Site near Prairie Center Drive and Columbine Road slated for $200 million development

By Leah Shaffer

Last January, if you happened to be on Prairie Center Drive near Columbine Road, you would have seen a sign advertising a piece of land for sale by the city of Eden Prairie. “Own 4.52 acres of the dream,” it stated.

Fast-forward to today, and the “dream” is taking shape into something much more extensive.

“It’s a big project with a lot of moving parts,” notes Dave Lindahl, the economic development manager for the city.

According to Lindahl, last year Presbyterian Homes and Services offered a plan that involved complete redevelopment for the area.

“We were very intrigued by that idea,” said Lindahl.

Presbyterian Homes operates a number of senior housing developments in the Midwest. It also owns CastleRidge off of Prairie Center Drive.

According to the company’s Vice President of Development John Mehrkens, they’ll be redeveloping this new area with the properties they already own, which include CastleRidge and Broadmoor apartments.

“We are working with the city through what I would characterize as a long-term repositioning of the campus,” said Mehrkens.

The plan would be to replace the existing facilities “with a new state-of-the-art senior housing campus and mixed-use development.”

Lindahl noted that the first phase of development would involve the land that the city is selling, a redevelopment of the senior housing.

The next phase of development would not be happening for three to four years.

“They’ve got a phasing plan that seems to make sense so that they’re not moving all these people to someplace else all at the same time,” said Lindahl.

Mehrkens stressed that this is a long-term plan.

 “This is not something that’s going to start right around the corner.”

Phase one would involve a senior housing component that includes independent living, assisted living, memory care and the replacement of the skilled care that exists on the site today.

The earliest they’ll start phase one would be 2009 or later, Mehrkens said.

Future phases include moderate-income family housing, retail and additional housing units.

“It’s got a lot of interesting things happening,” said Lindahl, noting the possibility of mixed use, commercial elements, senior and general occupancy housing.

He estimated it could be about a $200 million dollar investment when all said and done.

Building height with this plan could range from single-story retail with three levels of housing over it to as much as 13-story buildings, according to Lindahl.

The housing would have a view of the Purgatory Creek Recreation Area.

City staff has been working closely with Presbyterian Homes along the way. The project will likely come before the Planning Commission in May, then the City Council in June.

 “They want to get the whole thing approved, but then they’ll build it in phases,” Lindahl said.

Supervalu to expand into former Best Buy property 

The former Best Buy site, vacant for a number of years now is about to see an influx of action now that Supervalu has announced plans to expand into the site.

The Eden Prairie based company recently signed a lease with Liberty Property Trust, which acquired the property in September of last year. Supervalu is set to move into the 345,000 square feet of office space on the site this spring.

The location, at 7075 Flying Cloud Drive, is just down the road from the Supervalu corporate headquarters on Valley View Road.

“It’s really good news for Eden Prairie,” said Dave Lindahl, the economic development director for the city.

According to a news release, Supervalu will use the site to house the company’s merchandising and marketing teams, a move that will bring approximately 400 employees to Eden Prairie.

“It just seems like a perfect solution for them,” said Lindahl, noting that because they have an immediate need to accommodate these employees “they can do it in Eden Prairie just a mile or so from their current campus.”

Though Supervalu employees will be moving into an existing structure, that doesn’t discount future redevelopment plans for the area.

According to Lindahl, Liberty has room to build one more building on the 47-acre site without affecting the existing building and parking.

So, if Supervalu would be interested in moving into a new building, Liberty could start construction on that by year four so, by the end of the five-year lease, Supervalu could move into a new building.

If Supervalu moves out of the old building, then Liberty could take it down and build two more fairly sizable office buildings, either for Supervalu or some other tenant, according to Lindahl.

He said the city would continue to encourage Liberty to look at some other uses for the site beyond office.

“We’ve been encouraging them in their planning to include some commercial services,” he said, adding, “A restaurant still is possible I think.”

– Compiled by Leah Shaffer