I am an attorney who works for Sherman Associates on the Nicollet and Lake Commons Project. I live in the Whittier neighborhood, a few blocks away from the site, and have been actively involved in neighborhood efforts to get Nicollet re-opened for several years. I write to respond to Joe Barazonzi�s comments about the project.
[JB] �The process has always been developer rather than community lead. Although it should be noted that there has been significant community involvement and the credit for that goes to Sherman and Associates.� [DH] Sherman Associates became interested in the project when people from the neighborhood approached Sherman and requested that they think about redevloping Nic-Lake. There is a joint Lyndale-Whittier Task Force that meets regularly to discuss the project and advise Sherman. Each component of the project came from the community, and is supported by the community. Of course, the devil is in the details, but Sherman is working extremely hard on details too. Here is a run down of the the big picture: a) Re-opening Nicollet: Closing Nicollet was a huge mistake that needs to be remedied by the City. I have never met anyone who is opposed to re-opening Nicollet. A few years ago, the City Council formed the Nicollet Avenue Task Force, and staffed it with Planning Department and MCDA staff. The Task Force Found that re-opening Nicollet was the top priority for Nicollet Avenue (which it called �Minneapolis� Main Street�). Jim Niland and Lisa McDonald in particular recognized the importance of getting this done. Their efforts should not be forgotten. b) Discount Grocer: In Whittier Alliance focus groups, a discount grocer was listed the top development priority for the neighborhood. c) Discount retailer: When Kmart pulled out the project last fall and was tentatively replaced by the Hennepin County Medical Clinic, there was a loud outcry from the neighborhoods. People vigorously argued that area residents, particularly low and moderate income residents without cars, needed to be able to do �one stop shopping� for clothing, consumer products, etc. at a discount retailer. At one community meeting, a woman incredulously demanded of the developer, �If Kmart goes, where will I buy my underwear?� Sherman Associates listened, and began working to attract a discount retailer to the development. d) Affordable housing: Sherman will build approximately 300 units of affordable for sale and rental units. Some neighborhood activists want more expensive for sale housing, some want more units for the needy. So Sherman has tried to come up with a mixed income plan that works for everyone. Certainly everyone agrees that housing production is a top development priority for the City. Here are 300 new units that could be built without a single renter or homeowner displaced. e.) Retail condos. The developer proposes to build 25 x 25 retail condos around the grocery, the discount retailer, and along the Midtown Greenway. The Asian community on Nicollet is very excited about this component and has lists of interested buyers. These condos will add life to the street, and create a retail �farm system� that will certainly lead to further successes on Nicollet, particularly south of Lake Street, where investment is really needed. f) Midtown Greenway: Another top priority for the neighborhood is to encourage development that enhances the Midtown Greenway. The housing will overlook the Greenway and there will be numerous new connections to it, both for recreation and for future transit. g) Empowerment Zone: The development is in the south EZ, and would bring $100 million in investment. Sherman hopes to use Empowerment Zone Bonding, which requires that EZ residents be employed by businesses benefiting from the bonding. So the project will create good jobs for EZ residents. Again, I can think of few people who would be opposed to this sort of investment and job creation in the EZ. [JB] �The developer has not delivered despite previous extensions.� [DH] Respectfully, Joe you have the facts wrong. There haven�t been any previous extensions. Further, its unfair to say Sherman hasn�t delivered. Putting together a $100 million project is tough work, and doesn�t happen overnight. But Sherman wouldn�t be spending so much time and money on pre-development if it didn�t think it could get this done soon. Sherman has a great tract record, and has every intention of delivering. [JB] �The current proposal does not seem to have numbers that work.� [DH] Not true. Not only does Sherman have numbers that work, the numbers work without significant subsidy. A rundown of the pro forma is outside the scope of this forum, but I�d be happy to share it with anyone off list. [JB] �The proposed development no longer meets to urban design standards of the community: specifically to have 2+ story buildings facing Lake Street.� [DH] Not true. The discount retail would be a two-story store, like the downtown Target. Parking would be structured rather than surface. Ratios of parking spaces to square feet would be substantially less than normal in order to encourage transit and pedestrian oriented traffic. Micro-tenants will line the parking and parts of the grocery and discount retailer in order to encourage street life. Having said that, Sherman certainly will continue to work closely with the neighborhoods and City Council members on creating a great design. Sherman wants the project to be a huge success, and in order to do that, the product needs to be what the neighborhoods want. People need to be aware of two things though: some great ideas might not be financially feasible, and in a project of this size not everybody is going to get exactly what they want. There needs to be compromise and free and open discussion. In sum, City Hall is rightfully gunshy about jumping into more �blockbuster� development deals. Nevermind that Nic-Lake is in the Empowerment Zone and not downtown, that re-opening Nicollet is enormously important, that hundreds of units of affordable housing will be created, etc. We�re living in a new era in Minneapolis. Sherman�s plan it to show how development can be done, in a collaborative process with a cost to the citizens of Minneapolis that is far outweighed by the benefits the project brings to its citizens. We look forward to the CD meeting on Monday. We also hope to seeing lots of people at the Nic-Lake Task Force meeting in July. Cheers, Dave Harstad Attorney for Sherman Associates Whittier resident __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
