All around Edina, businesses are changing, remodeling and expanding to meet customer demand and move successfully into the future.
Southdale: What would makeSouthdaleCenter better? That’s the question Simon Property Group (SPG) has been pondering since its purchase of the mall in 2007, and it looks like they finally have some answers.
“I don’t like Southdale because there are too many stores that left and a lot of empty spots,” said Edina High School junior Claire Caschetta, “The food court is also really bad, but the big restaurants and theatre are nice.”
Of the construction that was scheduled to begin in January, SPG has several plans to revamp Southdale to attract new tenants and to please its regular customers. According to Laurie Davis, Southdale Center general manager, a new food court featuring seven new fast food restaurants, a children’s play area, and a covered entrance for easy drop off outside of the new food court are all part of Southdale’s makeover.
Edina Sports Dome: On February 13th, the Edina Citizen Engagement website (edinacitizenengagement.org) posted the results of the feasibility study of an indoor athletic facility on the Indoor Athletic Facility blog. According to the results of the study, the indoor facility or dome is projected to cost between five and 5.5 million dollars to build and would have over $200,000 in costs in its first year. The challenge for the facility would be to have prices that attractEdina resident interest while still being competitive with other indoor facilities around the metro area. In addition to the possibility of a sports dome, the possibility of an addition to Braemar Arena is also in the works. Advocates of the proposed “Hornet’s Nest” presented their ideas toEdina’s Park Board which include one million in private money already being pledged towards the four million project. The new facilities would include new locker rooms for high school hockey, a restaurant, and new dryland training facilities.
Edinborough Park: Proposed changes after a study conducted by the architectural firm ATS&R would be designed to renovate the park. Included in the proposed changes are the elimination of the Junior Olympic-sized pool, track, and fitness areas, along with the elimination of two-thirds of the park’s trees.
“[The proposed changes] would be good I guess,” said junior Caroline Cerf, “but I feel bad for the senior citizens who use the pool and track for more of an everyday use.”
The new space created would be used for a new soft children’s play area, a ropes course, room for interactive digital games, and added space for birthday parties. As reported on Agenda: Edina, Edina’s City Council news program, the goal of the suggested changes is to expand on the services currently offered by the park and to continue to create a multi-generational space.
Whole Foods: A new 32,000 square foot store located near the Centennial Lakes Plaza will open in 2012. This new store will join the other two stores inMinnesota, one in Minneapolis and the other inSt. Paul. Whole Foods is noted as a grocery store that specializes in organic and non-processed foods; the addition of its new store will bring a greater variety of foods available to Edina residents and will create around 100 jobs.
