Maple Grove - General Topics

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Nathan
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Skye at Arbor Lakes - Maple Grove

Postby Nathan » September 24th, 2013, 12:53 pm

So, that business journal article pointed to this project and said it was 263 units a part of a "large suburban development"

http://tcbmag.com/Industries/Real-Estat ... ment-Mania

Didn't think I'd seen it posted, and wondered what more they could be adding to the arbor lakes area...

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Re: Skye at Arbor Lakes

Postby Nathan » September 24th, 2013, 12:58 pm


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Re: Skye at Arbor Lakes

Postby min-chi-cbus » September 25th, 2013, 8:47 am

Sounds like a potential phase II (no timeline yet) would have an additional 466 units. So yeah, this is a HUGE development and a major change of pace for this market (suburbs vs. city)! I almost wish these were built downtown, but the suburbs can't wither and die either.

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Re: Skye at Arbor Lakes

Postby Nathan » September 27th, 2013, 12:11 pm

I had a friend who lived in their development in Woodbury, it had a lot of amenities, but it was so flat and faux-storic, it made me sick.

It also looks like Maple grove has plans for a huge "central park" and a lot of dense housing in that area.

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Re: Skye at Arbor Lakes

Postby alleycat » September 27th, 2013, 9:25 pm

Isn't Town Green their big "Central Park?"
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Re: Skye at Arbor Lakes

Postby Nathan » September 30th, 2013, 11:22 am

Apparently not... They have some pretty aggressive plans...

Image

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Re: Skye at Arbor Lakes

Postby Nathan » September 30th, 2013, 11:22 am


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Re: Skye at Arbor Lakes

Postby alleycat » September 30th, 2013, 12:11 pm

I've been doing some photo shoots out in the western suburbs and I was particularly impressed by Town Green. Lots of praise heaped on Bloomington Central, but Town Green is really well designed park. If this central park is at the same level of design it would be a huge win for Maple Grove.
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Maple Grove - General Topics

Postby Nathan » September 13th, 2015, 9:06 am

I grew up in maple grove, and while I'm not really into it anymore, they continue to do things pretty well for a suburb. between the town green and this new central park that is zoned for high density multifamily housing it's turning out to bea pretty well planned out area, definitely wish the bottineau line was terminating over here.

https://youtu.be/KKLUHXaEKLY

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Re: central park maple grove

Postby mattaudio » September 13th, 2015, 8:17 pm

The problem is that it's separated from holding ponds, stroads, and single-use developments just beyond the realm of reasonable walkability from three of Maple Grove's four faux main streets.

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Re: central park maple grove

Postby seanrichardryan » September 13th, 2015, 8:20 pm

What's with the wide squiggling sidewalk?
Q. What, what? A. In da butt.

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Re: central park maple grove

Postby Nathan » September 14th, 2015, 7:20 am

The problem is that it's separated from holding ponds, stroads, and single-use developments just beyond the realm of reasonable walkability from three of Maple Grove's four faux main streets.
Explain to me how that's so much different from Loring Park? Surrounded by massive roads, most of the buildings around it are single use residential buildings... Most of the Lake Parks in Mpls have single family homes around them and very little mixed use structures... Considering their plan for the area is to have it completely surrounded by 4-6 story residential buildings, I think it will be well walkable and used by those in that community, and we're talking a quarter mile walk from Main St.

I agree that it's a very suburban area, but they are doing a better job at master planning than most suburbs.

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Re: central park maple grove

Postby cond8147 » September 15th, 2015, 12:26 am

What's with the wide squiggling sidewalk?
It's actually a refrigerated ice skating loop.

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Re: Maple Grove - General Topics

Postby TCfusion87 » September 21st, 2015, 8:59 am

Hello Everyone,

I have been meaning to post about all of the development in Maple Grove over the past year or so, but Nathan beat me to the punch. I actually live in the heart of all of this new development. While I agree that it is very suburban, it is done in a way that gives you the best of both worlds. There are so many trails that connect throughout this whole area and this new Central Park will only continue to become developed into something quite special. I know this is not the lifestyle for everyone, but you can reasonably walk to almost anything you could ever want that is "mainstream" from this core central area. The mix of uses continues to grow and will only develop a more diverse and rich experience for those of us that choose to call this area home.
Don't think outside the box, think beyond the box.

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Re: Maple Grove - General Topics

Postby RailBaronYarr » September 21st, 2015, 9:41 am

Sounds like a streets.mn post.

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Re: Maple Grove - General Topics

Postby RailBaronYarr » September 21st, 2015, 9:55 am

My #hottakes:

Isn't this almost as good as we're going to hope for in the suburbs? Is it demonstrably worse than CNU-Approved greenfield master planned communities? The main streets seem to do calm traffic and quality pedestrian environment as well as any urbanist would push for (and better than many stretches of Lyndale, Hennepin, Lake, or other urban street). The roads that funnel traffic in serve mostly as roads with very few property access points for cars. I dunno, it's definitely not for me, but it's also not the worst suburban chain retail center in the world, and who knows as the buildings age or the area loses a bit of luster maybe those chains will move to the next exurban development and some local owners will take hold.

