Year in Review: Growth in Northwest Suburbs in 2018
From new Hy-Vee stores to a boom in storage facilities, we look back at development projects in 2018. HyVee opened stores in Plymouth and Robbinsdale. The store in Robbinsdale prompted development projects like Birdtown Flats. Maple Grove’s Arbor Lakes continues to take shape, while Brooklyn Park celebrated the first hotel opening in the city in the last 20 years.
Year of the Grocery Store?
When a grocery store opens in your neighborhood, it’s a big deal. In 2018, Hy-Vee opened two grocery stores that sparked development in the surrounding neighborhoods. The store in Plymouth opened where a Rainbow Foods used to be located. In Robbinsdale, Hy-Vee opened after a Rainbow Foods and the nearby Terrace Theater was demolished.
“I think it’s a big deal,” says Gina Swanson, who lives in Brooklyn Center. “There hasn’t been a grocery store around here since Rainbow closed to for a lot of people that don’t drive, this is close enough where they can kind of get here.”
The store has prompted redevelopment in the surrounding community. A new luxury apartment building called Birdtown Flats is going up and Mayor Regan Murphy says that’s only the beginning.
“There are some others areas that are right for redevelopment on West Broadway,” says Mayor Regan Murphy. “My goal is to continue that growth. I often meet with smaller developers to look at various sites to see what kind of vision they may have. Whatever we can do to enhance things that Robbinsdale residents want to see is always a positive.”
Maple Grove Growth
Arbor Lakes in Maple Grove continues to grow. The development not only added the highly anticipated Chicago-themed restaurant Portillos, but the Illume headquarters is continuing to take shape.
“We are really excited to have Illume joining us here,” says Heidi Nelson, Maple Grove city administrator. “They are moving up from Bloomington. With them, they are bringing about 130 jobs our way. They have some growth plans there. They were located in five or six smaller buildings down in Bloomington in a business park, and this brings everything under one roof for them.”
There is another project planned at the north east corner of Zachary Lane and Weaver Lake road. That development will be a mix of office and manufacturing space. The former waste dump will eventually become the Arbor Lakes Corporate Center.
Excitement in Brooklyn Center
In Brooklyn Center, Topgolf opened to much fanfare. Along with that, future development plans in that city include new luxury apartments, HOM furniture store and a Bank of America. All of those developments are expected to open in 2019.
“The city has just really changed its image,” says Jim Soderberg the president of Soderberg Apartment Specialists. “The city has actually changed and it’s made it a great place to be.”
Other notes
In Brooklyn Park the first new hotel in 20 years opened. That hotel is a Hampton Inn near Target’s Northern Campus.
The northwest suburbs has also seen a boom in the number of storage units. There’s a facility going up in Brooklyn Center as well as two going up in Crystal at the sites of the former Thriftway Foods store and Herzing University. Acorn Mini Storage in Brooklyn Park is planning an expansion with additional buildings to open this summer.
Brooklyn Center | Brooklyn Park | Crystal | Golden Valley | Maple Grove | New Hope | Osseo | Plymouth | Robbinsdale
