University Ave. Redevelopment Project Quiet Since Summer Demolitions

In the late 1960s and early 1970s the Minnesota Department of Transportation started building frontage roads along Fridley’s University Avenue, choking off access to motorists and starting a decades-long cycle of business turnover.

“There was an old McDonald’s that had become a worship space for the Sikh Society, there was an old taco place that became a marketing company, there was an auto parts store that had become something else,” said Paul Bolin, assistant executive director of the Fridley Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA). “They were all on their fourth and fifth different use—you’re not going to drive five blocks past a McDonald’s, turn and come back on a frontage road to get to one.”

In 2006, in response to queries from business owners eager to unload their property, the HRA began exploring the Gateway Northeast redevelopment project along University Avenue between 58th and 61st avenues, organizing community workshops and, by December 2007, issuing a report that detailed a way forward.

“The sites along University Avenue face critical challenges, such as shallow parcels and limited access, which will require creativity on the part of developers, or the ability to acquire additional land for development projects,” the report read.

Recession Slowed Progress
Now, more than four years on, nearly all of the businesses along the targeted stretch of University Avenue have been purchased and demolished by the city. And in December, the city transferred development responsibilities for the site to Premier, a property management firm.

Bolin, the assistant executive director of the HRA, said the recession has slowed the project, and while neighbors said they would prefer a mix of medical offices and senior housing, the HRA is looking at “everyone and anyone.”

“This has been an on-going, long-range project that we really haven’t even been able to go out to the development community until late last fall,” Bolin said. “This wasn’t a case where we went out and said were buying this entire block and were going to close them out in a month and have a big project done next year.”

Last Business
The Family Animal Hospital, the one remaining business in the Gateway Northeast redevelopment corridor, has no plans to move.

Dr. Doug LeMay, the animal hospital’s chief veterinarian, said no one from the city has contacted him about a sale.

They haven’t proposed to buy out the building or do anything about it,” he said. “Basically they’ll just let everybody fail and then buy the properties, though they never came out and said that.”

LeMay said the economy has hurt business more than the fact that the rest of the buildings are gone since the animal hospital doesn’t depend on off-the-street traffic.

“It’s nice that it’s opened up now and you can see the building more,” he said. “Probably the biggest downside is almost every day some of the clients ask, ‘When are we moving?’ and ‘Where are we going?’ because they just assume we’re going to.”