Excelsior and Grand Area - St. Louis Park

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

Postby PhilmerPhil » May 7th, 2015, 7:33 am

I kinda like the crowns. They're so early aughts!

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

Postby mnmike » May 7th, 2015, 8:49 am

"Vacant lot at Monerey and Excelsior". *Facepalm*. Not that it's a huge deal, but it drives me nuts sometimes how these journalists who specialize in development news don't know the city. Little mistakes like this all the time! Anyway, I like that the Dominum development includes the 10,000 square feet for the bank office space...a bit of daytime foot traffic.

bapster2006
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Re: Excelsior and Grand Area Development - St. Louis Park

Postby bapster2006 » May 7th, 2015, 9:09 am

I contacted the Business Journal about that error. Sam Black usually gets all the details correct.

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

Postby twincitizen » May 7th, 2015, 9:17 am

To be fair, probably 50% of the total site is vacant/surface parking ;)
But yeah, that is a big editorial oversight since the development will displace several small retailers.
It looks like there will actually be 10k sf of retail in addition to Bridgewater Bank, so hopefully a couple of them can afford to return or find other space nearby, maybe within E&G itself!

Does the development site not include the car wash property??
http://gis.hennepin.us/property/map/def ... 2824430061
If not...that is highly unfortunate. I can't really see that small site redeveloping on its own. Though I suppose leaving the car wash alone keeps it as a de facto "buffer" between the 6-story development and single-family homes to the north.
According to county records the car wash sold in Jan. 2015 to the owner of 4419 Excelsior - "Auto Motion" across the street.

------

Also, can I just say that what St. Louis Park has done to 38th Street (and 39th too) is bullcrap. Putting stop signs at every 330' short block is not a responsible way to discourage cut-through traffic. 38th > Monterey is a perfectly legitimate route between SW Mpls and E&G. How else do they expect people to get there? If they want to narrow the street, set a 20 or 25MPH speed limit, please do so! I will obey it. Just don't make me stop every goddamn block for nothing. I honestly suspect that making cars brake and accelerate is actually noisier and more disruptive to neighbors that simply letting cars proceed through. Set up a friggin speed trap and cash in for all I care...but good god those stop signs suck!

bapster2006
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Re: Excelsior and Grand Area Development - St. Louis Park

Postby bapster2006 » May 7th, 2015, 9:29 am

Yep, the car wash and existing Bridgewater bank site will remain.

Anondson
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Excelsior and Grand Area Development - St. Louis Park

Postby Anondson » May 7th, 2015, 10:07 am

Also, can I just say that what St. Louis Park has done to 38th Street (and 39th too) is bullcrap. Putting stop signs at every 330' short block is not a responsible way to discourage cut-through traffic.
That neighborhood (Minnikahda Vista) is my nemesis. The stop light times on Quentin to Excelsior or 38th to Excelsior are infuriating. I never skip a chance to mock it.

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

Postby MNdible » May 7th, 2015, 10:33 am

Amen, brother.

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

Postby RailBaronYarr » May 7th, 2015, 12:32 pm

I'll fourth that. And people turning right from Excelsior to 38th ignore the right turn on green arrow only 9 times out of 10.

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

Postby Anondson » May 7th, 2015, 12:41 pm

If there is a way to teach people to disrespect traffic signs, Minnikahda Vista will want it there.

bapster2006
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Re: Excelsior and Grand Area Development - St. Louis Park

Postby bapster2006 » May 7th, 2015, 12:58 pm

By the way, they already updated that business Journal story to note that there is a small retail center at Monterey and Excelsior.

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

Postby xandrex » May 7th, 2015, 1:35 pm

I'll fourth that. And people turning right from Excelsior to 38th ignore the right turn on green arrow only 9 times out of 10.
Followed the law the only time I ever turned there. Felt so uncomfortable. Was pretty sure the cars behind me were getting furious.

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

Postby twincitizen » May 7th, 2015, 1:57 pm

Why build the right turn lane at all if you're only going to allow turns on green? I'm kinda shocked Hennepin County allowed that restriction to happen.

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

Postby Anondson » May 7th, 2015, 3:55 pm

The "turn on green" light from Excelsior to 38th wont turn green for multiple light cycles. If there wasn't a turn lane to hold cars in, then people would take a right whenever the light turned. Because it turns ever handful of light cycles, people are held up and dissuaded from wanting to enter Minnikahda Vista. It's a traffic light moat.

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

Postby xandrex » May 8th, 2015, 9:10 am

Maybe Google just wants to troll Minnikahda Vista residents - the first time I ever went to Trader Joe's there, I knew I was unfamiliar with the area, so I plugged it into my phone. For whatever reason, Google had me coming from Excelsior from the west. Instead of turning left on Monterey, it told me to turn right on to 38th (and by the time I realized how silly that was, I couldn't merge over), then go up a block or two to either Kipling or Joppa, and then turn left onto Excelsior.

