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Home My WebLink AboutCouncil Information Memorandum 03-01-2018CITY OF PLYMOUTH COUNCIL INFO MEMO March 1, 2018 EVENTS / MEETINGS Planning Commission Agenda for March 7th ..................................................... Page 2 Official City Meeting Calendars .................................................................... Page 3 Tentative List of Agenda Items ..................................................................... Page 6 CORRESPONDENCE Medical Alley Association's 2018 Health Technology Economy Agenda ....................... Page 8 Police Hold Coffee with Cops Events .............................................................. Page 9 State of the City Address Set for March 20th .................................................. Page 10 REPORTS & OTHER ARTICLES OF INTEREST Spotlight on Small Biz: Owners Prep for Minimum Wage Hike, Finance&Commerce ..... Page 11 St. Louis Park Nears Vote on TIF for Platia Place Project, Finance&Commerce .......... Page 15 Growth, Competition Drive Community Center Projects, Finance&Commerce ........... Page 17 Life Time Adds Co-Working to Southdale Project in Edina, Finance&Commerce ......... Page 20 After Super Bowl Test, Driverless Buses Get an Ecore This Spring, Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal ..................................................... Page 23 Sales Rise as Plymouth-Based Online Marketplace Fills Nationwide Demand for Indian Fashion, Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal .............................. Page 24 Two Candidates Running for Open Hennepin County Commissioner Seat, StarTribune . Page 27 Page 2 SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT 1 2 3 4 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM Healthy Living Fair Plymouth Creek Center 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 7:00 PM PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Council Chambers 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 March 2018 3400 Plymouth Boulevard Plymouth, MN 55447 OFFICIAL CITY CALENDAR Phone: 763-509-5000 Fax: 763-509-5060 7:00 PM PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Council Chambers 7:00 PM ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE MEETING Medicine Lake Room 7:00 PM HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MEETING Medicine Lake Room 5:30 PM SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING Metro Cities Update and Allen property on Highway 55 Medicine Lake Room 7:00 PM REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers SUN TUES MON WED THUR FRI SAT 5:30 PM SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING Industrial/ Redevelopment Study Medicine Lake Room 7:00 PM REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers Page 3 SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT 1 2 3 4 7:00 PM PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Council Chambers 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 April 2018 3400 Plymouth Boulevard Plymouth, MN 55447 OFFICIAL CITY CALENDAR Phone: 763-509-5000 Fax: 763-509-5060 7:00 PM ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE MEETING Medicine Lake Room 4:30 PM to 7:00 PM Hennepin County Open Book Meeting Medicine Lake Room 7:00 PM PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Council Chambers SUN TUES MON WED THUR FRI SAT CHANGES ARE NOTED IN RED Primavera Plymouth Creek Center 5:30 PM COUNCIL/HRA/Planning Commission MEETING Housing Study/TIF District update/Senior Building Medicine Lake Room 7:00 PM REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers 7:00 PM HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MEETING Medicine Lake Room Primavera Plymouth Creek Center 5:30 PM SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING Hotel Licensing Medicine Lake Room 7:00 PM REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers Page 4 SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 May 2018 3400 Plymouth Boulevard Plymouth, MN 55447 OFFICIAL CITY CALENDAR Phone: 763-509-5000 Fax: 763-509-5060 7:00 PM PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Council Chambers 7:00 PM ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE MEETING Medicine Lake Room 7:00 PM PARK & REC ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING Council Chambers 7:00 PM PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Council Chambers 7:00 PM HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MEETING Medicine Lake Room SUN TUES MON WED THUR FRI SAT MEMORIAL DAY CITY OFFICES CLOSED 7:00 PM REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers 6:00 PM Walk with the Mayor Plymouth Creek Center 5:00 PM SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING Fire Dept. Update Medicine Lake Room 7:00 PM REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers 10:00 AM Bark in the Park Hilde Performance Center 8:00 