urbanMSP

New Hampton Inn proposed along the Southwest LRT in Eden Prairie.

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/n ... t-lrt.html

494/212 is really getting A LOT of hotels. When I've stayed in hotels I really preferred the ones with areas worth walking around a little even if I was otherwise driving everywhere I needed to go to. I hope Eden Prairie puts more attention to making the area walkable.

Still, maybe after LRT happens we will see hotels showing up in Hopkins near the stations.

My mobile version of bizjournals is acting up, but Meijer just bought 30 acres for a store in Brooklyn park. Zane Ave and 610 on former opus land.

Testing -- don't mind me

I find the suburbs very testing as well.

I guess they've been doing well enough for them to keep expanding in the metro, but I've never really understood the appeal of Pizza Ranch when there are other options (other than that it's cheap, I guess). To me Pizza Ranch is someplace you go when you're in some small town and it's your only choice.

I guess they've been doing well enough for them to keep expanding in the metro, but I've never really understood the appeal of Pizza Ranch when there are other options (other than that it's cheap, I guess). To me Pizza Ranch is someplace you go when you're in some small town and it's your only choice.

Agreed. Whenever I think of Pizza Ranch, I think of a small town.

Whenever I think of Pizza Ranch I think of homophobic "Christian" nutjobs.

Shakopee to break ground on recreation project.
http://finance-commerce.com/2016/03/sha ... n-project/

The old United Health HQ, across 169 in an office complex in Edina from the sprawling campus in Opus II in Minnetonka will be redeveloped into a 240 luxury apartment building.

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/b ... edina.html

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/b ... na.html#i3

Would this be within (reasonable) walking distance of the future SWLRT station near here?

I can see this type of living space appealing to: a.) empty-nesters who are looking to downsize but stay in the burbs and keep a suburban lifestyle, or b.) UnitedHealth executives/brass who want to keep a 2nd/3rd home near the corporate HQ.

Long walk, short bike ride, to the Opus Station. I think there is planning researching possibility of a highway bus route on 169 to have a stop at Bren Road too.

Chick-Fil-A is expanding to Eden Prairie. Best news I've heard all week.

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/n ... urant.html


Also, do you think it would be smart to start an Eden Prairie Development Thread? I mean, it's not the most active place in the metro, but there's still some things going on.

Article in the Strib on built out suburbs with aging infrastructure.

http://www.startribune.com/water-usage- ... 375793591/

The gist, the suburbs are discovering that the built water infrastructure has a set cost to replace no matter how much you conserve using water. Ironically, the more water conserved, the more rates had to go up since the replacement costs are covered by the now-much-reduced water use.

The alternative is to allow more residences to help cover replacement costs. It's a small price to pay to raise costs to protect "neighborhood character"?

There's got to be a better way to price this. Conserving water shouldn't be punished.

These utilities need to cover their costs. Not much that can be done about it. And in any case, the water was going to cost more because of aging equipment, higher treatment standards, and always increasing labor costs.

[Also, apparently there's been some cartel pricing going on in the commodities required to treat water.]

The funding for this distribution network should come from property taxes (or better yet, land value taxes) weighted according to the cost to provide infrastructure for a particular land use... Reward the parcel that is cheaper to serve due to its land use.

The funding for water treatment and all the rest should be a part of the water bill.

Chick-Fil-A is now planning locations in Chanhassen, Maplewood, and West St. Paul, as well as the previously announced Eden Prairie location near Eden Prairie Center.

To be honest, I'd prefer it Chick-Fil-A went into the mall itself and took up the vacant location in the food court that's been sitting there for ages now. I've seen Chick-Fil-A's in West Jordan Creek Mall in West Des Moines and in the Denver area as well, and they were as busy as any non-mall location that I've seen.

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/n ... -with.html

Can't drive-thru the mall.