a hard time keeping the Moneygram tower and 1600 Utica Ave tower full.

PLUS... both these towers are being sold for the second time in 2 years.

[mamundsen]

Has anyone seen site maps for this? I am wondering where the main entrance will be?

To me is seems like all of the pictures that are shown are the "back corner" of the complex. There is not a substantial entrance that you would normally see with a large development. In fact I can't find any renderings of the north side of the building.

[mplser]

I bet the main entrance will be in the parking ramp or something like that. people and their cars...

[mamundsen]

I drove by this on the way home tonight. The north side of the building is a solid wall for the entire first floor. No entrances, windows or anything.

It appears the entrance is somewhere in that picture, its just not going to be very grand.