AM-12:30 PM Fire Department Waffle Breakfast Fire Station III Page 5 Note: Special Meeting topics have been set by Council; all other topics are tentative. EDA refers to the Economic Development Authority Tentative Schedule for City Council Agenda Items March 13, Special, 5:30 p.m. Medicine Lake Room • Metro Cities update • Concept plan for Allen property on Highway 55 March 13, Regular, 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers • Consider Rezoning and Preliminary Plat for “The Woods at Taylor Creek” for property located at 5364 and 5370 Vicksburg Lane and Outlot B of Hampton Hills South Plateau (David Hackenmueller and Tim Hidani – 2017110) (Tabled from February 27) • Approve 2018 Community Development Block Grant Program year allocations • Award bid for Northwest Greenway Trail Segment Four construction project (PR140005.181) • Approve Exception from Section 2005.13 of the City Code allowing liquor sales and consumption at the Hilde Performance Center on July 28, 2018 • Approve Minnesota State Aid System road segment revisions • Approve Final Plat for Greenway West Phase I (Pulte Group – 2017083F) • Approve Variance to reduce the rear yard setback for 3-season porch addition (Greg Smith – 2018001) • Approve Preliminary Plat, Site Plan, Conditional Use Permit, and Variance for Gardner School (Viking Development, LLC – 2017109) • Approve Final Plat for Creekside Hills 3rd Addition (Creekside Hills Development, Inc. – 2018007) • Adopt Ordinance amending Chapters 8 and 20 of the City Code concerning vegetation management, sidewalk maintenance, and nuisances (2018011) • Approve final payment for the Elm Creek Stream Restoration and Water Quality Improvement (14006) • Order and accept preliminary engineering report, order and accept plans and specifications, call for public hearing, order advertisement for bids, declare costs to be assessed, and set assessment hearing for the Kilmer Park Street Reconstruction Project (ST189001.001) March 27, Special, 5:30 p.m. Medicine Lake Room • Industrial/Redevelopment Study March 27, Regular, 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers • Authorize purchase and installation of a new playground at East Medicine Lake Park (PR189003.001) April 10, Special, 5:30 p.m. Medicine Lake Room • Hotel licensing April 10, Regular, 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers April 24, Council, Planning Commission, and HRA Meeting, 5:30 p.m. Medicine Lake Room • Draft Housing Study • Senior Building Cash Flow and Maintenance Schedule • Tax Increment District update April 24, Regular, 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers Page 6 May 8, Special, 5:00 p.m. Medicine Lake Room • Fire Department update May 8, Regular, 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers May 22, Regular, 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers June 12, Regular, 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers June 26, Regular, 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers July 10, Regular, 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers July 24, Regular, 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers Page 7 2018 HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ECONOMY AGENDA Restore the Angel Investment Credit and Make It Permanent. WWW.MEDICALALLEY.ORG Return Refundability of the Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit to the First Tier. Establishment of the Net Operating Loss Carryforward Marketplace. DESTINATION FOR ENTREPRENEURS INCREASE COMPETITIVENESS INNOVATIVE JOB GROWTH With your help last session, Minnesota took big strides toward solidifying its place as the Global Epicenter of Health Innovation and Care. By enhancing the Research & Development credit, funding MIF & JCF, and enabling the use of biosimilars you reasserted Minnesota’s position as the place to come and create the next big development in health. Thank you. We look forward to working together this session and beyond on continuing to establish Medical Alley as the Global Epicenter of Health Innovation and Care. 1 2 3 Page 8 City of Plymouth News Release For Immediate Release Feb. 23, 2018 Contact: Sara Lynn Cwayna Public Safety Education Specialist Plymouth Public Safety Department 763-509-5198 scwayna@plymouthmn.gov Plymouth Police hold Coffee with Cops events Plymouth, Minn. – As part of the Plymouth Police Department's increased focus on community outreach, residents can get to know police officers at four upcoming Coffee with Cops events. Attendees can ask questions, see the inside of a squad car and enjoy a cup of coffee with some of the men and women of the Plymouth Police Department. Free coffee or discounts are available at some locations, while supplies last. Below is a list of upcoming Coffee with Cops events: • 10-11:30 a.m. Saturday, March 3, Caribou Coffee, 4345 Nathan Lane N. • 10-11:30 a.m. Saturday, March 24, Caribou Coffee, 1400 County Road 101 • 