Bloomington envisions its first real downtown

In what city officials say could be the most significant redevelopment project in Bloomington since the Mall of America, about 150 acres of parking lots and aging businesses near the intersection of Interstates 494 and 35W could be converted into a new-urbanist haven of housing, offices, restaurants and perhaps a park.

"Bloomington could have a real downtown for the first time," said City Council Member Steve Elkins.

The area -- bounded by I-494 on the north, I-35W on the east, W. 82nd Street on the south and Penn and Russell Avenues S. on the west -- now includes vacant car dealerships, fast-food restaurants and the Southtown shopping center. United Properties already owns some of the land in the area. Redevelopment on one parcel of land could begin as early as 2008-09, but renovation of the entire area could take as long as 15 years. Some existing businesses would probably remain where they are.

Exactly what the area would look like is still being discussed.

But city officials hope the area, called the Penn American District, will become a destination for people who want to gather, walk and wander, with restaurants, housing, places to shop and perhaps amenities such as doctors' offices and a park -- Bloomington's version of Excelsior & Grand in St. Louis Park, 50th and France in Edina or Grand Avenue in St. Paul.

Links to buses and perhaps a trolley would help people get around without cars.

City Council Member Steve Peterson envisions a place that is busy from morning to late in the evening, with a combination of office and retail as well as housing.

"You can't replicate 50th and France; there's a unique set of circumstances that make that what it is," he said. "What people are hungering for in Bloomington is a place where they can go and walk on the street and look in the windows of a store and decide what restaurant they're going to go to. Maybe they'll meet some friends. [They want a place] where there's a critical mass of activity and other people are around."

The city has hired a six-person team of experts in housing, engineering, transportation and design to devise a plan that should be done by the middle of next year. The plan, which will costs $150,000, is being paid for by the city and United Properties. One of the consultants is architect David Graham of ESG Architects, whose firm designed Excelsior & Grand, a 16-acre project of housing, retail and parkland that gave St. Louis Park a place with a downtown feel.

"We want to create a vital town center that people want to visit, but it's more than that," Graham said.

Now, the Bloomington land is 70 percent parking lots and filled with one-story buildings. Graham said that's a foolish use of a location that is the 21st-century version of "Main and Main" -- the intersections of 494 and 35W, with quick access to downtown Minneapolis, Best Buy's headquarters across 494 and the Mall of America a short way down the street.

"It begs to be something better," Graham said.

He said smart land use, such as multi-story housing developments combined with green space, could boost the number of people living in the area without making it feel congested. Almost total dependence on cars could yield to a development that encourages walking but also offers fast links to mass transit. Buses would run every 10 minutes. A street car could run down American Boulevard, the major commercial road that cuts through the area, linking to the Mall of America and the Hiawatha light-rail line. A footbridge could be built over 494 to allow Best Buy employees to walk back and forth.

Developing the area little by little, yet devising a unified plan for the acreage, should allow for development that can adjust to market conditions, Graham said. He said there's no reason environmentally friendly techniques such as creative diversion of storm water and efficient buildings can't mesh with goals such as building the city's tax base by trying to draw a corporate campus to the area.

"It's development that kind of grows on itself," he said. "Twenty years from now, I could live in the Penn American District, I could walk out my door ... go across the bridge and work at Best Buy, I could get on a trolley and go down to the mall and visit a shop, get on light rail and go downtown to the Guthrie or to a Twins game. It's all there -- I never have to get into a car. Then I can come back and get off and walk home. ...

"The new workforce, I think, wants that. They don't want to get on the freeway and sit there in traffic for an hour and a half. I'm talking about marketing, job creation. How do you recruit people to want to come here and work in the Twin Cities?"

Penn American is one of three large areas left in Bloomington that have room for major redevelopment. The others are the Mall of America, which emphasizes retail and perhaps some office space, and Normandale Lakes, which is mostly offices.

Mary Jane Smetanka • 612-673-7380

Mary Jane Smetanka • smetan@startribune.com