Calhoun Square on the move

The new owners of Calhoun Square are getting ready to proceed with plans to redevelop the Uptown shopping and entertainment complex, which has lost several key tenants in the past year.

The center and other property at Hennepin Avenue and Lake Street changed hands for the second time in three years in August, when it was purchased for $47.3 million by BlackRock, a New York investment company. The previous owner, Principal Financial Group of Des Moines, had planned to redevelop the center and expand it by adding two buildings with housing units but abandoned those plans because of the depressed condominium market.

The new owners have not decided whether to pursue plans that would include the two new buildings, said Calhoun Square general manager Gayle Siegler, who works for property manager Capital Growth Madison Marquette.

Meanwhile, the owners are preparing to move ahead with other changes, including adding a two-story extension to the mall on Lake Street and another two-story extension on Hennepin near 31st Street. The changes will require demolishing three small buildings on Lake that are currently occupied by the Passage to India and Rotisseria restaurants and TCM Health Center. On Hennepin, a building occupied by the Lotus restaurant and the property that formerly housed the Borders bookstore would be torn down.

Managers at Passage to India and the Lotus confirmed last week that they have received letters telling them they need to move by the end of March. TCM owner Changzhen Gong said he is trying to find another location in Uptown but is also considering moving his acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine business to St. Louis Park.

Plans also call for renovating the existing mall, with improvements that would include upgrading the interior, adding seating indoors and outdoors and building an entrance on the north side. Two levels would be added to the three-level parking ramp, increasing the number of spaces from 485 to 735, Siegler said.

Siegler said the goal is to have a mix of national, regional and local tenants in the renovated center. She confirmed that some existing tenants, who had been on month-to-month rental agreements, have been asked to leave. She declined to identify them. Jeff Gauss, the owner of Magnetic Originals, and Kelly Lund, co-owner of ZRS Fossils, both said they had received letters asking them to move.

Doug Huemoeller, president of the Kitchen Window cookware store, said he has a long-term lease and had been asked to stay after the renovation, possibly in an expanded space in a different location in the mall.

City Council Member Ralph Remington, who represents the Uptown area, said he's glad to see Calhoun Square's owners and managers moving ahead with plans to revitalize the mall.

"It's such a focal point," Remington said, adding that the renovation could complement other steps -- including the filling of neighboring vacant space by American Apparel and Victoria's Secret -- to bring new life to Uptown. Remington said he hopes a renovated Calhoun Square can attract a couple of large anchor tenants, possibly another bookstore or a boutique grocery store. He also thinks a fitness center and service retail such as a pharmacy would be welcome additions.

Siegler said the owners are hoping to get city approval for the renovation so that work can begin in April. Plans call for completing the parking ramp addition by this fall and the extensions to the center by late 2009, she said.

Area residents are carefully monitoring the proposed renovation. Last week, the Calhoun Residents Action Group approved a resolution approving the renovation in general, but expressing concerns about some proposed changes and the possibility that the two housing towers -- both of which exceed current zoning height limits -- could be built in the future.

Susan Feyder • 612-673-1723