Development News

To make way for the recently opened Amsterdam Bar and Hall in downtown St. Paul, the space underwent $100,000 worth of remodeling.

Within seven weeks, the space, which had sat empty for a year after Pop! restaurant closed, was converted into a bar and entertainment venue.

Jarret Oulman, a co-owner of the place, says, “It involved a lot of dismantling, ripping things apart,” which was challenging because “it was built solidly. It was a lot of work.”    

Workers tore down walls, pulled out the carpet, built tabletops, and installed booths and lighting fixtures, he says.

Today, the 8,000-square-foot space has two stages and a private dining room, while a moveable wall helps close off part of the place to create a more intimate bar.

It's helpful for those nights that don’t feature big musical acts, he explains. ”We hung a wall that makes it feel tighter and more comfortable in the bar space.”

Otherwise, the room “feels like a gym by itself,” he says.

As its name suggests, the bar and hall draws inspiration from Amsterdam.

Oulman characterizes the aesthetic as Dutch bohemian, with vintage Dutch graphic art, dark-stained wood, and tapestries. “The look and the culture go hand-in-hand,” he says.   

He explains that Amsterdam’s culture was something he and his co-owners wanted to replicate because it’s “interesting, sophisticated, and inclusive.”

So far, the place has been well received, he says, adding that the neighboring record store, Eclipse Records, and the design and print studio Big Table Studio, which are also new to the block, are complementary.

“It has a significant effect on the block and downtown St. Paul,” he says, adding, “It makes the creative environment that much stronger."


Source: Jarret Oulman, co-owner, Amsterdam Bar and Hall
Writer: Anna Pratt

The 1853 Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery in Minneapolis, where thousands of the city’s earliest settlers are buried, was the backdrop for a recent benefit concert.

It featured Jeremy Messersmith, a local musician whose 2010 album, “The Reluctant Graveyard,” has songs that are based on some of the cemetery’s historic figures. Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles also performed.  

The concert raised around $10,000 to help restore the cemetery’s steel and limestone pillar fence, which has long been in disrepair, according to Sue Hunter Weir, who chairs Friends of the Cemetery, which organized the event.  

It also drew a crowd of about 1,200 people, many of whom had never been to the cemetery before. “That kind of attention is good for us,” she says.  

Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery, which is the city’s oldest, is among the 25 historic preservation projects that are competing for dollars through the Partners in Preservation contest, which The Line covered here.

Through the competition, which closes this week, the public has a chance to help pick preservation projects that will get a portion of a $1 million grant that’s being offered jointly by American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  

A couple of years ago the Friends group jumpstarted the $1.4 million preservation effort with an “Adopt a Picket” campaign. Of 3,510 pickets, nearly 700 have been adopted so far, according to Weir.

Since then, the gates lining Cedar Avenue and Lake Street, and parts of the fence have been restored, but much of it still needs fixing up, she explains.

The fence is a priority because it protects the cemetery. Despite its status on the National Register of Historic Places, the cemetery has been described as endangered. Only a few years ago, “Some sections [of the fence] were so bad that people could push it in with their hands,” she says.   


Source: Sue Hunter Weir, chair, Friends of the Cemetery
Writer: Anna Pratt

An old mansion on Cathedral Hill in St. Paul, which had gone through foreclosure, will soon be converted into a Montessori school and a bed and breakfast.

Whitney Blessing, along with her husband, Andy, who is a contractor, are fixing up the place, which once belonged to Frank P. Shepard.

The Shepards were a prominent family who had four homes within a block of one another, she explains.

Through the years, the 14,000-square-foot mansion had gone through many changes, most recently serving as a boarding house for an international school, according to Whitney.

This month, the Blessings will open the Cathedral Hill Montessori School in the home’s 1950s addition.

It’s just the first part of the Blessings’ concept for turning around the place, which is also their sixth home renovation.  

The couple and their two children will move into the 1884 portion of the house. But the 1881 original structure will become a four-guest bed and breakfast. Separately, large dining and living rooms will become community meeting spaces.

