Loading...
HRSR INFORMATION 08-02-2004 RCOUNT ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS WWADINCITIES.COM INFORMATION. Past e CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B inform + A n new downtown . . Rosemount ��rZw`l squats on the city's main inter- Rosemount would get a ..•�...,, o-..,. section, windowless cinder- m c� y� i�l ii 1171 " New medium makeover OVel facelift—and some block walls facing the street akeover major surgery— density residential with parking and entrances on according to a plan 143rd St W the other side. Locals call the (continued) endorsed by the City , New library " buildings"The Flintstones." efforts Council. Plans call for a E "It has gotten to the point unknown sources and coopera- new library in the St. 144 St "� where it's antiquated,and there tion that has been lacking in Joseph Catholic Church, © is no consistent theme to it," years past. moving or closing off to + said Mike Baxter, chairman of Redevelopment funding But the alternative is a long some streets and moving 4Sth St w the Redevelopment Committee. slide into decay. "We'd end up • several businesses. . kis‘l Aggibi But that all would change, in flux, but ideas aplenty being a bedroom community. gammon according to the plan. NOMM We are so close to that now," BY BOB SHAW said Maureen Geraghty New high density ' t W ' F APARTMENTS WANTED Pioneer Press Bouchard, a member of the residential ' ' redevelopment committee. s 1'n general, the plan calls for Downtown Rosemount, a graveyard "If the downtown folds up i! new apartments,which would of past redevelopment efforts, may and developers come in and do gillg Existing building �0 ': draw people to the downtown finally be getting it right. anything they dang well please, Lower 147th St W I owntow4i (renovation) area, supporting •a series of The city now has a redevelopment the downtown will look like Rosemount small shops and businesses. plan that is almost breathtaking in garbage,"she said. "But for the New mixed use a g g Burma Avenue, just off Min- scope—re-routing streets,buying and first time, I am really opti- ''' neosta 3 moving businesses, putting a new mistic." ® New commercial , would be moved to allow construction of more library into an old church and changing - This time,businesses,home- ARM V DAKOTA housing and to align it with the the look of the 13-square-block area. owners and officials are ener- couNTY entrance to Central Park. The City Council approved the plan gized. This time, Chamber of Source:City of Rosemount MI KININ Rosemount Bouchard would like to see last week. But officials have been Commerce rhetoric aside, real- more two-story buildings with wrong before, and anyone can see life factors are behind the o P ti PIONEER PRESS . . „ , retail on the first level, apart- 40 years of mistakes by driving through mism: ments on the second—exactly downtown— a dying mall, auto parts • Although the downtown daily part of the plan, officials and several unique buildings. what used to be in downtown. stores next to massage parlors, rim- used to be on the fringe of devel- hope to bring the 11-acre Cen- But the worst mistake was Rita Dupre, a 45-year resi- down buildings bordering on blight. opment,it's becoming more cen- tral Park out of hiding. the Rosemount Mall. For that, dent and a member of the Rede- This time is different,officials said. tralized because of new growth That park isn't now visible Bouchard blames Southdale in velopment Committee, scoffs at "I am really pumped about this," to the east,such as development from Minnesota 3,but planners Edina. the New Urbanism projects that said Council Member Mark DeBett- of the former Brockway glass envision expanding it to the In 1956, Southdale became try to create small towns in sub- gnies. "I want to embrace change but factory. That will put 624 living highway. It would serve as the the nation's first indoor mall, urban settings — some have embrace history as well." units within walking distance of trailhead for a new path to the and the idea took the country by facades with phony second-floor The plan will require years of effort, downtown. Mississippi River. storm. Rosemount developers windows, as if someone lived tens of millions of dollars from • Leadership is united. The To accomplish that, the city built a miniature version in the inside. - newly elected mayor and City is applying for a Metropolitan 1960s.It was small enough to fit "We'd have'two full stories," ROSEMOUNT MAKEOVER,313 Council campaigned on the idea Council grant of $925,000 that into a single store at Southdale said Dupre. "We need to stand of fixing downtown, and expec- would pay to move the BP sere- and had almost no out-facing out from suburbia.The outcome tations are high.Most business- ice station and the Polfus Imple- windows with a dim two-story should be real. I don't want it es support the plan. ment store." atrium. • artificial,like Disney World:" The city has a rare opportu- The redevelopment plan,say •Later, as city officials came Not everyone likes the plan. nity to bu y land'•downtown. officials, is key to the city's ' and went, shopping fads did, Mike Herrmann, owner of the For example,Genz-Ryan Plumb- future. too. "Now you go down the •'downtown bar Shenanigan's, ing&Heating may be willing to "It's just a first step,but it's a' street, and it's like, `Oh, there's was surprised when he attended sell a, string of properties big one," said Council Member what we were doing in the''.60s an open house and saw a map of • along Minnesota 3, the'down-,, Kevin Strayton.; ...oh,that's what We were doing what planners had in mind.His town's main street. The sites in thel ••'80s,' " said•`'city business was gone, replaced by would be perfect, say planners, LITTLE PLANNING spokesman Alan Cox. housing and other businesses. for a string of office or retail t • The downtown is a finish- "What are we supposed to sites, uistorically, downtown Rose- mash of grain elevators, rail- think?"he asked the council. •A new branch of the Dako- l'mount grew like a weed road facilities and auto repair Officials said the plan was to County Library might move patch. Almost anything Ahat joints side by side-with restau- only a concept: 't = . into the old St. Joseph Catholic could grow there was allowed to. rants,bars and shops. "How it all ends'tip;Whether Church.The church is a dramat- The city was,a thriving rural The mall has damaged plas- you move to a new building or is historic building on the main town in the early '1900s, but tic signs in front°°and empty ; not, those are all unknowns," street. Putting a library there Bouchard cringed as she stores used as janitors' closets. said Mayor Bill Droste. . P renewal Occupants include a massage would preserve a landmark and .recalled •4 the urban add a high-traffic destination to drive of the 1960s. The thinking, parlor and the Rosemount AA. Bob Shaw can be reached at downtown. was,she`said,to tear'down any Ina one corner, a drinking foun= bshaw @pioneerpress.com or And , although its not offi thing old including'"a hotel tam is filled with dirt. 651428-5433. • • • • •