urbanMSP

No longer rumor. Restoration Hardware finally submitted their proposal for the SW corner of the Southdale Center megablock by the water tower.

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/n ... ml?ana=twt

Four stories. Wine vault. Rooftop patio. 58,000 sq. ft.

More details on exactly what they propose in their sketch plan review from March 22nd. See here: http://edina.novusagenda.com/agendapubl ... tingID=284

What really impressed me was the architectural critique at the end of the sketch plan. My first whiff was actually to be pretty impressed by the pedestrian orientation of the building -- it's multistory, highly visible to the corner, and unlike One Southdale, it has no parking between sidewalk and street. But the architect made a ton of comments pointing out the relative lack of transparency to the sidewalk, lack of adequate landscaping, and too-visible surface parking. (Although the recommendation, apparently from the Southdale District plan, for a 50' setback on France seems excessive)

Hum along to this classic song by The Fixx
** saved ** by ** ze ** ro **
** saved ** by ** ze ** ro **
** zero lotline **
** zero lotline **

Groundbreaking for the the 66th/York apts will be coming by the beginning of summer. A little delayed from the 3/31 date, but not too delayed.

Looks like Onyx landed Alchemy as a ground floor tenant.
Also, had the chance to drive by Onyx on the Xerxes Ave side.

Man, I couldn't help but feel a bit bad for single-family-home tenants in the area - this apartment is quite massive.
I would be pretty upset if I lived within three or four blocks of this. Not the same anymore hanging out in the backyard deck with six stories looking down at you.

Man, I couldn't help but feel a bit bad for single-family-home tenants in the area - this apartment is quite massive.
I would be pretty upset if I lived within three or four blocks of this. Not the same anymore hanging out in the backyard deck with six stories looking down at you.

I got a chance to tour the inside (homework assignment), and was really impressed. Very thoughtfully designed units and public spaces. Also looking forward to trying Alchemy! I've been interested in their classes, but their North Loop and Northeast locations were not convenient for me.

The building is set back twice as far as the single family homes (about 60' instead of 30'). It is tall for the street, but I think the best thing they could have done is to push the townhome units out closer to Xerxes -- to match the 30' setback of the block, without moving the location of the main "tower". Instead they're tucked into the 6-story structure, which feels sort of monolithic.

As for people looking down, I don't think the residents of the apartments have nearly as intrusive a view as a next-door SFH neighbor with a second story...

There has been discontentment, and there needs to be thoughtful ways to address that. But from my own personal perspective, Xerxes Ave seems like a great place to own a house. Quiet, clean street, easy walking distance from a bunch of Southdale area amenities, sidewalk and alley access. *And* a mortgage that is less than rent for a 1 br in Onyx

The city council agenda for April 4th, starting about p. 203, has site plans for the RH Gallery. Fwiw.

An old office building across France Ave from Galleria sold to the developer that just completed Aurora, the senior rentals at 65th and France.

http://finance-commerce.com/2017/04/aur ... ria-edina/

Lifetime fitness proposal to replace JCPenny at Southdale?!

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/n ... j=78175881

Good for them. The smart malls will be getting ahead of the slow motion collapse of department stores and replacing them with non-traditional uses.

Yeah, this makes a ton of sense for Southdale.

It does seem awfully close to Lifetime's Normandale Blvd. location, though.

It might be close, but they are like half hour apart at 5pm. I would also imagine the Normandale Blvd. location is long in the tooth.

Both Bloomington LTF locations (Bloomington South at Oxboro and Bloomington North at Normandale/494) are long in the tooth, and the chain seems to be focusing basically all new efforts on their higher-priced premium levels. The nearest premium ones are Eden Prairie Athletic and St. Louis Park. I imagine this would also come in at that level ("onyx" or "diamond", rather than mere "gold" at the Bloomington ones).

The Bloomington North one actually has pretty nice equipment, just slightly less gratuitous use of travertine and fake cherry cabinetry, and therefore, they can only charge half as much. Considering the huge employment center at Normandale Lakes, and the slightly more dispersed Southdale employment center, it seems reasonable to justify both.

I just switched from LTF to Alchemy's new Southdale location, and that's a beaut (just across York in the first floor of Onyx/Lennar). Glad to see more fitness stuff proposed in the area.

Well this is certainly interesting:
http://www.startribune.com/two-condo-to ... 422548054/

I'm super serious, folks. The Met Council needs to update their transit investment map that was just approved in Thrive2040 to better serve a few key job/residential districts like Southdale (to say nothing of serving a booming district just across the river from downtown Minneapolis with more than some high-frequency local routes). Southdale, and much of the recent development, might be a wealthy area, but it is also surrounded by some modest-income residential and retail and there are plenty of senior homes that could benefit by high-amenity transit.

And I'm gonna come out and pitch this again and again, but cities - *especially* Edina - need to come to the table to help finance it. Edina has been very pro-transit, has an incredibly deep tax base thanks to wealthy residents and a ton of high-paying commercial land. Tax rates are so low because they don't have the city services Minneapolis chooses (needs) to provide (100% property assessments for streets plays a part, too) - a $300k home pays $800 in city taxes vs $1,875 in Minneapolis (!!!!). Anyway. There's a lot of pro-transit rhetoric, business community support, and money to help build something amazing in that city. Minneapolis should help chip in, too (particularly since the areas that we could assess to help build it are quite wealthy as well).

At 360 feet, the taller of the two towers would be nearly the height of Canadian Pacific Plaza in downtown Minneapolis. Ryan will need a variance, since the site is zoned for a height of four stories and 48 feet.

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/n ... ina-s.html

312 foot variance... 750% above zoning. WOW!

I'm super serious, folks. The Met Council needs to update their transit investment map that was just approved in Thrive2040 to better serve a few key job/residential districts like Southdale (to say nothing of serving a booming district just across the river from downtown Minneapolis with more than some high-frequency local routes). Southdale, and much of the recent development, might be a wealthy area, but it is also surrounded by some modest-income residential and retail and there are plenty of senior homes that could benefit by high-amenity transit.

And I'm gonna come out and pitch this again and again, but cities - *especially* Edina - need to come to the table to help finance it.

I agree. There is talk of a "Southdale circulator", possibly city-funded, but there is a need for vastly better transit connections to the Mall of America and downtown. I'm not sure how downtown transit can happen in a reasonable fashion without another freeway route. If the intent is to connect the two regional centers of downtown Minneapolis and downtown, it doesn't seem to make sense to wind through single-family homes in Linden Hills, etc, as an upgraded 6 might.

I agree. There is talk of a "Southdale circulator", possibly city-funded, but there is a need for vastly better transit connections to the Mall of America and downtown. I'm not sure how downtown transit can happen in a reasonable fashion without another freeway route. If the intent is to connect the two regional centers of downtown Minneapolis and downtown, it doesn't seem to make sense to wind through single-family homes in Linden Hills, etc, as an upgraded 6 might.

Pssst. There's an old streetcar alignment just sitting there.

No, it's not as easy as that (the alignment through the alley west of Irving would be problematic) but we do have some public right-of-way available, particularly through the congested lakes area.