It's a really bizarre intersection.

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Excelsior and Grand Area Development - St. Louis Park

Postby Anondson » June 9th, 2015, 6:50 pm

The city council meeting regarding the Bridgewater development at Excelsior and Monterey got heated. Neighbors feel it will be traffic apocalypse.

http://sailor.mnsun.com/2015/06/09/st-l ... velopment/

Comparing traffic numbers on Excelsior on this stretch, vs. the stretch of Excelsior between Louisiana and 100 is night and day and puts complaints here in some perspective.

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

Postby min-chi-cbus » June 10th, 2015, 7:14 am

I can't tell if the argument is fairly legit, considering this intersection. The traffic there is driven largely by Trader Joe's and their terrible urban design for a parking lot and access to the store. It seems like some tweaking may be necessary on behalf of the developer if they want any chance of moving forward with this proposal -- fair or not. For once, I can actually understand the frustration some people are having about a project's impact on traffic. Usually the impact is minimal, especially if it's just residential being proposed, but in this case they're projecting traffic times to essentially double.

I'd really like to see this development move forward but definitely expect the developers to come up with some compromises first. This area is becoming more walkable, which should help weaken the argument for driving and traffic (eventually), but it's still the only realistic way to commute in this area.

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

Postby mattaudio » June 11th, 2015, 10:29 pm

“Residents believe that the proposed access points are not able to handle any increase in development,” Morin said. “We think a lot more study is needed of the whole area.”

The project would dump traffic onto Monterey Drive by Park Commons Drive in the busy Excelsior and Grand area, he noted.

“I’m astounded they even got this far,” Morin said. “It’s insanity.”

About 325 residents signed a petition asking the City Council to not take action on the Bridgewater Bank plan change until the city had created development guidelines for the north side of Excelsior Boulevard from Methodist Hospital to the Ellipse on Excelsior.

“We’re looking at a very large area of congestion already, and we want to make sure we’re planning for the future appropriately,” St. Louis Park resident Meghan Phimister said.

The development would change the character of the neighborhood and potentially cause the loss of small businesses, added fellow petitioner Steve Frank.

The building would look like a skyscraper to neighbors, St. Louis Park resident Patricia Carlson asserted. She noted traffic frequently backs up near Trader Joe’s and along Excelsior Boulevard.

“I naively picture you advocating and protecting our neighborhood and not making it more difficult to live there,” Carlson said.

Pedestrians already have difficulty crossing Park Commons Drive, St. Louis Park resident Michael Edlavitch said.

“People can’t even walk their kids through there without making sure the driver sees people in front of them,” Edlavitch said. “Now we’re going to have two more big access points there?”

Resident Bill Weber chimed in, “There’s probably not a worse place in the whole city of St. Louis Park to put additional traffic into two more driveways.”

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

Postby Nick » June 11th, 2015, 10:45 pm

The building would look like a skyscraper to neighbors, St. Louis Park resident Patricia Carlson asserted. She noted traffic frequently backs up near Trader Joe’s and along Excelsior Boulevard.

“I naively picture you advocating and protecting our neighborhood and not making it more difficult to live there,” Carlson said.
"I hope you don't make it more difficult to live here," says woman hoping to prevent more housing in a desirable area.
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Re: Excelsior and Grand Area Development - St. Louis Park

Postby Architorture » June 12th, 2015, 7:55 am

"The building would look like a skyscraper to neighbors", St. Louis Park resident Patricia Carlson asserted. She can't be serious! The neighboring building to the west is 1 story shorter. At 6 stories...a sky scraper - LOL

I do agree that a development plan is needed for the area. The city needs to balance tax, density, infrastructure, traffic, etc.
BUT this is a good infill project for all the city goals, make it happen. Then spend the next number of months figuring out a plan for the rest of Excelsior.

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

Postby min-chi-cbus » June 12th, 2015, 8:05 am

"The building would look like a skyscraper to neighbors", St. Louis Park resident Patricia Carlson asserted. She can't be serious! The neighboring building to the west is 1 story shorter. At 6 stories...a sky scraper - LOL

I do agree that a development plan is needed for the area. The city needs to balance tax, density, infrastructure, traffic, etc.
BUT this is a good infill project for all the city goals, make it happen. Then spend the next number of months figuring out a plan for the rest of Excelsior.
I hope people who say stuff like that lose their credibility in the process. How can the City or the developer take a complaint like that seriously? I'd be so angry if I were a developer and somebody squashed my project because of something trivial and specific to only a handful of people -- while I was trying to put something together for the better good (for everyone, for the community)!


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