Northstar Bus Tour Nets One Prospective Fridley Developer

Things didn't go quite according to plan when a bus tour of developers and architects rolled through Fridley on Thursday. But city staff who scrambled to adjust to tour-route changes said they scored a victory anyway: a prospective redeveloper for a site in the vicinity of the Northstar Commuter Rail station.

The tour was meant to show off development possibilities around the five existing and four proposed stations from Fridley to St. Cloud

But in Fridley, the bus exited I-694 at East River Road instead of University Avenue, forcing Fridley Community Development Director Scott Hickok to improvise a different onboard narration than he'd planned, he said. 

And when the bus pulled into the Northstar station's west parking lot instead of the east lot, Planning Manager Julie Jones and Council Member Bob Barnette had to hoof it through the station's tunnel to talk to the group.

A Secret Admirer
Hickok wouldn't say exactly who was interested or what site caught the developer's eye, except that it is in the proposed transit-oriented development (TOD) zone around the station, but not in the Hyde Park neighborhood—and it currently has a building on it.

That rules out the "Gateway Northeast" sites along University Avenue where the city's Housing and Redevelopment Authority recently razed structures that once housed a Tae Kwon Do school, a former Zantigo restaurant-turned-offices, and a former McDonald's restaurant taken over by the Sikh Society of Minnesota.

Twins Territory
“The tour was a great way for developers to experience the assets and potential of each community and the benefit we all enjoy here in Anoka County—safe, comfortable, affordable access to downtown Minneapolis, the airport, Twins stadium and other metro assets,” said Tim Yantos, Anoka County administrator, in a statement following the event.

Retail analyst Jim McComb, president of McComb Group, Ltd., concurred: “Having followed station area planning in the corridor for several years, I was impressed by the progress that has been made in assembling development sites in several communities.”