Altogether, they'll probably end up spending $500,000 on the renovation, she says.

“I think this house will never be the original Queen Anne Victorian that it was before the 1940s, when it turned institutional,” she says.

That being said, “We wanted to put something here that would be available to anyone in the neighborhood who should need those services.”

The 1880s areas of the home and the carriage house are considered to be contributing structures to the surrounding historic district. "We want to maintain the historic character," Blessing says.

Much of the work that they’re doing, from restoring the original hardwood floors to uncovering fireplaces, is cosmetic. Utilities also need to be upgraded, while previous mop closets will be turned into bathrooms for the bed and breakfast’s guest rooms.

The neighborhood has been supportive of the project, she says. “[The house] is part of the history and we want that to stay intact and maintain the integrity and open it up for the community to see and be a part of and enjoy.”  

Source: Whitney Blessing, homeowner, Frank P. Shepard mansion
Writer: Anna Pratt

After a $14 million project that nearly doubled its gallery space, a renewed Weisman Art Museum on the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus has opened its doors.

Erin Lauderman, a spokesperson for the Frank Gehry-designed museum, says the Weisman added another 8,100 square feet, which it did without “any more ground to build on.”

In a Finance and Commerce story, Brett Dunlap, a project manager with JE Dunn of Kansas City, Mo., the project's general contractor, says that it "required the galleries to be built atop and cantilevered over huge concrete columns."

A fifth gallery space, which has been dubbed the Target Studio for Creative Collaboration, “had to push the walking bridge out,” according to Lauderman.

There’s also a new canopy and bridge skirt. More of the signature metal of the façade was used on one side of the building, while another part of the exterior is mainly brick. “It completed the building inside and out,” she says. “Now you walk in a loop inside.”  

Another challenge was to fit the work in with the plans for the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit line, which will span the Washington Avenue Bridge. “It’s a limiting site but it’s a fantastic location,” Lauderman says.

All in all, the museum has the same feel as it did before, although the recently installed skylights create an openness that literally sheds new light on the works. “That makes every space look different,” she says.  

The Weisman now has more room to showcase its 20,000-piece permanent collection, which includes ceramics, American art, and works on paper. The fifth gallery area is geared to interdisciplinary collaboration.

“Now [the museum] is a better resource,” she says. “You can come back and see the same piece multiple times.”

Admission to the museum is still free and, says Lauderman, “it doesn’t take long to get through. We have a nice, thoughtful collection." 

Source: Erin Lauderman, Weisman Art Museum
Writer: Anna Pratt

The Corner Apartments will complete a broadened redevelopment plan that began years ago on the block at 2nd Street Northeast and 1st Avenue Northeast in Minneapolis.

It'll replace a parking lot, according to Gretchen Camp, who works for the locally based BKV Group, which is designing the building.

Hunt Associates is the developer behind the 94-unit, 10-story apartment complex.

Recently the city approved the apartment plan, which includes a mix of studio and one- and two-bedroom units.

Some of the units will have ground-level walk-ups for a live/work scenario. It allows for people to live in an apartment with a separate main-floor commercial space, Camp explains.

It responds to a "big trend of people working from home," she says.

Other amenities at the Corner Apartments include a business center, fitness room, rooftop deck, and on-site management.

On the whole, the contemporary-style building will feature brick, fiberboard panel, and glass materials, along with recessed and projecting balconies, she says.

Visually, the building, which faces a couple of towers, helps "transition the project to the rest of the block and street-level activity with residents."

The apartments will use the adjacent parking ramp, which will be re-faced. "That will make it more aesthetically pleasing," she says.

Camp says the development will have many benefits for the area. For starters,  "It's an opportunity to have apartments in the neighborhood," which she says is dominated by condos.

It'll also help bring business to the local retail establishments. "Some have struggled and some are vibrant. Having more people is good for the neighborhood," Camp says.   

Source: Gretchen Camp, BKV Group, Inc.
Writer: Anna Pratt
 

After her garage was tagged with graffiti repeatedly, Laura Fyfe and her husband Ross, who live in Minneapolis's Powderhorn neighborhood, sought out a creative solution to ward off the vandals.  

