A proposed zoning change would allow mixed-use development on the site. (Provided)
On February 18, Columbia Heights city officials, planners and residents met to discuss the future of 4300 Central Ave. NE., often referred to as the “Rainbow site” thanks to the Rainbow Foods that used to occupy the property.
The 13-acre site currently sits vacant, with a former parking lot on its eastern half and a stormwater pond running along its western border.
At present, The City of Columbia Heights 2040 Comprehensive Plan, which, according to the city’s website, “addresses future land use, transportation, parks, economic development, housing, and infrastructure,” shows the site zoned strictly for commercial use, barring a “Park” section on the west side.
“Zoning,” in this context, refers to rules governing which types of buildings, such as residential or commercial, can be constructed on a given site.
The “Park” section of the current zoning plan sits on approximately the same area as the current stormwater pond.
That question of zoning was central to this meeting.
Rita Trapp, Vice President of HKGi, a landscape architecture and urban design firm based in Minneapolis, said Columbia Heights was proposing a plan amendment to change the site’s zoning from “Commercial” to “Transit Oriented Development.”
The presentation materials say this change would “allow flexibility for a mix of residential and commercial” development on the site, adding that the “City (is) soliciting input on what is being considered.”
During her presentation, Trapp showed a diagram showing a rough idea for how the site might be developed: Apartments or mixed-use developments overlooking Central Avenue on the eastern side of the site; single-family, townhouses or rowhouse developments on the western side; and parking, stormwater management and “residential amenities” in the middle.
The apartments on the eastern face of the development “would probably be multi-story in height,” Trapp said.
Trapp shared that the amenities for the central portion of the site are up in the air: “Maybe a playground or some walking paths.”
Presentation materials showed the site’s “design guidance” included buildings near the street; sidewalks through the site; a plaza, open space or park; parking behind or under buildings; and an integrated stormwater feature.
A history of redevelopment
This isn’t the first time the site has been reimagined. In the early 2010s, Trapp said, the site housed a variety of businesses, such as Rainbow Foods, Slumberland, Ace Hardware Dollar Tree and Meineke Car Care.
Businesses slowly left the property and Columbia Heights struck a deal with Hy-Vee to build a new grocery store. An update about this project from Columbia Heights’ website describes the “revitalization” of the site as “a priority for the City.”
If the plan had ever gone through, it would have been “the biggest development project in Columbia Heights in 100 years,” with “20-60,000 square-feet of retail space anchored by a grocery store on the east side” and a “substantial City park/public open space amenity at the center of the project,” according to the city’s website.
However, the plan was never built. “There was a lot of discussion” about this project, Trapp said, but “things changed over time, and the market changed, so Hy-Vee never did construct the store.”
In 2021, the city partnered with Alatus, a developer with projects across the Twin Cities, to clean up the property and start work on a new project for the site. Alatus is presently spearheading the development project.
On the rezoning proposal, Trapp said, “The market’s changed a lot, so it’s difficult to have a long corridor of only commercial … Having this mixture provides more flexibility and hopefully the ability for something to happen on this site.”
The zoning revision proposed at this meeting is intended to “make (the) development process easier,” according to the presentation slides.
“The development will allow the city to do other improvements in the neighborhood,” Trapp said. “We know there are road improvements needed, sewer improvements needed and stormwater improvements needed, so the project will help the city accomplish those elements that have been a concern for the neighborhood for a number of years.”
Stormwater management
That said, any new development must reckon with the stormwater pond on the west side of the site. According to presenters, the site cannot do without a stormwater pond of some kind, which “the developer has to plan for.”
Mitch Forney, Columbia Heights Community Development Director, said “there needs to be constant maintenance” on the site’s storm drains.
The Mississippi Watershed Management Organization (MWMO), an organization dedicated to protecting and improving water quality for water that drains into the Mississippi River, has pledged money to help solve the problem, and Columbia Heights is “going to be making” infrastructure improvements, according to Mitch Forney, Columbia Heights Community Development Director.
After a resident, who lives across the street from the site, asked how Alatus and the city would “keep the water moving,” claiming that the site has a history of flooding.
Forney said the city, Alatus and MWMO are “well aware of the problem” of water management on the site.
“The developer is working in hand with the MWMO to identify ways that they can integrate stormwater retention and treatment throughout the entire site,” he said. Rather than the current pond, they are hoping to make the stormwater management into an amenity on the new site “so it’s not just a hole with a fence around it.
“It can actually be brought into the site as an amenity, like a pond that you can walk around,” he continued.
“(Water management) is a big part of the project, and having this project helps the city pay for improvements.”
Relationship with other projects
The site on Central does not exist in a vacuum. A major Central Avenue redesign, currently slated for 2028, reduces the avenue from four to two lanes and adds a lane for the Bus Rapid Transit F Line.
“It’s not tied specifically to the project, but the timing may come together for both the development and the improvements on Central Avenue,” Trapp said, adding that, in March of this year, the Minnesota Department of Transportation will make their preliminary designs available to the public.
One resident asked if the city had any plans for the other streets surrounding the site, such as Quincy Street NE and 43rd Avenue NE, especially with regarding construction-related traffic congestion and closures.
“At the moment, we do not have plans for the development of the site,” Ursula Brandt, Columbia Heights City Planner, said. “But those are things we will require once a development is proposed, like a traffic study and working with construction to make sure no one’s cut off from their house or transportation.”
Forney added that, assuming development goes through, the site’s developer will pay for a traffic signal at the intersection of 43rd Ave. NE and Central Ave. NE.
Next steps
Forney “strongly suggested” residents keep their eyes on the project as it moves forward, saying there will be an “environmental assessment sheet going out to the community this year.”
On March 3, the Columbia Heights Planning Commission, a body of ten members that includes the city’s Building Official, City Planner and City Attorney, heard a public hearing and presentation about the proposed amendment to rezone the site. Results were not yet available at the time of reporting.
If approved, the plan will next go to the
Columbia Heights City Council.