Kiger's Notebook

New Shoppes on Second development plan

At the core of Matt Russell's article on the Rochester City Council's 4-3 vote to not impose a proposed development moratorium on Second Street Southwest is the latest version of the proposed Shoppes on Second plan spearheaded by local developer Rick Penz.

Plans for a commercial development at the intersection of Second Street Southwest and 16th Avenue Southwest in front of the Miracle Mile Shopping Center first surfaced publicly in 2007.
That incarnation featured upscale stores and a fondue restaurant. Since then, other versions have floated out as the project has run into obstacles involving the Minnesota Department of Transportation and Miracle Mile.

The latest plan, discussed last night at the meeting, has three buildings - a retail center, a fast food restaurant and a hotel (presumably a Holiday Inn). 

Here's a little from Matt Russell's council story to explain how the development and the proposed moratorium had a head-on collision with only the Shoppes on Second walking away.

The moratorium, brought forward by Council Member Michael Wojcik, was intended to enforce standards proposed by a recent study of Second Street Southwest led by First Homes, an initiative of the Rochester Area Foundation.

The standards, which have yet to be approved by the city council, would reduce maximum parking standards, prohibit drive-through windows, require buildings to be taller than one story, and reduce maximum building setbacks.

A resolution against the moratorium passed 4-3, with council members Ed Hruska, Dennis Hanson, Bruce Snyder, and Bob Nowicki voting in favor. Wojcik, Sandra Means, and Mark Bilderback voted against the resolution.

Earlier this month, when Wojcik proposed the moratorium, he said he wasn't aware of any impending development proposals along Second Street between downtown and U.S. 52.

On Monday, however, he said a proposal had surfaced that went against the design guidelines outlined in the First Homes study.

"The plan is a disgrace to urban planning," Wojcik said, noting that surrounding neighborhoods strongly endorsed the moratorium. "I think we owe the neighborhoods better." Wojcik said Rochester-Olmsted Planning Director Phil Wheeler e-mailed the plans to council members on Monday.

Wheeler said the plans include a fast-food restaurant and a hotel on the northeast corner of U.S. 52 and Second Street Southwest, a site where an upscale mall, Shoppes on Second, had once been proposed.

Kutzky development w/ 2 Roch. New Horizons @ zoning commission

Here's some from a piece about a development in the downtown Kutzky neighborhood that is going before the Olmsted-Rochester Planning and Zoning Commission. Interesting point, the daycare center will be New Horizon's second center in Rochester:

An estimated $10 million downtown Rochester development that includes a daycare, an apartment complex and townhomes is may take a step forward this week.

The Cascade Creek project, spearheaded by the non-profit housing group First Groups, is slated to built on a two-acre plot bordered by Civic Center Drive, Sixth Avenue Northwest, Fourth Street and Cascade Creek

On Wednesday, the Rochester-Olmsted Planning and Zoning Commission will consider a conditional use permit for the plan in the downtown Kutzky neighborhood. The goal is to combat blight and replace it with new housing and related commercial projects.

Once the development is OKed by the city, First Homes can apply for  needed funding from the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency. That agency will announce its decision on the application on Oct. 1 and construction could start soon after that.

“Neighborhoods are really defined by the edges around them… This is kind of creating an edge to the neighborhood,” says Sean Allen, executive director of First Homes and Rochester Area Foundation Assistant Director. First Homes is an offshoot of the Foundation.

 “I foresee Sixth Avenue from Civic Center down to Second Street as redeveloping pretty seriously over the next 10 years. We’re just the first block,” he said.

The Cascade Creek plan calls for demolishing or moving 11 houses considered blighted as well as vacating an alley. 

First Homes has been handling the development planning and acquisition of the land for the past four years. Once that is all lined up, along with financing, First Homes will sell it to Twin Cities developer Metro Plains.

Allen says the concept for this project was conceived through the Imagine Kutzky revitalization program with input from the neighborhood.

“We’re basically facilitating what we see as a neighborhood-driven project,” he said.

 Once the site is ready, a Twin Cities developer working with First Homes will oversee the construction of a 10,000-square-foot New Horizons daycare facility along with a 40 unit, four story apartment complex and a six townhomes.

The mix of new for sale and rental housing is designed to bring more people  to the downtown neighborhood, which has losing population since 1970s, Allen said. 

What about the New Horizons child care center?

“It came out during the Imagine Kutzky project that there wasn’t a childcare center in the area. We kind of see that part as an amenity,” Allen says.

Twin Cities-based New Horizons built its first Rochester center last year. Chief Operating Officer Chad Dunkley says it just makes sense to add a second one, particularly near downtown.

 The day-care center would include a 10,000-square-foot building fronting Civic Center Drive and an 8,400-square-foot outdoor playground.

New boutique + Roch.'s Broadway

Look for Cheri's Boutique, owned by Cheri and Paul Brinson, is expected to open its door on the main level at 521 N. Broadway, the tannish stucco house  by Broadway Car Care and across the street from the tweaked out Taco Bell.

This building is owned by Amy Lantz, Rochester Realtor and force of nature.

Cheri describes the boutique as "A unique little shop where you will find lots of different things you won't find anywhere else," she says.

That includes the Misha magnetic handbags, jewelry pieces, candles, moisturizing soaps, tin picture frames, blown glass pieces, plush animal baby rugs, nightlights, dog treats and catnip toys.