The graffiti had been happening ever since a windstorm a year ago took down a couple of fences, exposing the garage. It persisted in the winter, and the garage got broken into a few times, as well. "It was turning into a big problem," she says.  

At first, Laura and Ross thought a professionally done mural on the garage might do the trick, but it was too expensive.

Just when the couple was about to give up on that possibility, they received a flier in their mailbox from the middle school students at Pillsbury House at 35th and Chicago. They wanted to do a mural on the Fyfe's garage for Earth Day.

Laura and Ross jumped at the opportunity. "We were excited to have it done by the kids in the neighborhood," she says.

When the youth group sketched some ideas for the mural, a beach scene, a dove, and Godzilla came up. "I said, it's all working out too perfectly. I asked them to combine [their ideas] to make it sort of cohesive."

The resulting image includes Godzilla on a beach with flowers streaming out of its mouth. "They took our ideas and made it their own and had a lot of fun doing it," she says.

Using paint and supplies that had been donated or left over from other projects, the children put the final touches on the mural in June. "They did a great job of making it stand out," she says.

Today, her garage has been graffiti-free for five months. "I think they captured something that people like to look at," and therefore don't want to tag. "That's the biggest thing we were going for. We didn't want to have to paint over it."

Also, many passersby are complimentary about the mural, which is only visible from the alley. "Alleys aren't always pretty. It adds color in such a bold way," Fyfe says.   

Source: Laura Fyfe
Writer: Anna Pratt

The century-old Merrick Community Services, which provides support services for youth, families and seniors, is preparing to relocate to a building on Railroad Island in St. Paul.

The four-acre parcel that the J.H. Larson Electrical Company previously occupied includes a warehouse and office space.

It allows for Merrick to triple its square footage and quadruple its footprint, according to Dan Rodriguez, who heads Merrick. "It's a shell of a building that allows us to do a lot of work. It makes sense for our purposes," he says.

The $9 million project has been in the works for some time, as Merrick has outgrown the 50-year-old existing building on the city's East Side, which is "in dire need of being replaced," he says.  

It would cost too much to rehab it, adds Rodriguez.  

The new digs will include a computer lab, flexible meeting space for large and small gatherings, and a gym with a stage. There'll also be areas specifically geared to youth, seniors, and other community members.

Merrick will continue to offer after-school programs, the country's largest Meals on Wheels program, and a food shelf, while a community garden could come later. There's also space in the building for another organization to be a tenant.

A three-year capital campaign will raise funds for the project.

The expansion is happening at a time when "The services we provide are more relevant than ever," Rodriguez says.

All in all, "We're trying to meet the needs of our participants and clients into the 21st century," he says.      

"We think it's a win-win for everyone," including those that the organization serves and the East Side in general, he says. "We represent a commitment to the area and region. We're investing in staying here."


Source: Dan Rodriguez, executive director, Merrick Community Services  
Writer: Anna Pratt

The idea for the Museum in the Streets: Lake Street project came to Joyce Wisdom, who heads the Lake Street Council, when she was on a trip to Connecticut a couple of years ago.

Taking a self-guided tour down certain streets in one town, she learned all kinds of interesting tidbits about the area’s history, according to Cara Letofsky, who is a project volunteer.

A number of plaques placed here and there along the street told of the town's development through words and pictures.

Wisdom contacted the Museum in the Streets company about the possibility of bringing the same kind of displays to Lake Street in Minneapolis.

It's something that piqued the interest of many other community members, and the council got to work on the project, Letofsky says.

So far, the council has raised about one-third of the $150,000 needed for the project, which will include 20 plaques along Lake Street.

Meanwhile, a dozen volunteers are in the process of researching sites to be highlighted on the tour. “We’re looking for sites that have a good story and are good for illustrations or photos,” she says.  

