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KKE Korsunsky Drank Erickson Architects,Inc. 300 First Avenue North Minneapolis. DIN ;;-Oi 612/'339-a200 FAX 342-9267 Mr. Michael Morrison January 26, 1996 City Manager Saint Anthony Village 3301 Silver Lake Road St. Anthony, MN 55418-1699 Subject: Apache Plaza(Existing Structure) Zero Lot Line Variance Request KKE No. 95-08-1179-23 Dear Mike: The request of Ste. Marie Company for a variance of a zero lot line for the existing Apache Plaza Building(north side)is based on several reasons. First, we are forced to deal with a deteriorating and obsolete shopping center mall on a site which, to be put to reasonable use, requires a major redevelopment and restructuring of the types and character of tenants. This problem was not caused by the existing owner, but was inherited by Ste. Marie Company when it took title to the property from its former borrower,who could not successfully continue the shopping center in its present configuration. An enclosed shopping center mall with numerous small retail tenants has not, and will not work for this site and market. The only viable use of the site is redevelopment with one or more"big block"users, such as a Cub store. However, redevelopment is a problem because a substantial portion of the center and the mall must remain intact because a number of existing tenants have leases that run for several more years. Therefore, in order to fit a Cub store on the site, the mall must remain intact, with only a portion of the retail space on the north side of center to be demolished to make room for the Cub store. In order for there to be room for the Cub store on the site, with adequate access along the north and room for anticipated expansion on the south, the lot line must be at a distance of 60 feet from the south line of the Cub store. Moreover, we must consider and deal with the structural integrity of the unique central mall common area roof and the life safety of occupants and access to public restroom facilities. In keeping a zero lot line on the north of the proposed reconfigured mall, the need to restructure the existing hyperbolic paraboloid roof over the mall's central common area has been eliminated. The common area, with its unique roof structural and clear-story windows, is what gives the mall its charm. By leaving the last • structural bay at the north end of the central common mall area, a buttress effect is created so that the existing hyperbolic paraboloid roof and clear-story windows can remain. Architecture Planning Interior Design