10-11:30 a.m. Saturday, April 7, Starbucks at Target, 4175 Vinewood Lane N. • 10-11:30 a.m. Saturday, May 5, Starbucks, 15850 32nd Ave. N. - 30 - Page 9 City of Plymouth News Release For Immediate Release Feb. 26, 2018 Contact: Helen LaFave Communications Manager City of Plymouth 763-509-5090 hlafave@plymouthmn.gov Kelli Slavik Mayor 612-708-5355 kslavik@plymouthmn.gov Plymouth’s State of the City address set for March 20 Plymouth, Minn. – In recent years, Mayor Kelli Slavik’s annual State of the City Address has moved out of Plymouth City Hall and into off-site locations that showcase Plymouth’s growing and vibrant business community. This year’s event, set for 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, March 20, will be held at the recently updated Atria Corporate Center, 3033 Campus Drive in Plymouth. Residents and business owners are invited to join Slavik as she recaps Plymouth’s past year and looks ahead to the city's future. Networking and refreshments begin at 7:30 a.m., followed by the mayor’s presentation at 8 a.m. Topics include the city’s booming economy, new public safety initiatives, successfully completed projects, volunteering and goals for the coming year. The event is co-sponsored by the City of Plymouth and the TwinWest Chamber of Commerce. Atria Corporate Center As Plymouth’s economy continues to grow, a wave of reinvestment in Plymouth has emerged within the business community. The Atria Corporate Center, near Highway 55 and Campus Drive, is a strong example of this trend. Based on data from building permit values, more than $8.5 million of valuation was added to Atria in the past five years. The Atria Corporate Center recently underwent a series of major renovations in its lobby, conference center, parking lot, signage and natural site amenities. The Atria Corporate Center features more than 350,000 square-feet of rentable space and is home to companies such as Medtronic, the Mosaic Company, MOBE, Sivantos, Travel Leaders Group, Eaton and more. Photo Cutline: Plymouth Mayor Kelli Slavik will deliver the annual State of the City address Tuesday, March 20 at the Atria Corporate Center, 3033 Campus Drive in Plymouth. -30- Page 10 Spotlight on Small Biz: Owners prep for minimum wage hike By: Todd Nelson  February 5, 2018 7:00 am Editor’s note: Spotlight on Small Biz is an occasional feature about a company, entrepreneur, or business issue. Small businesses bracing for this year’s first step toward a $15 minimum wage in Minneapolis are considering options including leaving the city, tweaking hours and reducing costs. A minimum wage of $10.25 an hour for employees of small businesses — those with 100 or fewer employees — will take effect on July 1, under an ordinance the Minneapolis City Council passed last year. The small-business minimum wage is scheduled to rise each July until it reaches $15 in 2024. The minimum wage for large companies, those with more than 100 employees, increased to $10 an hour on Jan. 1, on the way to $15 an hour in 2022. Page 11 Many small businesses in the city say they already pay employees more than the state’s minimum wage of $7.87 an hour as of Jan. 1. The minimum for large employers now is $9.65. “I’m an economics major, a free market Republican and a business owner, so this is killing me,” said Tina Rexing, owner of the T-Rex Cookie Co. at 3338 University Ave. SE. Rexing’s lowest-paid employees — “barista servers” – make $9 an hour plus tips, which she said on good days adds up to $20 an hour. Her two lead bakers, who are salaried, make $10 to $13 an hour while two other salaried employees get $13 to $16 an hour, Rexing said. The rising minimum wage may force her to cut the hours her store is open. “I’m going to take a look at my books in terms of am I selling enough to keep myself open until 8 at night?” Rexing said. Art Materials, an independent art supply store that has been in business for decades at 2728 Lyndale Ave. S., isn’t open until 8 at night any more, said JoAnn Brown, who owns the store with her husband, Larry Brown. They made small changes to the store’s operating hours when the minimum wage ordinance passed, she said. Art Materials also operates a large online store. “We changed (hours) to be open more to the foot traffic of our customers,” JoAnn Brown said. “We’ve shortened hours during the week at night and go longer on weekends. We’ll evaluate that as time goes on.” Art Materials has long paid above the minimum wage, Brown said. “We always do everything we can to compete with other businesses,” Brown said. “We compete for employees, too, so we’re going to do what it takes to continue to hire the employees that we want to hire.” Randy Jessup said he pays above the state minimum wage at his two UPS Stores at City Center and the Minneapolis Convention Center in downtown and about the same at locations in St. Paul and Roseville. His Minneapolis landlords have offered some compensation as he prepares