In the process, Letofsky is learning about such bygone places as the 1905 Wonderland Amusement Park, Minneapolis Harvester Works--a well-known farm equipment company--and the Nicollet Ballpark, where the Minneapolis Millers played from 1896 to 1955.

“We came across a photo of four members of the baseball team in new cars that were bought from a dealer on Lake Street,” she says.  

Other venerable places, such as Ingebretsen’s Scandinavian gift shop and the 1928-built Midtown Exchange building, are still around.

To help passersby make the connections, a brochure will outline the walking tours. “The series of panels that makes up each tour will invite people to discover Lake Street’s unique story at their own pace, over the course of an afternoon or on return visits.”  

Letofsky says that the group is interested in the project as a way to “build the vitality of Lake Street and its business community,” adding, “It’s an economic development tool.”  

The council plans to mount the displays next spring.

Source: Cara Letofsky, spokesperson for Museum in the Streets: Lake Street
Writer: Anna Pratt

This week, local residents will have several opportunities to weigh in on the redesign of Webber Park in North Minneapolis.

Landform, a Minneapolis-based landscape architecture firm, is leading the master-planning process with the Minneapolis park board.

As a part of an early information-gathering process, it'll host a public meeting, studio time, and open house between Sept. 29 and Oct. 1, along with an online survey.

The 22-acre Webber Park is a wooded facility that has a pond, swimming pool, wading pool, playing field, tennis and basketball courts, and a playground and recreation center, according to park board information.

Roberta Englund, who heads the nearby Folwell and Webber-Camden neighborhood groups, describes the park as a comfortable and pretty urban area that’s “an important community attribute [that] hasn’t had the attention it deserves."

A big draw at the popular park is the annual Victory Labor Day Races and Community Picnic, according to Englund.

The well known “woodchopper statue” and Webber Park Library are also on the grounds, she says. 

But the park has a number of issues that need to be addressed, including a lack of parking.

Also, the swimming pool needs to be replaced. “We don’t have enough water features here. The priority is making it considerably more accessible,” she says.     

Other issues at the site center on reforestation, tornado damage, and inadequate lighting, she adds.

Whether the library should stay put, expand, or relocate, is also up in the air.

While ideas for the park are still in an early stage, the idea of enhancing the park's connection to the nearby Shingle Creek and Mississippi River in some way has come up, she says.

Englund hopes that people will take the time to voice their opinions about how the park should be configured. “It’s a major project that has a great deal to do with the visioning of parks and [their] role in recreation in North Minneapolis neighborhoods,” she says, adding, “It’ll be a careful look at how the land is used.”

Construction will begin next summer, while the park’s grand re-opening is planned for the summer of 2013, according to park board information.

Source: Roberta Englund, leader for Folwell and Webber-Camden neighborhood groups
Writer: Anna Pratt

At its Sept. 21 meeting, the Minneapolis park board initiated a 45-day public comment period on the RiverFIRST proposal to revitalize some key parts of the Upper Mississippi riverfront.

It's the next step toward making the plan a reality.

The proposal lays out various design concepts and an implementation plan for “problem-solving” parks, walking trails and other amenities for the river area, mainly between North and Northeast Minneapolis, according to information from the Minneapolis Riverfront Development Initiative (MRDI), which is leading the charge.

RiverFIRST is the product of a collaboration between MRDI project manager Mary deLaittre, the Tom Leader Studio in Berkeley, Calif., Kennedy & Violich Architecture (TLS/KVA) in Boston and New York financing consultants HR&A.

For months, the proposal has undergone an extensive editing and community engagement process, fleshing out an earlier version that won MRDI’s international design competition, according to project information.

In the proposal, five priority projects, all of which are doable over the next handful of years “exemplify ‘re-sourcing’ the river, while eliminating as many barriers as possible,” to help lay the foundation for future riverfront development, deLaittre says in a prepared statement.

For starters, a riverfront trail system that would go through Farview Park in North Minneapolis would join other existing city and regional parks and trails to form a “user-friendly network of commuter and recreational connections, most notably across the Interstate 94 trench cutting off Northsiders from the river,” a prepared statement reads.   

