The Minneapolis City Council has authorized staff to start negotiating to acquire eight residences in the 2601 block of University Avenue NE in the Holland neighborhood. The block is adjacent to a parcel that the city already owns at 340 27th Ave. NE. The site is needed, according to city information, to create a municipal operations campus for the city and park board.
The city bought the 27th Avenue property in 2010, intending for it to house a joint City-Hennepin County Recycling and Drop-Off Center. The proposed project met neighborhood opposition, however, and Hennepin County abandoned the plan.
The city’s Facilities, Space and Asset Management committee recommended developing the site into a municipal campus that could meet large scale storage and maintenance needs for Police, Public Works, Regulatory Services, Emergency Management and the Park Board.
At a recent meeting, Resolution 2016R-492 was proposed by First Ward Council Member Kevin Reich, authorizing the acquisition of real estate at 2601, 2607, 2609, 2615, 2617, 2621, 2625 and 2629 University Ave. NE by “negotiation or eminent domain proceedings.” The council agreed that acquiring the additional land “would greatly improve the project layout options, enhance the landscaping buffer with the residential neighborhood, and facilitate the co-location of compatible workgroups for great efficiency.” Construction might begin in Spring, 2017, according to the resolution.
Adelheid Koski, neighborhood coordinator for the Holland Neighborhood Improvement Association, said that a project team came to Holland’s general membership meeting on October 13. Team members talked about the eight properties on University and presented several site plan options.