2005.08.15 EDA Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

IL / Article by Bruce Chamberlian of Hoisington Koegler Group, scheduled for print in Finance and Commerce on Thursday, Aug 4, 2005. Mound calls on its past to shape its future The train pulls into the depot of this village known as Mound, named for its collection of Native American burial knolls and known for its family resorts and the best fishing on renowned Lake Minnetonka. Eager passengers step onto the platform into a different world from the one they left in downtown Minneapolis. Visitors pick up a few essentials at the grocer, walk to the pier and board a small steamer waiting to carry them to cabins and resorts. That was the scene in downtown Mound during Lake Minnetonka's thriving resort era in the teens and twenties. While the resorts are gone, replaced by homes, the scene is being rebuilt. In a monumental effort of public/private partnerships totaling more than $200 million of reinvestment and years of work, downtown Mound is once again becoming a destination. The effort is called Mound Visions and the vision grew out of need. Despite its rich history, Mound's downtown had fallen on hard times by the mid 1980s. The resort era abruptly ended long ago with black Tuesday. More recently, shopping patterns had changed to the decline of places like Mound. Famed Tonka Toys was sold and moved from its Mound genesis to Mexico. And that canal from Lake Minnetonka to the Mound depot? It was all but forgotten; overgrown behind dumpsters, a gravel alley and piles of road salt. The community, however, desired a different fate. The City completed a strategic downtown plan in 1990 that, among other things, suggested an organized downtown revitalization effort. That effort, soon known as Mound Visions, took root with the adoption of the downtown master plan in 1992. The master plan was aggressive with the suggestion to essentially tear down the entire downtown and rebuild it with mixed-use buildings, reroute a county road, build a new main street, transit center and farmer's market, rehabilitate the canal to Lake Minnetonka and build a public marina. The strategy was (and still is) to create extremely compelling public amenities and pedestrian spaces as a framework for private redevelopment. The City learned quickly that flipping Mound's tarnished image and attracting private investment would require bold moves and public "seed" investments in key amenities like the canal and main street. At the time it was unveiled in 1992, the idea of building a traditional downtown was semi-radical. Urban designer Bruce Chamberlain, Vice President with Hoisington Koegler Group, remembers a prominent area developer warning him that such an aggressive plan would never be realized. But the community had unwavering dedication; especially to a plan that focused on its Lake Minnetonka heritage. The hurdles were at times daunting says Kandis Hanson, Mound City Manager. "Soil contamination, county road and post office relocation, utility undergrounding, rail abandonment, new street rights-of-way, not to mention that the permits required to dredge a canal and build sixty boat slips has kept us focused and savvy." With the expertise of a top notch City staff, legal and financial council from Kennedy & Graven and Ehlers & Associates, Environmental consulting from Earth Tech as well as