A number of floating BioHaven Islands on the river could help improve water quality while also providing habitat for plants and animals.   

The plan also calls for a new Scherer Park that would take advantage of park-owned property along the river in Northeast.

Separately, the Northside Wetlands Park “transforms significant acreage from the existing Port of Minneapolis.”  

Finally, an historic park that leads into the downtown area could be restored, according to MRDI information.

Going beyond the five-year projects, “The Draft RiverFIRST Proposal has the potential to create the largest expanse of new public and green space since the Minneapolis Parks system was first created over 100 years ago,” a prepared statement about the project reads.


Source: Information from the Minneapolis Riverfront Development Initiative
Writer: Anna Pratt

Kendall's Ace Hardware on St. Paul's East Side is getting new digs only blocks away from its current location at Payne and Maryland avenues.

Soon, it'll start construction of a $1.4 million two-story building that will closely resemble its old home, according to Janelle Tummel, a spokesperson for the city of St. Paul.

The store will take up .8 acres at Payne and Phalen avenues. Its footprint will allow for the lot's remaining 1.8 acres to get developed further down the line, she says.

Kendall's Ace Hardware had to move because of a Ramsey County project to widen the road at its current location. The building, which has long been home to community-oriented hardware stores, will be demolished, she says.  

"The community and the city, and the current owners wanted to keep a local hardware store in the neighborhood," she says. "So they worked together to find a solution to make sure they're able to stay here and be successful."

In this case, the hardware store is the "heart of the neighborhood," where the owners' whole family works. "They're members of the community and they know their neighbors who come and go," she says.

A story in the East Side Review News describes the store as a friendly, "full-service" place, where people can get free popcorn or expert help with hardware questions. 

"[The owner] is committed to keeping jobs in the neighborhood and growing the community," she says.

It was important to the city to preserve the business because, "It's about continuing to spur economic development along major corridors in the city," Tummel says, adding that Ward 6 City Councilmember Dan Bostrom was very involved in the project.


Source: Janelle Tummel, city of St. Paul
Writer: Anna Pratt

The Longfellow Community Council (LCC) is taking a creative approach to improving blighted areas of East Lake Street in Minneapolis.

Although much of a $25,645 city grant that the group recently received will go toward studying business opportunities on East Lake Street, about $7,000 will help fill vacant storefront windows along the corridor with artwork, according to LCC staffer Spencer Agnew.  

“A lot of people are concerned with the revitalization of East Lake Street,” says Agnew. “This is geared towards that interest.”

Depending on how much participation from building owners the group can get, images will go on 6 to 15 windows on East Lake Street between 27th Avenue South and the Mississippi River.  

The League of Longfellow Artists (Lola) is providing the posters. 

Although the artwork will vary from storefront to storefront, it’ll have a cohesive quality so that people can recognize it as a part of one project.

There’ll also be a tour associated with the initiative. “The goal is to add aesthetic appeal to the vacant spots and publicize those opportunities in a positive way,” Agnew says. “It’s also a way to promote the local artwork that we have.”  

Although the timing for the display is still up in the air, it could happen as soon as next spring, according to Agnew.

Meanwhile, a research consultant will conduct a market study and corridor assessment for East Lake Street. “It’ll provide information about what viable businesses opportunities there are and what kinds of market sectors and challenges there are implementing that,” he explains.  

Source: Spencer Agnew, Longfellow Community Council
Writer: Anna Pratt

On Sept. 12, a new youth-sized synthetic-turf soccer field opened at Currie Park in Minneapolis's Cedar-Riverside neighborhood.

It replaced a nondescript grass and dirt field that buckled up in some places, according to Park Board commissioner Scott Vreeland.

The soccer field is a part of a larger, ongoing effort to improve the park’s facilities, including expanding the existing Brian Coyle Community Center. “Folks at Brian Coyle had been advocating for more resources,” he says.

To make the soccer field a go in the short term, Hennepin County provided a $295,000 grant from its youth sports program, which is funded by the Target Field ballpark tax, while the Park Board contributed $20,000, according to park board information.