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Re: Maple Grove - General Topics

Postby David Greene » September 21st, 2015, 7:35 pm

you can reasonably walk to almost anything you could ever want that is "mainstream" from this core central area.
I call B.S. My sister's family lives there so I'm pretty familiar with the area. Who exactly can walk to a grocery store? Or a drug store? A restaurant, maybe, and even then the number of people that can do that is limited, but who cares about walking to restaurants? That doesn't make a place walkable.

I absolutely hate going to the Arbor Lakes area. I'll grant that the fake main streets are fairly nice for an exurb, but you gotta drive through massive parking lots to get to them! Those aren't mixed-use buildings.

The number of people that can or would want to walk to things is probably limited to those in the few townhome developments in the immediate vicinity.

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Re: central park maple grove

Postby David Greene » September 21st, 2015, 7:41 pm

Explain to me how that's so much different from Loring Park? Surrounded by massive roads, most of the buildings around it are single use residential buildings... Most of the Lake Parks in Mpls have single family homes around them and very little mixed use structures...
Oh come on. Hennepin Ave. is completely different from Elm Creek Blvd. And grids are important for pedestrian navigation. There are lots of streetcar nodes near the lakes. If nothing else, you can hop a bus to get to one pretty easily.
Considering their plan for the area is to have it completely surrounded by 4-6 story residential buildings, I think it will be well walkable and used by those in that community, and we're talking a quarter mile walk from Main St..
That will certainly help the people that live in those new buildings but nearly everyone else who already lives in MG is SOL.

I understand that things take time to change but I'm not sure putting development resources into this area is a good use of money as it will only put more strain on an unsustainable transportation system that's already collapsing under its own weight. It's privatizing profits and socializing costs.

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Re: central park maple grove

Postby Nathan » September 21st, 2015, 8:05 pm

Explain to me how that's so much different from Loring Park? Surrounded by massive roads, most of the buildings around it are single use residential buildings... Most of the Lake Parks in Mpls have single family homes around them and very little mixed use structures...
Oh come on. Hennepin Ave. is completely different from Elm Creek Blvd. And grids are important for pedestrian navigation. There are lots of streetcar nodes near the lakes. If nothing else, you can hop a bus to get to one pretty easily.
It's not really near Elm Creek Blvd, so you wouldn't really have to cross that if you lived in the area. None of the roads around it are anywhere near as invasive as an ENTIRE interstate and its tunnel, Hen and Lyn, as well as on ramps. Having just visited the area last weekend, I'll tell you for sure it's a lot easier (mentally and probably physically) to walk the commercial area on Main Street in Maple Grove than it is to get to the Walker from Lurcat or any residence on the park.

Let's also not forget that Loring started with a lot of just single family homes around it initially, so yeah this takes time.

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Re: Maple Grove - General Topics

Postby TCfusion87 » September 22nd, 2015, 7:57 am

you can reasonably walk to almost anything you could ever want that is "mainstream" from this core central area.
I call B.S. My sister's family lives there so I'm pretty familiar with the area. Who exactly can walk to a grocery store? Or a drug store? A restaurant, maybe, and even then the number of people that can do that is limited, but who cares about walking to restaurants? That doesn't make a place walkable.

I absolutely hate going to the Arbor Lakes area. I'll grant that the fake main streets are fairly nice for an exurb, but you gotta drive through massive parking lots to get to them! Those aren't mixed-use buildings.

The number of people that can or would want to walk to things is probably limited to those in the few townhome developments in the immediate vicinity.
I think you are not understanding the point I was trying to make. I am speaking about the townhome and apartment developments in what is defined as the Gravel Mining Redevelopment Area. I live in the heart of all that, so yes, it is walk-able, and most defiantly bike-able. I constantly see people taking advantage of going to most of the shoppes on mainstreet and in/around town green. While I can agree that most people do not head over to the shoppes or fountains, there is a wealth of options right there on/adjacent to mainstreet. You have a grocery store (Byerly's), coffee shop, beauty salons, retail, a wide mix of fast casual dining, sit down dining, offices, and a few big box retail chains as well. This does not even include what is across Elm Creek Blvd.

While you sister may live in the area, it does not sound like they live in this immediate vicinity as I do. I live and work within this same area, so I think I have a clue as to what is and is not going on. As Nathan clearly has stated, it takes time and this is all a work in progress. You cannot magically build everything at once and expect it to be instantly diverse with mixed uses. See how long it took the various neighborhoods of Minneapolis to become what they are today? Now take a look at what once was nothing more than a gravel pit and the progress and change that has been made in a relatively short period of time.
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