to extend his leases in the city, said Jessup, who also is a Republican state legislator representing Shoreview. Rep. Jessup said he wonders whether cities around Minneapolis will follow suit in establishing a $15 minimum wage. While some may, Jessup believes others may use Page 12 the lack of a higher minimum wage as a competitive edge in trying to lure businesses away from Minneapolis. “I am concerned that over a five- to 10-year period that if we do not see a number of other communities take similar actions in the Twin Cities that there will be some migration of businesses out of the city to the suburbs,” Jessup said. “Each small business is going to make adjustments,” he added. “Some small businesses will not survive. Others will be happy to pick up whatever customers of that business come to their establishment. But we are going to see a flattening or lessening of retail in the city.” Jessup said he prefers a uniform minimum wage across the state. Rexing, a former corporate IT manager, entered her baked goods in competition at the Minnesota State Fair for 17 years before opening her shop a couple of years ago. Rexing is considering a second location outside of Minneapolis and St. Paul, where a push for a $15 minimum wage is also underway. “As I grow and think about putting other locations out there, I’m looking at options outside of St. Paul,” Rexing said. “I’m looking at options where I don’t have to run a brick-and-mortar (store). I’m trying to get creative; maybe a fancy vending machine at the Mall of America.” Rexing said she would reconsider if the city of Minneapolis amended its minimum wage ordinance to include a tip credit. The credit would allow employers to pay a base wage below the mandated minimum with tips making up the difference. “My chances of wanting to move are going to be a lot less,” if the council adds a tip credit, Rexing said. While many bars and restaurants pushed for a tip credit, then Mayor Betsy Hodges was firmly against it. Referring to it as a “tip penalty,” Hodges in a blog post said a tiered wage would harm workers, especially women. Women make up two-thirds of tipped workers, she wrote, and are more likely to live in poverty than other workers. That would undermine much of the purpose of passing the $15 minimum wage, which Hodges said “raised the floor of poverty” for some 71,000 workers in Minneapolis, many of them women and minorities. Reopening consideration of a tip credit is the goal of Serving Those Serving, said Andrea Devora, co-founder of the nonprofit political group. Page 13 Devora, who has two decades of experience as a restaurant server, said she averages $40 to $50 an hour between tips and wages on a good night at the Young Joni restaurant at 165 13th Ave. NE. “Putting the burden on small business owners who are an asset in our community creates this huge ripple effect of unintended consequences,” Devora said. “Fifteen dollars an hour isn’t a livable wage if you really break it down. The economics of it don’t make sense.” Critics have warned that the rising minimum wage may have negative consequences for workers, such as shorter hours or fewer jobs. Dileep Rao, a clinical professor of entrepreneurship at Florida International University, said he understands the need for higher wages. “But … be careful what you wish for because you might get it,” said Rao, who also has been an adjunct faculty member at the University of Minnesota. The $15 minimum wage could be one of several emerging trends that hurts American employment, said Rao, a former venture capitalist who now focuses on how companies can grow without capital. That’s one reason he’s investing in ventures developing robotics and artificial intelligence applications. “There are some short-term positives for employees; they get a pay raise,” Rao said. “But the short-term negatives for some of the small marginal businesses that can’t afford to pay that much is they could go under. “Those companies that survive will have more volume and they can start to invest in equipment that erodes the number of employees,” he said. Page 14 St. Louis Park nears vote on TIF for Platia Place project By: Matt M. Johnson  February 13, 2018 4:26 pm St. Louis Park appears inclined to give the developer of a proposed hotel and apartment complex a $3.38 million helping hand. During a study session Monday night, City Council members expressed support for directing tax increment financing to the $57 million Platia Place project, in the northwest quadrant of Interstate 394 and Highway 169. Proposed last June by Excelsior-based Stoddard Cos., the six-story buildings would rise on the former Santorini restaurant site at 9808 and 9920 Wayzata Blvd. The TIF would go toward “extraordinary site preparation costs,” according to city documents. The site preparation will include cleaning up the property and removing three billboards. In addition, pilings will have to be driven into soft soils to