BlaineBiz.com
BizConnect
W inter 20 19
Best Buy is now
Aldi
Gander Mountain is now
The Fun Lab & Planet Fitness WalMart is now
At Home & Planet Fitness
What’s Inside
Kmart is now
Xperience Fitness & Auto Zone Toys-R-Us will soon be
Salvation Army Thrift Store
2019 Year in Review................................................2
Revitalization of Big Box Retail Stores Recently, city staff has received a number of inquiries about the redevelopment of some of the big box stores in the City of Blaine. In recent years, the city has seen Kmart, Rainbow Foods, Gander Mountain, Toys-R-Us, and Best Buy close. Additionally, Walmart, in The Village, changed locations. These actions have left behind large empty buildings and the public wondering what will happen to these stores. Online retail sales changed the nature of how shopping works and some big box stores have struggled with this change. In the case of Blaine, many of these empty buildings have successfully transformed into multi-tenant retail buildings with smaller, destination specific uses.
Northtown Transit Center....................................3
How Businesses Find Their Way to Blaine............................................................4
The city is in contact with real estate brokers regarding potential users for these buildings. The market dictates what happens in these former big boxes. Then the city collaborates with building owners to see how the city can assist in redevelopment, either financially or through city approval processes. It is not in the city’s, or neighborhoods’, best interest for these buildings to sit empty for a long period of time, so when the city is approached with a viable option for reuse, it works to make sure the end product of redevelopment fits well in a neighborhood. Whenever possible the city works to ensure the building ends up looking nice, meets city codes, and provides screening wherever necessary. The former Kmart is a good example of big box redevelopment where the city collaborated with the owner of the building to do facade renovations, parking lot improvements, and a rework of the screening wall on the north side of the site. Several redevelopments have taken place in the last few years. There is still more work to do in this area but it is great to see vacant stores come back to life and return to being an active part of the Blaine economy.
City of Blaine 10801 Town Square Drive NE Blaine MN 55449
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Highway 65 Study Makes Progress MnDOT, in partnership with Anoka County, and the cities of Ham Lake, Blaine, and Spring Lake Park began a study for the Highway 65 corridor in August 2018. The study will examine a range of alternatives to address capacity, access, and safety issues along Highway 65 between 81st Avenue in Spring Lake Park and Bunker Lake Boulevard in Ham Lake. Results from previous studies for Highway 65 are out of date due to the increased business development and increases in population in the area. In addition, previously developed solutions are too costly to construct with current funding levels. Over the last 15 months, key project stakeholders, including the general public, have worked to identify various solutions that will be presented to the public over the next six months for feedback. The solutions will also undergo a thorough analysis to fully understand their impacts. Once the study is completed in the summer of 2020, it will provide a roadmap to assist in securing funding for necessary improvements along the corridor. More information on the study is available at: BlaineMN.gov/65Study.