Kraus-Anderson partners on old State Farm site

Minneapolis-based Kraus-Anderson and a Florida firm, Elion Partners, have created a joint venture to redevelop the long-vacant State Farm site in Woodbury.

Located at Interstate 94 and Radio Drive, the high-profile property is slated to include a renovated headquarters building with shops, restaurants and additional office space, as well as plans for a hotel, bank, two medical office buildings and a day care center. The property will include 300,000 square feet of new construction, plus the old State Farm building, which spans 400,000 square feet.

The partnership will retain Kraus Anderson to develop the current grounds into pad-ready sites for the development of new retail, grocery, restaurants and shops. Site work on the multi-phased project is expected to begin this summer.

Matt Alexander, Kraus-Anderson's director of real estate development, said the joint venture is in lease negotiations "with an established national hotel chairn, a national high-end grocer and with several restaurant and retail tenants."

Shlomo Khoudari, managing principal with Elion Partners, said the "natural landscape and thoughtful public realms will tie the common areas together into a visually interconnected experience, which will be pleasing to the office and retail patrons, as well as to the Woodbury community."