support the new buildings, Stoddard said. Page 15 Stoddard proposes building a 149-unit apartment complex and a 100- to 112-room hotel on the 2.67-acre site. The former restaurant was demolished in 2013, and the developer has signed a purchase agreement for the property, said CEO Bill Stoddard. Construction of the apartments will likely begin this summer and take up to 14 months, Stoddard said Tuesday. A start date for the hotel has yet to be determined. The limited- service hotel’s brand hasn’t been announced yet. St. Louis Park’s Economic Development Authority could vote as early as March on whether to approve the TIF, said Greg Hunt, the city’s economic development coordinator. Platia Place received preliminary approval last October and could also receive its final approvals in March. The TIF will likely require Stoddard to include 15 to 27 affordable apartments in the project, housing supervisor Michele Schnitker said in an interview last summer. The project site is in the Shelard Park area, which already has four apartment complexes and a hotel. Stoddard’s apartments and hotel would be adjacent to the 20- story Metropoint 600 office building at 600 Highway 169 S. and across Highway 169 from General Mills’ corporate headquarters. Stoddard has not yet chosen a general contractor for the project. Page 16 By this fall, the city of Shoreview expects to complete the $15.6 million expansion and renovation of the Shoreview Community Center, 4580 Victoria St. N. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz) Growth, competition drive community center projects By: Brian Johnson February 22, 2018 7:05 am 0 Three decades after voters approved a referendum to build the existing Shoreview Community Center, the city is working on a $15.6 million expansion to meet the needs of the next generation of residents. But Shoreview residents aren’t the only ones driving the project, which will bring a 15,000-square-foot addition and a 7,000-square foot water park expansion to the center at 4580 Victoria St. N. Page 17 A feasibility report completed lastyear recommends up to 46,403square feet of new space for theexisting 29,312-square-footcommunity center in Plymouth.(Submitted rendering) One factor is the planned redevelopment of 427 acres within the former Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant site in neighboring Arden Hills. Now known as Rice Creek Commons, the development is expected to eventually create up to 1,400 new housing units. In general, population growth, aging facilities and the need to stay competitive with peer cities are driving community center expansions and renovations. Other projects are at varying stages of planning or construction in St. Paul, Plymouth, Cottage Grove, Austin and other cities. Shakopee recently completed a $30.4 million community center upgrade. “We expect more growth in the area once Rice Creek Commons in Arden Hills gets going,” said Terry Schwerm, Shoreview’s city manager. “The [Mounds View] school district is expected to continue to grow for many more years. We are trying to right-size our facilities for that and set it up well for the future.” Shoreview is working with St. Paul-based BWBR and Minneapolis-based RJM Construction on the project. BWBR designed the original Shoreview Community Center, as well as a 2002 expansion. The current project will create new activity and program spaces, a zero-depth water splash pool, an aquatic play structure with slides and water sprays, and expanded and improved locker and changing rooms. Mark Baumhover, BWBR’s architect on the Shoreview project, said communities are realizing they need to offer a good experience for the whole family, from toddlers to octogenarians, and they need to freshen up their facilities every so often to stay competitive. That might include everything from offering more comfortable waiting and gathering areas for adults to equipping play areas and shallow-depth pools with the latest equipment that keeps children engaged, he said. “People have a variety of choices and are very mobile now,” Baumhover said. “Even if they live in Shoreview, they are not necessarily tied to the local community center.” From a construction standpoint, high groundwater and the need to stabilize soils delayed the waterpark expansion’s schedule by about a month, Schwerm said. But the two-level addition is on track to wrap up in July, followed by the waterpark expansion this fall.  