urbanMSP

June 16 ceremonial ground breaking for the Footprint development on Mainstreet. 40-ish units. Glad to see this infill on a batch of vacant lots.

https://finance-commerce.com/2026/06/fo ... y-hopkins/

In the upcoming city council agenda, there is a proposal to purchase the remaining 325 Cold Storage site from MCWD as a way to move the stalled redevelopment along.

“Through settlement discussions, city staff have concluded the only path forward for the current vision to be realized and for the needed housing to be build is through the City having control of the property by purchasing it for the $9.25 million asking price and subsequently selling individual Planning & Economic Development development parcels.”

MCWD has been very tight lipped about this entire thing and as a Hopkins resident they have left a very bitter opinion of their operating board.

The admittedly messy handling of the site makes me wonder if the city will be a bit more hesitant to sign off on any other big development since while I don't know if there as big as the 325 cold storage site in terms of dollar amount or sqft, there are some decently big sites that are either planned or proposed/rumored.

https://www.startribune.com/hopkins-dev ... /601886416

The watershed district has probably poisoned their reputation with me forever with their holding Hopkins hostage with keeping the site blighted. Years of input flushed down the drain with their demand for a whole reset to everything. (I attended every hearing and session gathering ideas from residents, what a waste)

Every year delayed is another year the property pays no taxes. The district just twiddles its thumbs as delaying doesn’t harm them like it does the city.