Seen this building? It’s on the north side of Technology Drive, right across the street from Rosemount-Emerson. Right down the street from Costco. It’s a flat, ordinary industrial building. But, like many comparable buildings in Eden Prairie, change is coming.
The City’s Planning Division staff is reviewing a proposal from a Twin Cities developer to take down that building and put this in its place: a brand new 65,000 square foot Gander Mountain store.
This is a photo I snapped of one of the plan sheets for the project. See the word “wetland” written in red ink with a question mark behind it? That’s an indication that someone on my staff is checking on the status of a potential wetland on the site. This might be a problem, but it might not be an insurmountable problem. There are many issues with this site though that will have to be addressed. Technology Drive is a skinny two lane road in front of this site. It will probably have to be expanded to handle the traffic generated by a store like this. Also, if you’re familiar with this site (you can see if very clearly from Highway 5), you will recall there are a number of large high voltage power lines that are converging into an electrical substation on the land adjacent to this site. These power lines, and their easements in the area, will impact what can be built on the proposed site.
This site is in the Major Center Area. We had targeted this area of the Major Center Area for new development. It’s exciting to see new development come. Now it’s time to work out the details.