Page 18 In Plymouth, insufficient space and wear and tear within the city’s 20-year-old Plymouth Creek Center is prompting the city to consider an up to $24 million fix. The Plymouth City Council on Tuesday will direct the city staff on the next steps for a potential renovation and expansion of the building at 14800 34th Ave. N., said Diane Evans, the city’s parks and recreation director. A feasibility report completed last year recommends up to 46,403 square feet of new space for the existing 29,312- square-foot building. Existing spaces don’t meet the “current and future needs” of the community, according to a city staff report. Minneapolis-based HGA completed the feasibility study last year. The study lays out options that include an $18.2 million project with 28,850 square feet of new space, or a $23.85 million upgrade with 46,403 square feet of new space. Both options would renovate 26,425 square feet of space in the existing building. The building is “ready for significant investments” in the roof and building systems, according to the HGA report. “It was always contemplated that at some point in time the community center would need to expand to meet the needs of the community,” Evans said. In St. Paul, crews began work last year on a $13 million expansion and renovation of the Jewish Community Center at 1375 St. Paul Ave. Also in the east metro, Cottage Grove is in the early planning stages for a potential new community building. Meanwhile, BWBR has design duties for a $35 million project that will convert a former municipal plant in downtown Austin, Minnesota, into a community recreation center. The project is scheduled to begin this summer. Cottage Grove is just starting to explore a potential project. No decisions have been made on the cost, location or construction timeline, said Zac Dockter, the city’s parks and recreation director. The city established a task force to talk about the “needs of the community and how a community center might fulfill those needs,” Dockter said. The task force is looking at issues that include “defining what a community center is,” and making sure there’s support for both construction and operating costs, he said. The goal is to present a recommendation to the City Council by the end of the year. Page 19 Life Time adds co-working to Southdale project in Edina By: Matt M. Johnson  February 22, 2018 4:52 pm Life Time Fitness will add co-working space and an indoor soccer field at its redevelopment of a former J.C. Penney site at Southdale Center in Edina. The project was one of several mentioned Wednesday during a Minnesota Commercial Real Estate Women panel discussion on “The Evolution of the Southdale Mall District: Transitioning to a Vibrant, Mixed-Use Community.” “It’s a way to showcase who Life Time is,” said panelist Matt Brinza, vice president of architecture and engineering for Chanhassen-based Life Time. The “Life Time Work” project is intended, Brinza said, to bring more workers to Southdale Center, and in turn, more users for the mall. The co-working space will be on the third floor of the building. Underneath will be a two-story indoor soccer field, locker rooms and 11,000 square feet of retail space. Previously, Life Time planned traditional office space and retail. Those using the co-working space would have easy access via a skyway to Life Time’s planned Southdale athletic club, which will be built as a second, 114,000-square-foot Page 20 building next door. Life Time was unable to provide the size of the Life Time Work building on Thursday, said Natalie Bushaw, a senior director of public relations for the company. Both Life Time buildings will fit inside the footprint of the J.C. Penney building, which was built as an anchor store at Southdale several years after the mall opened. Construction is expected to start in June. The fitness club, co-working space and other facilities would open in the second or third quarter of 2019. The project, which recently started with interior demolition at the 247,902-square-foot department store, is the latest in a redevelopment rush in the 600-acre Southdale district. The district is bordered by Interstate 494, Highway 100, York Avenue South and France Avenue South. Edina’s pipeline of proposed projects for the Southdale area includes an estimated 1,700 apartments, 218,000 square feet of new medical office space, and 143,000 square feet of commercial space, said panelist Bill Neuendorf, the city’s economic development manager. Projects in the planning stages include the mixed-use Avenue on France at 6600-6800 France Ave. S., and a redevelopment of the Hennepin County library site at 7001 York Ave. S. “We don’t see this ending,” Neuendorf said of the area’s redevelopment potential. “It’s an area that changes quite a bit and it’s going through one of those eras of change.” Neuendorf framed the potential for future development in the Southdale district by comparing it to 300 acres of the core blocks of downtown Minneapolis. “The greater Southdale area would fit two to three downtown Minneapolises there,” he said during the event. More projects will come as Southdale property owners find ways to better use their existing space, Neuendorf said. Southdale Center owner Simon Property Group has been ahead of the curve. Four years ago, Simon partnered with Bloomington-based Stuart Cos. to build the 232-unit One Southdale Place apartments on a former overflow parking lot at the 1.34 