Other collaborators included the Pillsbury United Communities, West Bank Community Coalition, and Cedar Riverside Youth Council.

More informally, the community’s elders helped figure out how to install the field to best serve the children. They also got the community behind it. “It’s a thing people wanted. It wasn’t particularly controversial. Everyone saw it as a win-win,” he says.  

In a diverse area where reaching a consensus can often be difficult, the soccer field is a visible community-building place where people “can go and meet people and kick the ball around,” he says. “It inspires me when I go by.”

He hopes the field gets used a lot. “It gives the opportunity for people to put aside their differences and get together in one space.”

Stewart Park has already gotten similar improvements while East Phillips Park is next.


Source: Scott Vreeland, commissioner, Minneapolis Park Board
Writer: Anna Pratt

RS Eden, a local nonprofit developer, plans to convert a 1900-vintage building in Minneapolis's Downtown East neighborhood into an $18 million affordable apartment complex.

Attached to the existing four-story building will be a five-story building, where a parking lot now stands, according to RS Eden president Dan Cain.

Construction of the development, called Emanuel Housing, is to begin in February 2012.

The project takes its name from the late Scotty Emanuel, a former RS Eden employee. “He was a long-term, committed role model to young people coming out of poverty,” he says.

The 101 units will include mainly efficiencies, with six one-bedroom apartments. It’ll be affordable, with some market-rate apartments in the mix, Cain says.

A certain amount of space will be designated for military veterans and those who’ve had problems with chronic homelessness or chemical abuse.

However, the building will be open to anyone who is interested in sober living, Cain adds.  

Also in the building will be supportive services and community and retail space, while its previous owner, the Council on Crime and Justice, will stay put in the building.  

Part of the property could be turned into a green space.

The building is close to the light rail and the downtown area, which means convenient access to jobs.

More broadly, the development is a balance to the nearby high-end housing along the Mississippi riverfront. “Any community needs a mix of housing to be healthy,” Cain says.

It’s something that was lost in the 1960s and 70s when many buildings were torn down, he says. “This is an attempt to revitalize the whole Downtown East neighborhood."

Although RS Eden can’t do it single-handedly, he says, “We hope we can go a long way towards motivating that kind of change.”

In the future, the whole corridor between Washington Avenue and the Metrodome “will be much more pedestrian-friendly and vibrant than it is now.”

Source: Dan Cain, president, RS Eden
Writer: Anna Pratt

The Central Corridor light rail line is the inspiration for an extensive, three-year creative placemaking initiative called Irrigate.

The project, which is a partnership between Springboard for the Arts, TC LISC, and the city of St. Paul, recently received a $750,000 grant from a newly formed consortium of arts funders called ArtPlace.

ArtPlace, which brings together public and private groups, is investing $11.5 million in 34 creative placemaking projects all over the country, according to Irrigate information.

As promoters of the first project of this type, ArtPlace "aims to drive revitalization across the country by putting the arts at the center of economic development," a prepared statement reads.

For Irrigate, local artists will be trained in creative placemaking, according to Springboard executive director Laura Zabel.

From there, Irrigate will be "mobilizing and activating hundreds of artist-led projects in partnership with businesses and neighborhood groups," she says.

In general, the projects should address some issue or opportunity along the corridor, she says.

Zabel says that the idea is to "embed artists in economic and community development for the benefits they can provide to the community."

Conversely, the project "increases the community's [valuation] of its artists."

She's expecting a huge variety of projects in the areas of creative marketing and mapping.

They could help people find their way during construction or speak to a neighborhood's character. "We really see the Central Corridor and construction as an opportunity to engage artists in a really deep way," she says.

"We think it's an opportunity to demonstrate that artists are well-suited to help in moments of huge infrastructure [change]. They're creative and they think in new ways. They're intuitive, they're entrepreneurs, and they understand the challenges of small business owners."

Source: Laura Zabel, executive director, Springboard for the Arts
Writer: Anna Pratt