Newspaper Clipping - Newspaper Clipping Scan - New plan for Eagan Lockheed site - 2/7/2015DOW 17,824.29 -60.59 ... NASDAQ 4,744.40 -20.70 ... S&P 500 2,055.47 -7.05 ... OIL $51.69 +$1.21 ... GOLD $1234.60 -$28.10 .
New plan for Eagan Lockheed site .
Commercial district calls for shipping, offices
By Nick Ferraro
nferraro@pioneerpress.com
Developer CSM Corp. has been
given the go-ahead from Eagan offi-
cials to redevelop. the former Lock-
heed Martin site into an urban -style
shopping district with a planned
grocery store, sit-down restaurants
and medical offices.
Plans the Eagan City Council
unanimously approved Tuesday
include 387,000 square feet of retail
and a 47,000 -square -foot medical
office building on the 47 -acre site at
Yankee Doodle and Pilot Knob
roads, a prominent corner just west
of Interstate 35E. The area east of
the interstate already is heavily
developed with retail.
The latest plans for the develop-
ment, called Central Park Commons
and nearly four years in the making,
show a grocery store and fitness
center on the southern end of the
site. The medical building, a bank
and four restaurants make up the
northern portion of the property.
A call to CSM on Friday seeking
specifics was not returned.
Minneapolis-based CSM bought
the Lockheed Martin corporate
office and laboratory site in 2011.
The developer submitted two other
plans to the city in 2012 and 2013
that were heavier on retail, but later
withdrew them both.
The planned shopping center's
pedestrian -friendly design puts the
buildings at the perimeter of the
property, with storefronts facing up
into the center of the site.
"It's what we call an inward cen-
ter," John Johannson, CSM's devel-
opment agent on the project, told
council members and city staff
before the vote.
Amplifying the design is a
"village" setting in the middle of the
property with six smaller -sized
retail buildings, an outside plaza,
seating and walking paths. A curved,
landscaped road runs horizontally
through the village area.
Limiting expanses of parking was
another design goal, while still pre-
serving the access and convenient
parking that suburban shoppers
expect, CSM said in its project nar-
rative submitted to the city.
Sidewalks and multiple trail con-
nections will be put at key pedestri-
an access points surrounding the
site.
"There are myriad trail opportuni-
ties," Johannson told the council
and city staff. "There are myriad
plaza and open -space seating oppor-
tunities built into the plan that
frankly did not exist in the earliest
iterations of the project. And that's
the direct result of the feedback
from you."
Jon Hohenstein, Eagan's commu-
nity development director, said the
city's comprehensive guide plan lays
out expectations for the Central
Commons area, including "things
like an expectation of mixed use,
pedestrian orientated gathering
places, shared parking, minimizing
large areas of parking. And each
new plan CSM did got closer to the
policy rules."
The new shopping center will be
situated about three miles northeast
of Twin Cities Premium Outlets, a
409,000 -square -foot 100 -plus store
outlet mall that opened in August in
the Cedar Grove redevelopment
area.
Hohenstein said that when plans
were submitted for the outlet mall
in 2012, Maxfield Research looked at
its potential impact. The market
research study concluded the mall
would not compete directly with
existing retail in the city or any new
retail developments like the one
green -lighted Tuesday, he said.
Workers have removed roughly
240 tons of asbestos from the vacant
New retail
development
Plans include a grocery store,
small- and medium-sized
shops, a fitness center, four
sit-down restaurants and a
medical office building.
EAGAN
0
Looms o F , N
a.
PIONEER PRESS
Lockheed Martin building, which
was built in 1967. Demolition of the
620,000 -square -foot building will
begin in April or May.
The new shopping center could be
open by the end of spring 2016.
Nick Ferraro can be reached at
651-228-2173. Follow him at
twitter.com/NFerraroPiPress.
