Type: Retail
Size: 163,430 square feet
Developer: Hom Furniture Inc.
Architect: Archnet USA
Details: Two sizable but aging retail buildings fronting Interstate 494 in Bloomington are due for extensive makeovers under new plans submitted by their owner, Coon Rapids-based Hom Furniture.
Parts of the adjacent structures at 7800 and 7850 Dupont Av. S. date back 60 years. Despite their strategic location in the southeast quadrant of the I-494/I-35W interchange, they are generally nondescript in appearance, offering mainly blank walls. But that would change under Hom's plans.
The furniture dealer has owned the two-story 7800 Dupont building for 25 years. Since 1993, it has also leased part of the one-story 7850 Dupont building next door, sharing it for much of that time with fellow tenant Golf Galaxy. In June, Hom purchased the building from Colorado-based Freeway Properties Inc. for $6.5 million, Hennepin County records show.
Hom Furniture founder Wayne Johansen told Bloomington city officials in November the plans include adding a second story to the 7850 building and fully integrating the structures into two contiguous floors — a process made more complicated due to the layering of five levels within the 7800 building over the years.
