West metro briefs: Plymouth City Council OKs multi-use Agora project

The Plymouth City Council gave final approval last week for a major redevelopment of the vacant Four Seasons Mall.

The City Council approved the agreement with developer Rock Hill Management and the tax-increment financing proposal for the project, named Agora.

The redevelopment includes a 139-unit senior housing project, 61,000 square feet of retail space, 20,000 square feet of office space, restaurants, a parking ramp and the first hotels to be built in the suburb in a decade: an Aloft and a TownePlace Suites by Marriott. The city will use 200 of the 339 parking spaces for park and ride commuters.

Construction on the 17-acre site, near Hwy. 169 and Rockford Road, is expected to begin this summer.

Also at last week's meeting, the City Council set a public hearing to discuss a proposed lodging tax for Feb. 14. State law allows cities to impose a lodging tax of up to 3 percent, with 95 percent of proceeds going toward a local convention or tourism bureau for marketing. In Minnesota, 110 cities have a lodging tax.

Kelly Smith

Plymouth will host its 28th annual Fire & Ice Festival on Feb. 4.

The festival will run from 3 to 7 p.m. at Parkers Lake Park, 15205 County Road 6 at Niagara Lane. Free shuttles to and from the event will be provided at Oakwood Playfield, County Roads 6 and 101.

For more information, go to plymouthmn.gov.

Kelly Smith

St. Louis Park is seeking bids for the construction of a $230,000 skateboard park in a recreational space behind City Hall.

The new park would replace an older one in the city and be built in a corner of Carpenter Park, near Hwy. 100 and County Road 25. The City Council authorized advertising for bids at its meeting last week and is expected to approve a bid on March 6.

The skate park would be completed in September, according to a development plan.

The city's engineering department also plans to build a system underneath the skate park to treat stormwater. The projects would remove 6,000 cubic yards of soil from the park and five trees, according to the city website.

Miguel Otárola

The Minnehaha Creek Watershed District has awarded nearly $100,000 in grants for 15 clean water educational programs, the most in recent history.

The 15 projects received $98,200 in grants from the Cynthia Krieg Watershed Stewardship Fund to promote public awareness and citizen engagement for clean water practices.

Grants of $10,000 were awarded to the Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association in Minneapolis, for a pilot program to reduce salt use on businesses' sidewalks; Minneapolis-based Metro Blooms, for a pilot program to train non-stormwater professionals; and St. Paul-based Great River Greening, to pilot a teen program using restoration areas in St. Louis Park and Hopkins.

For more details, go to minnehahacreek.org/cynthia-krieg.

Kelly Smith

Construction of the new Brookview Community Center continues, with crews expecting to finish the building's foundation by the end of the month.

The $18.2 million project broke ground in October and is scheduled to be completed by July 2018. When finished, the new community center will be nearly twice the size of the current one.

Concerns or questions about the project can be directed to Rick Birno at 763-512-2342 or rbirno@goldenvalleymn.gov.