EDSR INFORMATION 04-09-2007Economic Development Association of Minnesota
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Al~l~l~.-n~A~ ISSUE Deve[o~ment News
www.edam.org Patience Pays Huge Dividends for Hopkins
Back to front laage of The city of Hopkins has been planning for this day for a long time. It
The Developer began 10 years ago when Hennepin County Public Works decided
to leave its facilities at the southwest corner of Highway 169 and
Excelsior Boulevard and make the property available for
redevelopment. The city had visions of an office campus but
SUPERVALU, the city's largest employer, wanted the land for a new
warehouse and distribution facility.
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The city negotiated a deal. SUPERVALU wou-d vacate its current
warehouse (the North Annex) at the northeast corner of Highway
169 and Excelsior Boulevard and make that 30-acre property
available for redevelopment. The city would establish a TIF district
including the new warehouse facility, but SUPERVALU would not
receive the increment. Instead, it would be used in part to make road
improvements that would be necessary to accommodate a greater
intensity of use on the North Annex site.
Those improvements were designed to serve an office campus such
as the one at that time being discussed as Medica's new corporate
campus. That deal was in the final hour when Medica pulled back. It
didn't happen, the office market tanked, and the site sat empty and
rundown -with one of the most visible locations in Hopkins. The
city made the road improvements anyway, in anticipation of what
would be needed.
http://edam.org/displaycommon.cfin?an=1 &subarticlenbr=191 3/30/2007
Economic Development Association of Minnesota
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The pressure to get something done was there. And there was not a
shortage of interested parties. Big Box was always an option. When
the housing market took off there were proposals for high-density
residential, but the city did not waver. Smaller-scale office projects
were pushed. One by a medical device companyin 2003 would have
included a 115,000-square-foot office and R&D facility with plans for
growth. But the city's vision was a minimum of 450,000 square feet
of upper-end office.
In 2006, Opus Northwest signed a purchase agreement on the site
and began discussions with the city of a master plan for the property.
They began the process of updating Medica's environmental review
and land use approvals. They also began discussions with Cargill,
and recently announced them as the first and possibly only tenant in
the 750,000-square-foot office campus, Excelsior Crossings.
The project will be a class A office campus and "second
headquarters" for Cargill. It will be constructed in three phases
beginning in April and will ultimately house approximately 2,500
employees. The $130 million project will include a large water
feature, multi-decked parking, connections to the regional trail
system and a landscaping plan that uses native plantings. Cargill
recently announced that it will seek LEED certification, making this
one of the first commercial buildings to go green.
It is felt that this project will be a catalyst for redeveloping the east
end of Hopkins and have other positive impacts on business and
housing. "Securing a class A office project with Cargill as a tenant is
truly the best redevelopment project the city could hope for," said
Jim Kerrigan, Hopkins Director of Planning and Economic
Development.
http://edam.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1 &subarticlenbr=191 3/30/2007