PRINT THIS STORY:

CHANGE TEXT SIZE:

Maple Grove gets downtown

By Jim McCartney

A new mixed-use center in Maple Grove, Minn., is combining some of the latest elements of retail and urban design.

Work on the retail phase at Arbor Lakes, a 2,000-acre development that will also comprise housing, office, entertainment and a hotel, was completed this spring. In addition to a power center filled with such big box retailers as Best Buy, Linens ’N’ Things and Kohl’s, the project features a “downtown” area where shops such as FuncoLand, Ritz Camera and Ariel Communications line a new Main Street.

“We wanted something more pedestrian-friendly, with less reliance on automobiles and more trails, and easier access to the commercial district,” said Al Madsen, Maple Grove’s city administrator.

Arbor Lakes is an evolved version of Tamarack Village, a 750,000-square-foot shopping center in Woodbury, Minn., a southeastern suburb of the Twin Cities. Both projects combine big-box retailers, restaurants, grocery stores, green space, walking paths, fountains and a shopping area containing a few fashion boutiques, said Mike Scott, a retail broker with United Properties, a Bloomington, Minn.-based commercial real estate firm.

When it opened three years ago, Tamarack put a new twist on the power center approach by adding a 40,000-square-foot boutique shopping center in its midst. It was a way to re-create the mall — and the higher rents per square foot that small shops pay in malls — in an open-air setting. Tamarack also added restaurants and a grocery store to its collection of big-box retailers, all in a town square setting with a clock tower, nightly light shows and walking paths.

“We took their approach to breaking up the big boxes,” said Tim Murnane, a vice president of development with Opus Northwest, the Minnetonka-based developer of the project.

Arbor Lakes added its own twists with its Main Street section by building walking trails that wind around three trout-stocked lakes. Other Main Street elements include a 100,000-square-foot city hall being built by the city, and a site for Hennepin County to build a new library.

“We wanted to create a Main Street within the setting of the big-box retailer,” Murnane said. Of the 80,000 square feet of Main Street buildings, about 75% are leased, with another 20% under letter of intent.

The Arbor Lakes Main Street district will offer on-street parking to customers, with additional parking to the rear.

“There’s access from the street, but I think frequent shoppers will discover that there’s better access from the parking lot,” said Scott. “The streetscape effect is nice, but the reality is that people will want to use the parking lot.”

Reinforcing the project’s downtown character, the buildings lining Main Street have second stories for office space, as well as cupolas, cornices and wrought iron fences, Murnane said. To test the market, the developer built out about a third of the second floors, amounting to about 25,000 square feet. Prospective tenants for the space are stockbrokers, insurance agents and mortgage bankers, he said.

Arbor Lakes’ second retail phase will incorporate “lifestyle centers” to accommodate shoppers who want to browse for clothes, sit down to eat or watch a movie. Prospective tenants include clothing stores such as Old Navy, The Limited and Von Maur’s department store, as well as entertainment venues, such as a multiplex movie theater with stadium seating. This 1 million-square-foot phase, which could get under way this summer, will also include the office buildings, residential complexes and a hotel.

The site for Arbor Lakes’ second retail phase was originally to house a regional mall, but was deemed too small and costly — it would have required a $25 million parking ramp, Murnane said. Now Opus has moved the plans for the potential mall to an adjacent 85-acre property. But two other competitors — General Growth and The Rouse Co. — are vying to build regional malls in Maple Grove, and it’s unclear whose project will get built.