Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development
Posted: April 24th, 2021, 10:39 pm
urbanMSP
Architecture, Development, and Infrastructure of the Twin Cities
https://urbanmsp.com/
Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development
Page 11 of 11
Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development
Posted: April 21st, 2022, 1:23 pm
Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development
Posted: April 21st, 2022, 2:21 pm
That could actually drive some good ridership at American Blvd Station!
Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development
Posted: April 21st, 2022, 2:56 pm
The bit of the article before the paywall says two locations, and that the Crowne Plaza conversion is not one of the two locations. Do we have any idea where they are?
Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development
Posted: April 22nd, 2022, 9:37 am
In looking through the City of Bloomington's development page, I see this project was approved last April. It would be a really great addition to the American Blvd station area as well (just east of the Crowne Plaza hotel conversion and adjacent to the parking ramp).That could actually drive some good ridership at American Blvd Station!
https://permits.bloomingtonmn.gov/ProdP ... ile/340422
Phase 1: 242 market rate units
Phase 2: 86 workforce units
Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development
Posted: April 22nd, 2022, 9:50 am
Hoping they leave room to extend a trail between the MVNWR visitor center and the Bass Ponds
Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development
Posted: April 22nd, 2022, 9:58 am
Risor Bloomington, a 146 unit 55+ senior living apartment is also under construction on 34th Ave, just east of where the blue line turns west at The Reflections condominiums.
https://liveatrisor.com/bloomington/gallery/
With the Crowne Plaze conversion of 229 rooms to apartments, along with the two apartment buildings on the west side of 34th Ave S that were built in the last 8 years (394 unit IndiGO & 250 unit Fenley) and the recently proposed third apartment + grocer at BCS (405 units), Bloomington certainly in working to build up this area in a pretty significant way. Proposed, under construction and completed in that area now total 1,752 units.
https://liveatrisor.com/bloomington/gallery/
With the Crowne Plaze conversion of 229 rooms to apartments, along with the two apartment buildings on the west side of 34th Ave S that were built in the last 8 years (394 unit IndiGO & 250 unit Fenley) and the recently proposed third apartment + grocer at BCS (405 units), Bloomington certainly in working to build up this area in a pretty significant way. Proposed, under construction and completed in that area now total 1,752 units.
Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development
Posted: February 12th, 2024, 8:54 pm
Oxendales appears closed after a three month tenure.
Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development
Posted: February 13th, 2024, 9:41 am
Yeah, it is no longer listed on their website and Google Maps has it listed as permanently closed. That is unfortunate.Oxendales appears closed after a three month tenure.
Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development
Posted: February 13th, 2024, 5:44 pm
That's a shame. I'd sure like to know what the reasons were for closing so soon. I'm assuming they must've had a lease agreement to break or pay penalties to exit. Was business so bad they were spiraling into debt? Building structure issues? Management problems? Or maybe just a long term temporary closure due to certain circumstances?Oxendales appears closed after a three month tenure.
One thing I did find odd was they really didn't have much signage to show there was a supermarket there for motorists/passerby on American Blvd. The building had the big red letters on the corner pointing to GROCERY -> but those were only really noticeable at night when lit up. (I've only been by there on the bus in recent months so perhaps I missed a roadside sign that would've been visible to drivers?)
Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development
Posted: February 14th, 2024, 12:05 pm
While it's a dense neighborhood, it's not (yet) a large population to support a grocer. And it's an island of a neighborhood, walled off by the river, the airport, and MOA/77.
Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development
Posted: February 14th, 2024, 12:57 pm
Not that I'm the market for it, but I was surprised to see "oh, there's an Oxendale's down here?" out the train window on Saturday.
Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development
Posted: February 14th, 2024, 11:03 pm
https://www.startribune.com/a-grocery-s ... 600343491/
Strib article. Seems Bloomington city management had a really niave and iddyllic vision of creating their idea of an urban utopia from scratch and are getting a hard lesson in economic realities. Appears the city made the developer put in ground floor commercial as a condition of getting TIF funding and now the developer is saying never again, either we build only apartments in the next phase or we don't build.
Are there any places where developers are actually eager to build mixed use developements as opposed to only doing so grudgingly as a condtion for getting city subsidies? I'm thinking this is even more an issue here because the national chain type of places that could afford the commercial rents and aren't eager to get a freestanding pad site instead so they could have a drive-thru probably already have a store in the Mall.
Strib article. Seems Bloomington city management had a really niave and iddyllic vision of creating their idea of an urban utopia from scratch and are getting a hard lesson in economic realities. Appears the city made the developer put in ground floor commercial as a condition of getting TIF funding and now the developer is saying never again, either we build only apartments in the next phase or we don't build.
Are there any places where developers are actually eager to build mixed use developements as opposed to only doing so grudgingly as a condtion for getting city subsidies? I'm thinking this is even more an issue here because the national chain type of places that could afford the commercial rents and aren't eager to get a freestanding pad site instead so they could have a drive-thru probably already have a store in the Mall.
Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development
Posted: February 14th, 2024, 11:34 pm
The city originally wanted this to be a huge office center which would benefit from the abundance of hotels as well as proximity of the airport and the mall. Of course, the edge city was on the way out once the light rail opened and the developer pivoted to residential. This area is a total island with zero established ecosystem for daily living. There needs to be a mass of people (beyond just six residential buildings) as well as a mass of businesses to support things like a grocery store. Once the area is more established I think there's opportunity for daily round type retail to work. There's still a ton of redevelopment opportunity in the area and the city is going to push that over empty offices and vacant parcels.
Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development
Posted: February 15th, 2024, 2:32 pm
I think people really underestimate how many people it takes to turn a greenfield into an actual market for goods and services.
The good news, I guess is that there is absolutely enough space in this area to keep adding more homes, offices, and whatever else to activate it. The bad news is that even if the South Loop area is packed wall-to-wall with homes, it's still going to be weirdly isolated by the highways, airport, mall, and the river. And all the internal roads in this area are just stupidly overbuilt.
Non-exhaustive list of things they should do; close the 30th Ave and American Boulevard LRT stations, do some serious traffic calming just about everywhere, and build some kind of promontory where you can emerge from behind the trees and look out onto the Minnesota River below.
The good news, I guess is that there is absolutely enough space in this area to keep adding more homes, offices, and whatever else to activate it. The bad news is that even if the South Loop area is packed wall-to-wall with homes, it's still going to be weirdly isolated by the highways, airport, mall, and the river. And all the internal roads in this area are just stupidly overbuilt.
Non-exhaustive list of things they should do; close the 30th Ave and American Boulevard LRT stations, do some serious traffic calming just about everywhere, and build some kind of promontory where you can emerge from behind the trees and look out onto the Minnesota River below.
Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development
Posted: February 15th, 2024, 4:26 pm
What you coin as “urban utopia” in most parts of the world is just a normal city. I’d rather the city spend the money to influence this kind of development instead of another big box store with a big parking lot for people’s big cars that get jammed trying to get in/out of said parking lot.https://www.startribune.com/a-grocery-s ... 600343491/
Strib article. Seems Bloomington city management had a really niave and iddyllic vision of creating their idea of an urban utopia from scratch and are getting a hard lesson in economic realities. Appears the city made the developer put in ground floor commercial as a condition of getting TIF funding and now the developer is saying never again, either we build only apartments in the next phase or we don't build.
Are there any places where developers are actually eager to build mixed use developements as opposed to only doing so grudgingly as a condtion for getting city subsidies? I'm thinking this is even more an issue here because the national chain type of places that could afford the commercial rents and aren't eager to get a freestanding pad site instead so they could have a drive-thru probably already have a store in the Mall.
Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development
Posted: February 16th, 2024, 7:49 am
Does anyone know what the plan for long meadow circle down there was? It looks like a company bought up and tore down a bunch of single family homes then never did anything with it
Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development
Posted: February 16th, 2024, 4:33 pm
So, how did it work out with the city squandering the money of hard-working taxpayers trying to get "just a normal city" there?
Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development
Posted: February 18th, 2024, 4:38 pm
So you're already deeming it a failure because a grocery store closed? Let's wait and see what happens to the grocery store space, and the area in general before rushing to that judgement.So, how did it work out with the city squandering the money of hard-working taxpayers trying to get "just a normal city" there?
At any rate, I'd rather our tax money be spent on more people-oriented development than the usual auto-oriented development that's dominated our cities for more than half a century and, whether city leaders want to believe it or not, has led to the traffic congestion, auto dependence, and even deteriorating health of our cities.
Re: Bloomington Central Station & South Loop Development
Posted: February 20th, 2024, 3:05 pm
If Bloomington was spending general fund dollars to boost development in South Loop, that would be worthy of criticism. But that's not what's happening. None of the money squandered in South Loop actually comes from Bloomington homeowners. It's sequestered TIF money from other South Loop developments. What happens in South Loop stays in South Loop!
Furthermore, former state rep tax chair Ann L got Bloomington a sweetheart deal back in ~2014 where Bloomington gets to retain some of the taxes generated in South Loop that would otherwise be going into the regional fiscal disparities pot. Goes without saying that Bloomington SFH-owning taxpayers are getting an extraordinarily good deal on property taxes, between the MOA, the lodging/admissions taxes, the vast commercial-industrial tax base throughout the city, etc.
Furthermore, former state rep tax chair Ann L got Bloomington a sweetheart deal back in ~2014 where Bloomington gets to retain some of the taxes generated in South Loop that would otherwise be going into the regional fiscal disparities pot. Goes without saying that Bloomington SFH-owning taxpayers are getting an extraordinarily good deal on property taxes, between the MOA, the lodging/admissions taxes, the vast commercial-industrial tax base throughout the city, etc.