urbanMSP

Another one bites the dust. The Rainbow in that shopping center (Bergen Plaza) is one of the bunch slated to become Cub Foods, so total redevelopment is unlikely. My mom brought me to this Kmart in the late 80s/early 90s, before Woodbury had a Target. IIRC, it is a larger format location. It may sit for a while, but will almost assuredly be redeveloped. It's still a decent location right off 694 & 10th St N, which is the retail center of Oakdale. That said, the former Oakdale Mall (a tiny fully enclosed mall on the north side of 10th) took decades to redevelop, after decades of struggling along as a mostly vacant fail-zone of discount stores and craft meets. It was torn down years ago and is finally being redeveloped as "The Waters" senior housing

EDIT: Yup, nearly 90k square feet. http://properties.inlandrealestate.com/ ... 248/#plans

I heard that Costco had been interested in the old Oakdale Mall site awhile ago. Or else Oakdale was interested in having Costco on that site -- not sure which.

Either way, Costco could make a good fit here. The Rainbow also could use a thorough renovation (or whomever takes over that space). For being one of the largest suburbs, Oakdale sure has a lot of nothingness. There's really no reason why newer stores wouldn't work in this strip center.

I heard that Costco had been interested in the old Oakdale Mall site awhile ago. Or else Oakdale was interested in having Costco on that site -- not sure which.

Either way, Costco could make a good fit here. The Rainbow also could use a thorough renovation (or whomever takes over that space). For being one of the largest suburbs, Oakdale sure has a lot of nothingness. There's really no reason why newer stores wouldn't work in this strip center.

I myself find the prospect of Costco there a stretch as it would cut into their Maplewood store that is not that many miles away. Unless they are thinking they can get the Wisconsin dollars to come that far.

You need to remember that stores usually have covenants built into their leases that limit competing businesses from going into the same development. Only one coffee shop per strip mall, only one grocery store per strip mall. Rainbow/Cub would fight a Costco going in tooth and nail, since such a large portion of their business is grocery sales.

There was a MNSun story about Brooklyn Center being stymied over redevelopment because all the retail clauses preventing competing businesses nearby.

Link: http://post.mnsun.com/2014/06/eitel-upd ... -projects/

I wonder if any shopping malls have restrictions on how close clothing shops can be to each other.

It's weird because businesses can actually do better with bunching. Business owners reflexively think they don't want competition nearby, but studies show that having multiple shops selling the same thing actually brings more sales to everyone. Not sure if that applies to big-box grocers, though.

Hy-Vee will be opening up a new store across from the soon-to-be-closed J-Mart, on the site of the old Oakdale Mall. It's about time this area got a decent grocery store. Maybe Cub/former Rainbow will step up their game.

Some Maplewood developments off their website http://maplewoodmn.gov/

A new Taco Bell in Maplewood:
http://maplewoodmn.gov/1581/Taco-Bell
A new Chick-fil-A:
http://maplewoodmn.gov/1576/Chick-fil-A
A proposed conversion to a church:
http://maplewoodmn.gov/1604/Ebenezer-Ka ... ist-Church
3 50-unit apartment buildings by the maplewood mall:
http://maplewoodmn.gov/1419/Conifer-Rid ... acy-Villag
Phase 1 of this is probably close to finished now:
http://maplewoodmn.gov/1535/Villages-at-Frost-English
Businesses that are "coming soon":
http://maplewoodmn.gov/1537/Coming-Soon

I used to frequent that Taco Bell and the Wendy's next door back when I worked at the Circuit City just to the SW. Running across County Rd D sure was fun!

https://www.facebook.com/events/1038819386155486/

Some 24k people are "interested" and 4.3k people are "going" to a food truck gathering at the Maplewood Mall's upper parking lot from 11-4 tomorrow.

"tomorrow" but it's only Thursday... so actually it's the day after tomorrow.


The event is on Saturday, Oct 22.

If only the 223 ran on Saturdays...

So another check-up from Maplewood's development tracker on its website.

Another medical facility by St John's hospital:
http://maplewoodmn.gov/1675/Maplewood-A ... are-Center

More retail on County Rd B & Rice St (which is in Maplewood, as it turns out):
http://maplewoodmn.gov/1674/2158-Rice-S ... et-Shoppes

Adding stores facing WBA just north of 36 (a bit more interesting than the first two; brownfield infill on WBA):
http://maplewoodmn.gov/1684/2515-White- ... aple-Ridge


I found something else while looking into the above:


They're planning on redeveloping the auto mall soon, too.

So they're going to develop some sort of backwards mullet?

Hy-Vee will be opening up a new store across from the soon-to-be-closed J-Mart, on the site of the old Oakdale Mall. It's about time this area got a decent grocery store. Maybe Cub/former Rainbow will step up their game.

Oh, how naive I was about HyVee 3 years ago....



Anyway, has there been any news about Oakdale's old Imation campus? The last news on it was from January 2016, when Slumberland purchased it for their headquarters and again in August 2016, when they were announcing design plans.

I took a bike around the campus this weekend, and it appears to be largely vacant and somewhat derelict. I would've thought that Slumberland would've started their build-out by now.

Tonight Maplewood held a kickoff open house event for the North End Vision Plan.

https://maplewoodmn.gov/1877/North-End-Vision-Plan

I’m surprised by the 9 month project schedule for creating the plan. That seems relatively short. Although, I hope it means that they can get the ball rolling on some parking lot redevelopment.

I stopped by and provided comments and saw some layouts for the Rush Line stops at St John’s and Maplewood Mall.

Another batch of apartments is going up in Maplewood near the mall, wedged between County Rd D and the Bruce Vento Trail (immediately north of Costco). It has 152 units and 4 stories. It's called the "Trails Edge Apartments".

https://i.imgur.com/uD9D8G4 (<too big to embed)



It was approved last summer.
https://maplewoodmn.gov/1852/Trails-Edge-Apartments

The former Rainbows Foods near White Bear Ave and Hwy 36 is becoming a Hyvee. They're constructing the gas station for it, and there is a Hyvee liquor store now in the adjacent strip mall.

I'm suprised Cub Foods didn't stop this, considering they have a Cub Foods right next to it and they used to own the Rainbow Foods that was there.