Look for a five foot statue/ figuring of a woman to appear out with Cheri's sign.

This new venture, Cheri says, brings her "full circle" in Rochester.

When she came to Rochester in 1967, she lived in the house, in half of the space of her store.

"I guess it was meant to be," she said.

Logan's Bedroom Gallery + Roch. Market Square

Matt Logan is moving some furniture these days.

Logan's Bedroom and Mattress Gallery in the Miracle Mile shopping center is opening a second Rochester showroom.

He is moving into the Rochester Market Square home center along U.S. 63 South.

The new location official opens on Nov. 1, but he is moving in furniture now.

Logan is moving in the space opened by Herring Art and Frame moving out of Rochester Market Square. (That business has since morphed into Hering Galleries @ 2001 Second St. S.W.

He opened the Miracle Mile store in the summer of 2006.

Additional notes: Since Logan opened the Miracle Mile store, HOM Furniture revamped and moved into the old Carson Pririe Scott building. So Logan's is literally in the shadow of that regional furniture stalwart.

Logan's and HOM has different markets, but it still has to have made an impact. Now Logan is widening his net by opening a spot at RMS. 

Logan, who also owns Logan Hardwood Furniture in Kasson, grew up in the furniture business. His parents, Tim and Nancy Logan, have been working with furniture for almost 30 years.

The Ranch's last day …?

The last night The Ranch on Rochester's South Broadway will serve meals is Sept. 13.

Remember, this is the deal where the Ranch will be mostly leveled and gutted and rebuilt into a Whiskey Creek Wood Fire Grill steakhouse. That's Whiskey Creek, not Whiskey Bones.

The owners will be same.

Right after the the closing, an auction to sell off the dining room furnishings, kitchen equipment, architectural components, and everything is slated for 10:30 a.m. Sept. 16.
Grafe Auction Co. will do the honors.

I'll have more on this soon.

16 story downtown tower update

Look for more on this in print by Jeffrey Pieters.

OK, the 16 story multi-use tower proposed in downtown Rochester by developer Mark Kramer would eman Days Inn and Pannk. go away as expect, but it would also mean Chocolate Twist and Praxair would leave that corner of Center and First Anenue N.W.

Here are some specs on the proposal:

• Basement - parking
• 1 floor - hotel lobby/ retail
• 2 retail/ restaurant/ entertainment
• 3 Education related
• 4 education related
• 5 medical related
• 6 medical related
• 7 condo units
• 8 hotel rooms
• 9 hotel rooms
• 10 hotel rooms
• 11 hotel rooms
• 12 hotel rooms
• 13 hotel rooms
• 14 luxury suites
• 15 luxury suites
• 16 condo units

Total square footage w/o parking - 374,530

AgStar taking root

The new AgStar building by the Airport Business Park at the edge of Rochester is really sprouting up.

Actually, construction seems to be in high gear all over the city with the weather being fairly clear.

Not sure if it is a lot of construction or just seems like it in light of the past year or so.

For those who don't recall, AgStar Financial Services plans to lease the 22,000-square-foot office complex being built.

AgStar is an institution that works through the U.S. Farm Credit System to offer loans, mortgages and insurance to agribusinesses and individuals in agriculture and rural areas. It currently has a Rochester office at 3555 Ninth St. N.W. with 80 employees.

City Centre rising

Weis Builders project – City Centre – on the former site of the Rep Theatre at 314 S. Broadway and on top of the current C.O. Borwn building in downtown Rochester is humming along in this distractingly nice weather.

This is the project that included – at least originally - a new three-story commercial building, four-story parking ramp and four stories of apartments overlooking the Zumbro River.

Not certain if all of those elements are still in plans, but I believe the commercial building angle is still a go. RMS McGladrey signed up to go in as a tenant a while back, so they could stay downtown.

Roch. Goodwill on move?

The Rochester Goodwill store has been the subject of buzz around the city for a while.

The story goes that the store is looking to move from its location by the Hy-Vee North store in the old K-Mart building.

While it sounds like a deal may be still in the works, I see a developer from outside of Rochester has a drawing of a Goodwill building as part of a listing of a Rochester project.

Hhhhmmm… I'd say that is a good clue somebody is hopeful anyway that a move is coming.

New building by Home Design Studio

OK, one of the questions I'm hearing the most lately (Beside who owns Knights Chamber? and what does "pwned" mean?) is what is that building going up on West Circle Drive by the Home Design Studio?

It is/ will be a New Horizon Academy child care center. New Horizon is a family-owned chain in Plymouth, Minn. with more than 50 child care centers.

I wrote about this place back in November and then again in January, but if your memory is like mine that is way too far back to call up any details.

Anyway, this will be a 10,580-square-foot building. It will have a capacity for up to 168 children ranging in age from 6 weeks to 12 years old.

Here are some interesting quotes from November:

"Rochester has been on the top of our list for years, but it just never worked out … before now," said Chad Dunkley, chief operating officer of the Plymouth, Minn.-based company.

New Horizon offers a full curriculum based on Minnesota's early learning standards to promote early literacy and mathematical learning as well as social skills, said Dunkley, who was in the first class of the first New Horizon.

"We are also looking around at other areas in Rochester," Dunkley said. "I don't think we'll have just one."

I have a call into Dunkley to get an update. Stay tuned.