On 9/21/04 6:19 AM, "Shawn Lewis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Wow!!!! > > St. Paul-based Wellington will announce later this week > that it has bought the center at Lake St. and Hiawatha > Av. S. from the Erling E. Rice Limited Partnership. The > price was $6.5 million. Wellington plans an initial > $3 million renovation that will begin in October and > is expected to be completed by April. > > The renovation will include a new center facade, landscaping > and lighting. Other planned improvements include a newly > landscaped and lighted path from Lake Street through a > parking lot that will make the center more accessible to light-rail riders. > > As part of the development, an Aldi grocery store is > expected to be built on the corner of Lake St. > and 21st Av. S., the site of a former Burger King that > burned down a few years ago. Aldi is a German discount > chain that features its own private-label foods, along with bakery and deli > items. > > Wellington also hopes to add 100 units of multi-story > housing, with construction starting as early as the > middle of next year. With the housing, the project would > have a value of about $25 million, Bell said. > > http://www.startribune.com/stories/535/4986810.html When I read this article, I pretty much had the same reaction as Shawn Lewis, at least until I saw this part: Rebekah Cross, executive director of the East Phillips Improvement Coalition, said the center's Savers Department Store is very popular and that the True Value Hardware is an "icon in the neighborhood," but it was time for change. "The center is run down," Cross said. "That's apparent." Does this mean the True Value Hardware would go away? If so, I think that would be a terrible shame, especially in light of Chris Johnson's comments yesterday about development: "Axiom: A city with a grid street system is meant to diversify and spread the flow of traffic, people and services over a wide area. Attempting to channel any or all of the above into corridors is counter-productive, causes blight in some neighborhoods while "suburbanizing" others, and ultimately is the road to failure and repeated efforts (over many decades) to "redevelop" and fix up certain blighted areas. The more concentrated various activities become in the city -- in general, as there are exceptions such as downtown -- the worse off the city is as a whole. In some ways this argument is similar to the difference between neighborhood hardware stores and the suburban Home Depot. Once upon a time there were hardware stores, barber shops, grocery stores, etc. within walking distance in virtually every neighborhood of this city. The arguably best neighborhoods to live in these days in the city are those which retain those neighborhood oriented services and features." A lot of what Chris describes I think fits my neighborhood. There's a tailor less than a block from me. Two barbers within a few blocks of me. The Eastside Food Coop is about half a mile away over on Central Ave., housed in a building that used to be a Country Club Market. And if I were so inclined, there's a Rainbow about four blocks from me in the Quarry. We used to have a neighborhood hardware store on Central, unfortunately, that fell prey to the "suburbanizing" thing Chris describes, so my closest hardware store is ironically the Quarry Home Depot. But also I think it would be a shame if Hi-Lake True Value went away because there's simply a lot of stuff folks can get there that you can't get at a Home Depot. I took some time off work last week to catch up on chores, one of which was cleaning out my garage. That included a trip to the South Transfer Station to drop off a couple old tires. I hadn't realized the transfer station was only open afternoons during the week and ended up having about a half hour to kill before I could get in. I spent it at the True Value, just walking through and getting a feel for what they had and making mental notes of things I couldn't find at the Quarry and noticing things like garden tools that were of much better quality at True Value than Home Depot. After finishing my walkthrough, I was planning to make a habit of stopping by the True Value when I go visit the Midtown Public Market. I sure hope I'll still get a chance to do that. Surely there's room for a hardware store in whatever plans this Wellington group has in mind. Mark Snyder Windom Park REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
