News & Press Releases
Silver Lake Village: Winner - New Mixed-Use Development
April 29, 2005
BY STACY FREEBORG
Contributing Writer
Developers and St. Anthony Village officials have high hopes for Silver Lake Village.
The former Apache Plaza Mall site is being revitalized and restored to its status as a focal point for the city.
A new mixed-use development will combine housing, retail and office space within a walkable neighborhood. The project will also have a public park with two large ponds providing stormwater treatment for the entire 40-plus acre site. Other amenities in the park will include walking paths and an amphitheater.
“[This development] is creating a new energy in St. Anthony Village” said Len Pratt, principal at Vadnais Heights-based Pratt Ordway Properties, lead developer on the project.
Silver Lake Village will connect approximately 321,000 square feet of commercial, retail and office space on the east half of the site with about 700 housing units on the west side. When complete, housing options will include condominiums, townhomes and apartments for general occupancy and senior rental.
The project hasn’t been without its obstacles.
A key challenge developers initially faced was securing entitlements to tear down Apache Plaza and rebuild on the site, Pratt said. The city selected Pratt Ordway and Dominium Inc., Plymouth, in February 2002 as the preferred development team for the project. It then took developers two years to demolish the mill, remove tile asbestos and underground structures, and prepare the location for redevelopment.
Another difficult task, Pratt said, was assembling the right team of developers and architects to orchestrate balance between housing, retail, office and park space, while creating a “sense of oneness” in the overall design.
Pratt Ordway teamed with Robert Muir Co. for the retail development and Hunt Associates for the condominiums. Dominium is the developer for the apartment complex, while Pratt Homes will develop the townhomes.
“There has been such a thirst for different types of housing in this market,” said Gary Vogel, principal at Minneapolis-based BKV Croup, the project’s master planner. The condominiums and apartments provide a space for people who want to still live in the area but no longer wish to reside in a house.
City officials at St. Anthony Village also expect Silver Lake Village to draw new residents to the area, predicting the city’s population will rise from 8.000 residents to more than 10,500.
The first phase of the 5150 million development includes 128 for-sale condominiums with 13 floor plans potential buyers can choose from, ranging in size from approximately 850 square feet to more than 1,900 square feet. These units range in price from about $170,000 to the mid-$400,000s.
To date, 32 units have been pre-sold.
Another 128 condominiums will be built in the second development stage, which may begin in 2005 or 2006, Pratt said. Thirty-two, three-story townhomes may also be part of the second phase.
Additionally, the site will have a 261-unit apartment complex, with 88 units set aside for people 55 and older. As a perk for the senior renters, they will have their own fitness center, community room and medical office on site. Fifty-three apartments will be reserved for low-income renters.
Silver Lake Village will feature several chain restaurants such as Applebee’s, Wendy’s, Cold Stone Creamery and Caribou Coffee. The property also includes a new Wal-Mart. The discount retailer will pay more than $1 million toward development of the site. While Silver Lake Village is primarily being financed through private funds, the project received about $5 million from the city through tax increment financing. The developers also obtained about $3.3 million in a low-interest loan from Fannie Mae.
Established In the early 1960s, the Apache Plaza was one of the first indoor shopping malls in the country. Once a hot spot for retail. the mall began losing tenants during the 1970s and 1980s to newer and larger malls built in surrounding communities. By early 2000, the site sat mostly vacant before It ‘was demolished in spring 2004.
“[The developers] took a site that that was grossly underutilized and made it into a project that will thrive for many years to come,” Vogel said.
For Best in Real Estate judge Murray Kornberg, director at L.J. Melody & Co., Minneapolis, the complexity of the development made it a standout in its category.
“It is a good public-private venture with a lot of moving pieces,” Kornberg said, “[The developers] had to be sensitive about new infrastructure, public amenities and the housing. It’s a complicated project and I think it got pulled of really well.”
Different components of Silver Lake Village, including some of the housing units, will open throughout 2005.
This article is reprinted from The Business Journal, Volume 22, Number 47, April 29, 2005 page 13.