Business Matters: The Lookout Turns 60 & 610 Commerce Center Update
One of Maple Grove’s oldest family owned businesses, The Lookout, turns 60 this week,
and in Brooklyn Park, the completion of another phase of a new commercial real estate project is a sign of an encouraging market.
It’s two stories in one in this week’s Business Matters report.
The Lookout Turns 60
The family roots run deep at The Lookout in Maple Grove.
“We’ve been family owned, the same family for 60 years,” says Mike Kinnan, owner of The Lookout Bar & Grill.
When Kinnan’s parents started the bar and grill in 1958, there was nothing around the restaurant but farm fields.
Today, The Lookout overlooks the growing city of Maple Grove, where it has become a community fixture offering something for everyone.
“Our regulars are 2 to 100,” says Kinnan of his regular customers. “We have the playground outside for the 2-year-olds, we have great dinners for all ages, and then you get into the weekends, and we’ve got the great bands and our age changes probably to 25 to 40.”
60 is the magic number this week, as The Lookout celebrates six decades of food and live music with evening specials through Sunday.
It’s a significant milestone for The Lookout, especially since this business keeps growing. Sales are up 8 percent consistently from year to year, and the business shows no signs of slowing as new customers keep finding their way to The Lookout.
“We own a catering company, we own our concession company, we have food trucks. We just opened a new concession building in Champlin at Andrews Park. I mean we have a big footprint,” says Kinnan.
610 Commerce Center’s Phase Two Complete
In Brooklyn Park, the finishing touches are all that’s left on the second building of the 610 Commerce Center near 93rd Avenue and West Broadway.
“Currently we’re 60% leased in the building, we have another 80,000 square feet still to lease, but it’s been great success so far and we’ve had a lot of demand that we’ve seen,” sasy Ryan Bartley, director of commercial development and investments at CSM.
Hoping to tap into a younger workforce near the 610 corridor, businesses such as Hallmark Building Supplies and manufacturer Accraply have moved into the new space.
“They manufacture the machines that create labels for a variety of different industries like the beverage and pharmaceutical industries,” says Bartley about Accraply.
As commercial real estate company, CSM looks for one more business to move in, it’s also eyeing nearby land for phase three of the commerce center.
“We’re analyzing it currently, and we believe that it’s a great opportunity for a single tenant build to suit opportunity,” says Bartley.
