Laserfiche WebLink
Focus Area: <br />Rice Street and Little Canada Road <br />The City has been engaged for a <br />number of years in promoting <br />redevelopment and enhancement of <br />the Rice Street/Little Canada Road <br />area, including both improvements to <br />public space and renovation or <br />redevelopment of private property. <br />The land uses in the area have been <br />dominated by commercial retail, <br />hospitality, and professional office <br />facilities, much of which has been in <br />place since the 1950s or 1960s. <br />Senior residential development <br />flanks the commercial uses on the <br />east edge of the district. The largest <br />building in the district is the <br />Marketplace, a retail building of <br />more than 100,000 square feet in <br />floor area. The facility has <br />undergone a variety of renovations over the years, but suffers from low visibility. The original <br />shopping center site has been divided to accommodate a series of separate developments on <br />underutilized land or excess parking. <br />At the center of the district, a series of commercial uses, including professional office space and <br />entertainment dominate. Most of these buildings have little presentation to Little Canada Road, <br />which the City has actively sought to add streetscape improvements along with the development <br />of open space between the roadway and Round Lake. Redevelopment of the area would benefit <br />from revitalized commercial space, particularly development that would continue the pattern <br />along Little Canada Road established by the Villages development at Rice Street. <br />This area could accommodate additional housing, particularly senior housing which has already <br />established a successful presence. More than 150 additional senior units are shown in the <br />attached illustration. City officials have also discussed the potential for “town square” type open <br />spaces in this district, providing amenities and space that would benefit the community at large, <br />as well as the commercial and residential uses in place, or proposed. <br />At the north edge of the commercial district, redevelopment could take the form of retail grocery, <br />a use that has been available only in limited supply in Little Canada for many years. A large <br />portion of the Little Canada community, as well as eastern Roseville, has a very few options for <br />nearby food sources that could be served by retail grocery in this area.