08.16.16

Apartments with Trader Joe’s to break ground in downtown Minneapolis | Business Journal

Aug 9, 2016, 2:56pm CDT Updated Aug 9, 2016, 3:37pm CDT Sherman Associates will hold a groundbreaking ceremony this month for its East End Apartments, a mixed-use development it's been planning for years near U.S. Bank Stadium. The $57 million apartment component of the project, along Chicago Avenue between Washington Avenue and South Third Street, will contain 180 apartments above approximately 19,500 square feet of retail, including about 16,000 square feet for the first Trader Joe's grocery store in Minneapolis. A separate Sherman entity is developing a $59 million conversion of the 116-year-old Thresher Square office building, located next door, into a limited-service hotel. Sherman is a few months away from starting on that part of the redevelopment, according to Shane Lafave, development director with Sherman Associates. For the apartment and retail project, Sherman plans a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday, Aug. 24, in the parking lot next to the Old Spaghetti Factory where the Trader Joe's will be built. The groundbreaking provides some certainty for a project that has been out of the news since Sherman acquired the site for $7 million in May of 2015. Sherman's been talking about this project since early in 2014 and it already has city approvals. Elness Swenson Graham in Minneapolis is the architect and Frana Cos. Inc. is the contractor for both components of the redevelopment. Lefave expects construction to wrap up about the time that U.S. Bank stadium hosts the 2018 Super Bowl. "We're looking at the first quarter of 2018 for an opening," LaFave said. "I can't promise, but that's what we're shooting for." Sam Black | August 9, 2016 View Original Article Here.