index

faith & values

education

police/court news

lotteries

obituaries

south

traffic

gas prices

photos

live cam

news graphics

ap news

minnesota

wisconsin

archive

stories

corrections

reprints

projects

feedback

news

advertising

general

contact info

Last update: July 17, 2004 at 11:25 PM

Linda Mack,  Star Tribune

Looking for a way to turn your aging suburban strip into a hip, people-friendly hangout? Check out Excelsior and Grand in St. Louis Park.

Since the first phase opened a year ago, the ambitious mix of brick apartment buildings, sidewalk cafes and a leafy town green has brought street life to the inner suburbs.

St. Louis Park residents said they wanted "a cozy place where you can meet your neighbors, wheel your stroller and have a cup of coffee," said Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman, who was St. Louis Park mayor when planning began in 1996. "I think we achieved that."

Indeed, cushioned strollers are rampant on the wide sidewalks overlooking the town green, while shops and restaurants from Starbucks to Mojito attract young and old, nearby residents and those traveling from elsewhere.

Dena Mitchell of Minneapolis was enjoying her Friday lunch date next to the fireplace at Panera with her 19-month-old daughter, Bella, who attends the KinderCare around the corner.

"There's day care, a place to get coffee and have lunch," she said. "It's very comfortable."

"It does pretty well on walkability," said Ann Forsyth, director of the University of Minnesota's Urban Design Center. "It has logical pedestrian routes. You're not walking through parking lots."

The 15-acre, $150 million development is the granddaddy of New Urbanism in the Twin Cities. New Urbanists say new developments should have the scale, intensity and mix of uses found in such city neighborhoods as Uptown in Minneapolis.

Other New Urbanist re-dos have begun around the Twin Cities, including those in Burnsville and Ramsey.

The idea of a town center for St. Louis Park emerged from a community workshop eight years ago. So did the location, between busy Excelsior Boulevard and the city's Wolfe Park.

The stretch of Excelsior was a typical car-oriented strip that included small businesses such as a pawn shop and a liquor store.

Larger businesses such as Bunny's Bar and Grill and the Classic Cafe and Bar also lined the street.

"It was tired," said St. Louis Park City Manager Tom Harmening, who helped acquire the 30 properties for the redevelopment.

At the same time, the city was trying to tame traffic on Excelsior by installing a landscaped boulevard and was upgrading both nearby Wolfe Park and the city recreation center.

The idea: tie the living and public places at Excelsior and Grand to the city's recreational amenities.

The green

That idea drove the development's layout, said Dennis Sutliff and Tracey Jacques of the Minneapolis firm of Elness, Swenson, Graham. TOLD Development of Eden Prairie was the developer.

The two large blocks of apartment buildings are arranged on either side of a central "town green" adorned with flowers and pergolas. A narrow one-way lane around the green allows cars an easy in and out without allowing them to dominate, Jacques said.

Shops and restaurants overlook the green, which like the other outdoor spaces was designed by landscape architect Damon Farber. Wide sidewalks and the narrow lane, called Grand Way, lead to Wolfe Park. TOLD plans two more luxury condo buildings facing Grand Way.

Nothing 'olde'

Jacques said the design of the four-story buildings aimed to avoid a monolithic look. Another aim was not to create a fake-looking "olde" downtown. Three colors of brick, protruding metal bays, touches of copper and a variety of roof details, including the big round metal crowns that have become Excelsior and Grand icons, create fabric and texture, he said.

The storefronts are "plain vanilla" brick and glass, added Sutliff, but the designers and developer encouraged retailers to be creative with awnings and signs rather than having a uniform shopping-mall look.

A fountain and a soaring statue of "Excelsior" by Andrea Myklebust add a civic stamp.

The limited parking around the green is supplemented by two-story ramps. The two ramps are sandwiched between the apartment buildings to minimize their visual impact, Sutliff said. The decorative sides of the ramps form one wall of the inner courtyards that provide private space and amenities such as a swimming pool for apartment residents.

Space is nearly full

Gary Dreher of TOLD said that a year after opening the 338 apartments are 95 percent leased, the 65,000 square feet of retail is mostly full (a Snyder's drugstore moved out after the company declared bankruptcy). And the development's second phase, a condo building of 124 units ranging in price from $195,000 to $500,000, is under construction and almost sold out.

The third phase, slated to start this fall, will be an 86-unit loft condo building on Excelsior Boulevard. Like the apartment buildings, both condo buildings will have first-floor shops.

While a very pleasant place, Excelsior and Grand doesn't really cut it as a downtown, in Forsyth's view. "It doesn't have the civic uses of a downtown," such as a post office or license bureau, she said, but it's a well-designed neighborhood center similar to Uptown or Linden Hills. The density, scale and central pedestrian area give it a more urban feeling than suburban town centers such as Arbor Lakes in Maple Grove, she said.

"It's a significant start."

Linda Mack is at lmack@startribune.com.

Return to top

Search

News Classifieds Ads Web

More options