urbanMSP

I'm wondering if K-Mart would be open to discussions about being part of a new mixed-use project on the SuperValu half of the block. The existing store could then stay open during construction. Of course, this assumes finding a developer interested, too, in such a project.

They could do it on any part of the block when Minneapolis becomes the land owner of the other parcel too, I'm pretty sure that's what sears has been requesting all along. You have to imagine that sears doesn't have a lot of cash flow though either, moving a store costs a lot of money.

There are so many "what If" questions that come to mind ,it is mind boggling. Can you build a Kmart that can be surrounded by other development so there is not a lot of blank walls. We need to keep it away from the greenway, really needs to be in the center of the Blaisdell/Nicollet block. Put public parking above it. They will not need the huge SF that they now have. THey should be able to condense down to a more reasonable SF. Low rise housing should be along the greenway, with retail fronting Lake and Nicollet. Housing along Blaisdell would be great. with some retail on the ground floor. More housing along the 1st ave side of the block to keep the retail mostly along Nicollet and Lake. The main thing is that parking and Kmart have to be blended or hidden within the blocks and not being blank walls.

Both property owners are completely within their rights... you don't get to just undo ownership of land, because you wanna make the city "nicer"

But that's exactly how they got that land and the ridiculously long leases in the first place. Urban 'renewal' was all about just taking land and clearing it and doing something else because they thought it would be better. That was my point about irony because now we seem to have reservations about doing the exact same thing while they profit off of the fact it was done with impunity back in the day.

Live by the urban renewal and die by it, I say. I wouldn't be so gung ho about just taking it if that wasn't how they got the land initially.

Also I'd say reopening nicollet *is* pretty crucial for transit needs if they don't want to waste a bunch of money on a temporary routing for the street car. They'll tear things down for highways without a second thought, why not for transit?

Also have any of you actually been in that Kmart recently? It's falling apart. When I lived by it a few years back they had buckets out all over the store to catch water from the leaky roof and I can't imagine they've spent any significant amount on fixing it. It's probably got mold and I would not be surprised if it had plenty of other issues with the structure. Those throw away strip mall buildings were really not built to last this long and it seems like they're letting it rot until they can cash in by extorting the city for an inflated price after getting a sweetheart deal originally.

Oh don't think i don't understand ALL the reasons why it should be open and why it sucks it happened, but in the real world where there are other parties involved you can't just take without getting the shit sued out of you.

Full RCA of the proposal

http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups ... 151447.pdf

WHat? Sears pays less than 10k a month in rent? Ridiculous.

No wonder it is profitable and they want to stay there...

Building transportation infrastructure is one of the main historic purposes of eminent domain. Using it to reconnect Nicollet is exactly the sort of thing it exists for. I imagine a lawsuit to block its use to strictly rebuild the street would be dismissed pretty quickly. The parcels on either side of the right of way may be trickier, but the building is useless if you tear down the middle of it for the street.

Exactly. Basically I'm saying it should be a hardball option because fifteen years is too long to kick the can around about it while waiting for Kmart to come to the table seriously. And it's also a good nuclear option if they're trying to extort the city for more than it's really worth. Even if they somehow retained control of the rest of the parcel after a use of eminent domain I doubt the city is going to approve anything close to the awful strip mall style building there now.

15 years? The city just officially started pursuing this last year.

Then why does every news article say it's been discussed for the last fifteen years? Yes they only just got serious about it recently, but that's partly because Kmart had been pretty consistently saying they had no desire to move or be bought out. If they thought there was a chance earlier they would have started working on it then because it's a no brainer kind of thing that's popular with residents of the city.

Just because neighborhood groups and general citizens have "discussed" it doesn't mean the land owners have been brought in for formal agreements with city officials. The fact that this is moving as fast as this is is great. No one is dragging their feet everying is going according to the schedule set when they started this.

OK so it's been about 2 years since the city decided they wanted to take this on.

A private developer had a pipe dream in 03, which has nothing to do with reality or the city.

And every article I've read says that sears is willing to play ball as long as they're included in the next development and they don't have to close in between. This rent demand just came to be recently which is kind of crazy.

Nathan, They have discussed and even done models for a long time now. That was back before Sears even bought Kmart. That was back when we were looking to open Nicollet to take advantage of the building of the greenway entrance at Nicollet. I think the first section of the greenway was built about 2000. I can't exactly remember what was part of the first , second , and third phases as they built the greenway. But I remember them having a model that was probably done partially for redeveloping around the greenway entrance/exits. I want to say that I've even seen models of that area on display as part of the IDS development forum that we have every year. Been awhile ago, but it was there. The models buried the parking in the center and left the outside of the streets/greenway developed as walk able areas with lots of doors and windows along the sidewalks. They worked in residential towers and I think townhouses along the greenway. I remember one of the thing was a restaurant that would be on the greenway at Nicollet, with a patio that overlooked the greenway, and this was before the boom in patios came to be.

So yes, they have been wanting, talking, envisioning getting the blocks along Nicollet reopened and redeveloped now since we built the first phase of the greenway. So you might have to look under greenway for the models, but they were made and they were not too bad for the time. Now I would expect better as we would have learned a few more things and adding the street car line to the mix may change how we develop the area also.

The city has talked on and off with the land owners now since the greenway was built. It may not have been front burner, but the city has been working with the neighborhoods affected to get Nicollet back open. But as we know, the city has much more pressing projects that needed their attention and the available money that was available for redevelopment. How many years was the light rail the number one priority, the stadiums, transportation issues. Unfortunately this project seems to get lost when other larger projects take center stage. Now that we are looking to open Nicollet and build a street car extension next to/along the greenway that this project bubbles closer to the surface again. I also think the city has been waiting for Sears/Kmart to get to a desperation point to wanting to sell for the assets value, as the holding company is not doing very well financially. I've lived in the Wedge now 16 years and that has been my interest too. When will Sears be desperate enough to sell or really be a part of this project. I think they want to be, but I think many now don't want them to be a part of it. Just sell and get out is what some want.

Discussion and talks aren't formal outlines for the city, the city wanted developers to appeal to the land owners without getting involved.

I know that people and groups have wanted it changed since it was built but that doesn't mean anything. The Greenway coalition can plan all they want but they have no jurisdiction whatsoever. Etc etc.

We have progress and cooperation, it's not worth suggesting otherwise yet.

The city has had on/off discussions with the stake holders for some time now. This goes back to the greenway planning. Just because nothing happened does not mean that the city was not seriously working with the stake holders for the last 15 years. But when it becomes less of a priority, we don't hear too much about it. It took the street car lines to pull it back up to the fore front again. Now that they have bought the Grocery section of the block, it shows that they are making it a priority again.

I had Kmart as a client from 1997 to 2001 (Campbell Mithun wad their ad agency then) and they were discussing this location with the city of Minneapolis at that time. I had bought my house here in Whittier in 1998 and actually met with Kmarts VP of Real Estate then to give him some background on the neighborhoods concerns. They have held the position that it is a profitable store for yhe last 20 years, in part due to the complete lack of competition and to not investing any money in that location. They were updating stores to Big Kmarts all over the country at that time but took that location off the list because they felt that they could negotiate a great deal with the city and potentiak developers. The land is owned by an east coast real estate company and kmart is not interested in investing in a rental property... plus the CEO of Sears has been bleecing kmart to prop up Sears stores. Ultimately - kmart will never be a good partner in this future development - it is not in alignment with their current management and "growth or operational strategies.