urbanMSP

Yes, ESG was in one of these buildings for many years.

BRW was there in the 90s. I liked the office layout- the combining of the two buildings at different floor heights made it rather interesting, if not odd in some places. Building had a light scoop on the roof to bring natural light down into the interior. Haven't been inside in years. Probably should drop in before the next remodeling starts.

New grocery store likely for Thresher Square development
August 8, 2014
http://www.journalmpls.com/news-feed/ne ... evelopment

At last night’s Downtown Minneapolis Neighborhood Association meeting a representative from Sherman Associates hinted that the retail included in the Thresher Square development will include a grocery retailer.

It’s not Trader Joe’s. Tony Kuechle, Sherman’s senior vice president of development, said the 20,000-square-foot space is much larger than the typical Trader Joe’s store. ...

This is a nice addition to the Mill District.

I would have loved a Trader Joe's. Still absolutely great to get another grocery store around downtown. Any speculation on who it is?

Target Express?

No. I think this should be a small grocer like family run and stuff

Despite the comments, I would not be surprised if did end up being a Trader Joes. Its hard to tell from the article if the Sherman rep specifically denied it was going to be Trader Joes, or merely gave the non-committal statement about the site being larger than a typical Trader Joe's footprint. TJ's has started doing larger stores than their typical ~12k-15k sf, so its certainly possible. http://nreionline.com/retail/retail-rea ... spirations

My other thought was maybe Fresh Thyme, which is looking to expand into the Twin Cities. Although I believe their format is typically ~30,000 s.f. and kind of doubt they would do an urban format. http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/n ... tores.html

It sounds like they're interested in going after the university students, which makes me think Target Express is unlikely because they just opened a location in Dinkytown, plus its not quiet a grocery store. While it's a little big for Trader Joe's, I could see this being an Aldi (Same parent company) Sounds about right square footage wise and would appeal to students. Otherwise I was also thinking possibly a Supervalu store such as Jerry's, but I think that's pretty unlikely. As for a small family owned and run grocer going in here... Good luck with that. Either way it'll be great to have a grocer on the other side of town.

Edit: Forgot about Kowalskis, could definitely see them making a move for an urban store.

Kowalski's or Fresh Thyme. Book it.

It would be a good move for Kowalski's as I find them very much like Lunds who has 2 stores nearby a Kowalski's would be a natural. Or would it?

I'd dig a K-wals. They make good cheap sushi

Even considering the growth in this area, we've got to be reaching a saturation point for grocery stores in this area.

Idk, there's a good amount of residential around Elliot and Gold Medal Parks, and 10-15 blocks to Whole Foods or Lunds is a pretty long walk with grocery bags. Or is there a grocery store in the area I'm not aware of?

The developer said the prospective grocer insists on the skyway because they hope to draw college students riding the LRT to the near station and walking the skyway to it. *shrug*

Even considering the growth in this area, we've got to be reaching a saturation point for grocery stores in this area.

There really aren't any grocery stores in the area. I live in downtown east and I go to the aldi on Franklin

The developer said the prospective grocer insists on the skyway because they hope to draw college students riding the LRT to the near station and walking the skyway to it. *shrug*

Could be Aldi?
Or CVS?
Or, Fresh Thyme Farmers Markets? They're opening one of those in Bloomington at Penn American Phase II that's 28K.
http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/m ... -penn.html

I don't know much about Fresh Thyme but Kowalski's I can see being a viable option considering the clientele of the neighborhood (Mills District, more premier n'hood downtown).

I work at a Kowalskis and the only one I hear of them building is the one in Excelsior, though in order to keep up with Lund's, they really need to start building more stores. This would be a good spot because Kowalski's caters to upper class and there are a lot of high end luxury apartments nearby. This would be a perfect spot for them, they already have an organic store in downtown (Whole Food's), so they shouldn't build another one of those...

Kowalski's once tried to expand into the burbs (as did Byerly's before their merger with Lunds) with mixed success. They built a nice store in Lakeville (which now has three Cub foods, one a former Rainbow, that have opened since) and it promptly closed. My take on it is that suburban Cubs and the like are usually rather nice and new, well-stocked, etc so the upmarket options aren't differentiated by much. Whereas urban Cubs seem to be much more tough - I don't go to them anymore because they seem to have stock issues, less organic selections, and are rather run down. Thus upmarkets have more room for differentiation in urban areas. Just a theory.