million-square- foot mall. The novel apartment concept drew national media attention to the nation’s first enclosed shopping mall. Southdale opened in 1956. Page 21 Grocer Lunds & Byerlys did something similar at 7171 France Ave. S. in 2014, tearing down its old store and reconfiguring its 10-acre property to accommodate a new store, the 246-unit 71 France apartments, and a small park. Also coming to another Southdale Center parking lot is a standalone 58,000-square-foot Restoration Hardware store to be built on the northeast corner of France Avenue South and 69th Street West. Construction is already well along on a new 150-room Homewood Suites hotel being built on a parking lot on the northeast side of the mall. The site is at the southwest quadrant of York Avenue and West 66th Street. Housing is also replacing some of the retail that built up around Southdale Center over the decades. Bloomington-based Doran Cos. broke ground two weeks ago on its 184- unit ENVi Edina apartment complex on the site of a former Best Buy store at 3200 Southdale Circle, said Tony Kuechle, Doran’s senior vice president of development. Doran is looking to lure empty-nesters to ENVi, Kuechle said during the discussion. The developer has worked to increase the number of empty-nesters in its newer projects in recent years. Now, 45 percent of tenants in some apartment complexes are empty- nesters. They’ve done it, in part, by adding “amenity suites” that mimic the first floor of the single-family homes these renters are leaving behind. ENVi will have those suites. The suites are similar in concept to apartment club rooms, but are for use by one tenant family at a time. They offer a living room, a complete kitchen and a dining room. “They did not want to leave their houses because they didn’t want to give up their dining room,” Kuechle said. The city’s Neuendorf estimated that there are 2,000 to 4,000 apartments in the Southdale area already. The next development he expects to see in the area is condominiums. Southdale has “pent up demand” for for-sale units, he said. Page 22 After Super Bowl test, driverless buses get an encore this spring Feb 26, 2018, 6:48am CST Updated: Feb 26, 2018, 7:59am CST Mark Reilly-Managing Editor A fleet of electric, autonomous buses that got a high-profile debut this month during Super Bowl week in Minneapolis will be back in April, ferrying riders along the greenway. The Star Tribune reports on the next big public test for the vehicles, which were wellreceived by the 1,300 people who tried them out during their Super Bowl showcase. During that rollout, Minnesota Department of Transportation offered one-block rides on the driverless buses along an otherwise empty block of Nicollet Mall, with workers stepping in front of the bus at times to show how the bus would avoid hitting a pedestrian. MnDOT has been testing the buses, built by France-based EasyMile, at MnDOT's road test facility outside of Monticello, Minn. The Business Journal reported on the test last fall. For the upcoming demonstration, Hennepin County will offer free rides for the vehicles along a two- to three-block length of the greenway during Earth Day weekend, April 20- 22. Page 23 Sales rise as Plymouth-based online marketplace fills nationwide demand for Indian fashion Feb 28, 2018, 1:59pm CST Dan DeBaun-Staff reporter/Digital producer Nila Chakraborty is the founder and CEO of ShopBollyWear.com, a Plymouth-based online marketplace that sells Indian and Bollywood-inspired fashion and accessories. Chakraborty — who was born in India and moved to the United States with her family when she was 2 years old — started ShopBollyWear.com in 2016, and she expects sales to top $1 million this year. The business sells traditional Indian clothing like shawls and saris, which is a six-foot long decorative wrap for women. It also offers menswear, jewelry, jackets and purses from a variety of brands. The business now has close to a dozen employees, with a majority based in India. Chakraborty said she's seen ShopBollyWear's sales rise every month as it serves a growing population of Indian, Pakistani and Somali immigrants locally and throughout the United States. Page 24 Before starting ShopBollyWear, Chakraborty had careers with Kaplan University as a marketing manager and Robert Half Finance as a recruiting manager. She also briefly ran a wedding-planning business, which eventually inspired ShopBollyWear.com. "I think every step you take in your life prepares you for something in the future, and I believe all my positions helped me to get to where I am right now," Chakraborty said. Chakraborty recently spoke with the Business Journal about how she plans to grow ShopBollyWear, her upcoming launch of two sibling websites and where she finds most of her customers. