Edina back to square one after land deal falls through

Edina's decade-long search for a new site for its public works department had appeared to be over in recent months, but now it's back on.

A planned land swap would have given public works spacious new quarters while allowing a developer to build a medical office building on the old public works site. But that deal has fallen through.

Edina Family Physicians, the main tenant in the proposed medical office development, notified the developer that they "no longer have the commitments" to go ahead with the project. The application for a development plan was withdrawn last week.

While the stalled plans create a problem for the city, it is a relief to some Edina residents who had opposed the sale of one of the few pieces of developable public land left in the city. They had lobbied the city to hang on to the 3.5-acre public works site at 5146 Eden Av. as a possible home for a youth center or some other public use.

After the city announced that the deal had fallen through, Mayor Jim Hovland said at a council meeting that he wanted to start a dialogue with residents about how the city should handle the sale of public property in the future.

Resident Kim Montgomery, who led an unsuccessful effort to force a city referendum on the deal, urged the council to involve the public in any future deals involving public land.

"I'm not saying it shouldn't be sold, but there should be a discussion," she said.

Though the public works land is strategically sited near Hwy. 100, a public library, a senior citizen center and schools, Montgomery called the area "unattractive." She suggested the city take a thorough look at the site's future as part of planning for the surrounding area.

Hovland said Edina has been looking for a new location for its cramped public works garage and operations center for at least a decade. Appropriate space has been hard to come by in the fully developed city.

The plan was for public works to relocate to an eight-acre site in an industrial area at 7450 Metro Blvd.

That site is the location of a former ConAgra warehouse. Opus Corp. has a purchase agreement on the ConAgra site, and it had agreed to sell the property to the city. The purchase of the land and renovation of the site would have been financed with $14 million in city bonding.

In return, the city would have traded the present public works site to Opus, which would have paid for the property by slicing about $4 million off the price of the ConAgra property.

Last Wednesday, City Manager Gordon Hughes said the city is studying its options, including whether to buy the ConAgra site anyway.

"In the next couple of weeks, we'll evaluate the feasibility of moving forward on the ConAgra site," he said. He said Opus' purchase agreement with ConAgra runs through the first part of August. It's unclear how the price of the property will be affected by the collapse of the land trade.

The former ConAgra warehouse is about 130,000 square feet. The city had hoped to use the site as headquarters for public works and park maintenance operations.

The city fleet of police cars, snow plows, ambulances, fire trucks and other equipment would be housed there, as well as fabrication shops, sand and salt for winter streets, and city materials such as utility pipes.

Mary Jane Smetanka • 612-673-7380