{ Development Roundup } May 2021

New tenant for old Walmart
At Home, a Texas-based home furnishings and decor store, is moving into the former Midway Walmart at 1450 University Ave. City officials in April issued a building permt to Parkway C&A LP, a Texas-based company. No opening date has been set.
Work will be done to the building interior and exterior, according to the permit. The new store will fill a space that has been vacant since fall 2019, when Walmart closed its doors.
The building is owned by Kraus-Anderson, which is located in Minneapolis. Kraus-Anderson bought the shopping center last year from an Ohio-based company.
The store was originally a Kmart. Kmart was one of the original tenants of the Midway marketplace development, along with Mervyn’s California, a new Ward’s store, Cub Foods and other smaller stores. Cub is the only original major tenant remaining.
Midway Marketplace replaced the old Montgomery Ward store/regional distribution center and small structures in much of the block bounded by University, Hamline and St. Anthony avenues and Pascal St. Planning for Midway Marketplace began in the 1980s, but due to site conditions and other factors, work didn’t start until the mid-1990s. The shopping center property is zoned for traditional neighborhoods four use, which had sparked hopes of redevelopment for higher-density mixed use.

Playwrights center, fan store project get grants
Two area projects will receive grant assistance, one from Metropolitan Council and the other from the state.
The new Playwrights’ Center facility was awarded a Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) grant in an amount up to $850,000. The funds, allocated last year by the Minnesota Legislature, are for predesign and design work. The center is moving from its longtime Minneapolis Seward neighborhood home to 710 Raymond Ave.
The Metropolitan Livable Communities Fund provides assistance to developers, who apply for the dollars through local units of government.
One Midway project funded is a vacant fan store at 678 N. Snelling Ave. The project, led by African Economic Development Solutions, received a $100,000.00 grant from the Livable Communities Transit Oriented Development Pre-Development Account. It was part of a package of more than $2 million in grants received by the city.
The building at 678 N. Snelling Avenue has been called out in past historic designation studies as a candidate for designation and preservation. It is currently in a city legislative review process due to its condition, which could result in a remove or repair order.