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Is ShopBollyWear projected to grow its sales over the next year? We ended 2017 with a little over $750,000 [in revenue] and are on track to cross $1.2 million in 2018. We want to really enhance our marketing this year. We really want to grow it where people can just find us on Google. There’s a huge South Asian population out there in the United States and Canada and I think we’ve only hit a minute percentage. We’ll be doing trunk shows and traveling across the U.S. this year. Trunk shows really attract people. A lot of people love e-commerce because the product comes to your doorstep and you’re not running around shopping. But there are a lot of people who like to feel and touch the fabric. How do you plan to continue growing the company? My long-term plan is that we have ShopBollyWear.com and would like to do TradeBollyWear.com. You often buy these gorgeous Indian outfits and wear it once or twice and then the outfits are sitting there. So we are in the process of starting another business called TradeBollyWear. It’s like a marketplace where you can sign in and sell your clothes, kind of like a Craigslist. In the future, we’re also thinking of RentBollyWear. This is great for the American market because I know I have a lot of clients who go to these Indian weddings where they wear something once and then don’t know what to do with the outfits. TradeBollyWear is in the process of getting completed and we’d like to launch it by the summer of 2018. RentBollyWear will be a little further along. We want to get TradeBollyWear established and then within a couple of years get the RentBollyWear. Do you have any interest in brick-and-mortar stores? No, not at the moment. If I were to do it, I would make the company much more robust first. You see, with companies like Amazon and Google, I feel like e-commerce is the way to go nowadays. You can reach so many people from where you’re at. I have clients in Washington, California and Florida. If I had just a brick-and-mortar store, I wouldn’t be able to reach those potential clients. And I feel it’s a convenience to them. Say you have a wedding and want Indian outfits, you don’t find those in all the cities. Not everyone is selling them and it’s not like you go to a Target or a Macy’s. Page 25 Where do you see most of your shoppers coming from? They’re all over the U.S. We have clients in Canada, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Michigan. Nebraska, Texas, everywhere. We also have a lot of local clients. I’ve even had Somali customers who have shopped at our store. I’ve also had American clients who have attended Indian weddings and so they wanted to buy a sari with a blouse and petticoat. How many of your customers are from Minnesota? I would say at least 10 to 15 percent. It’s a good amount. A lot of our client base in Minneapolis is referral-based. When my clients come and see me, they’re like, "This is what we look for when we go shopping in India and you brought it right here to us." Do you have other goals for the company at this point? As far as long-term goals, maybe getting my own brand and designing my own clothes — maybe when all three companies get established. I’d love to be able to design and have my own collection. Page 26 WEST METRO 473487973 Two candidates running for open Hennepin County commissioner seat By David Chanen Star Tribune FEBRUARY 8, 2018 — 9:18PM A veteran politician and a political newcomer have entered the race to replace retiring Hennepin County Commissioner Linda Higgins. The candidates are Mark Stenglein, who served as county commissioner from 1997 to 2012, and Irene Fernando, co-founder of a youth leadership nonprofit in Minneapolis. The county seat covers Golden Valley, north Minneapolis and St. Anthony. Photo Provided By Candidate Former Hennepin County Commissioner Mark Stenglein. Stenglein is director of government relations for Alatus LLC. As commissioner, he helped restructure the county library system and initiated the African-American Men’s Project, which sought to eliminate the disparities of employment and incarceration among people of color in Hennepin County. Page 27 “As commissioner, I am committed to improving the lives of our most vulnerable citizens and bridging the equity gaps in our communities, while making strategic investments and improvements to insure a more prosperous and safe future for all,” he said in a news release. “It’s time again to use our economic might and vast resources of knowledge and experience to do bold things to move our community forward.” SUBMITTED PHOTO Irene Fernando Fernando is a Bush Foundation fellow and taught social entrepreneurship at St. Mary’s University. She works at Thrivent leading organizational design, culture and talent. Minneapolis Council Member Alondra Cano and former Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman have endorsed her. “Irene’s experience as a leader in the community in business, and in academia prepare her well for Hennepin County government,” Dorfman said. dchanen@startribune.com 612-673-4465 Page 28