Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page D4

D4 BUSINESS STAR TRIBUNE MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2006 SOUTHWEST VILLAGE NE. corner, Hwy. 101 County Road 18, Chanhassen Type: Units: 33 to 35 Retail: 19,000 square feet Developer: Southwest Metro Transit Details: Flush from its success in Eden Prairie, Southwest Metro Transit has gained approval from the Chanhassen City Council for another new bus transit-oriented mixed-use development in that quickly growing Carver County community. Southwest Metro Transit, formed by a partnership among Eden Prairie, Chanhassen and Chaska to provide regular bus service to the far southwestern suburbs, says its Southwest Station development in Eden Prairie has been successful beyond expectations so much so that company officials say ready to go on another such development along the planned Hwy. 212 expansion.

This one will be called Southwest Village and is set for the northeast corner of Hwy. 101 and County Road 18 (Lyman Boulevard), which is very near the planned interchange of the new Hwy. 212 expressway and Hwy. 101. The Chanhassen development will be smaller than the Eden Prairie original, but like the first one will be anchored by a modern bus transit station and will include a parking ramp, retail and housing elements.

Southwest Metro Transit Executive Director Len Simich said Southwest Village will have 33 to 35 townhouse units, compared with the 230 housing units at Southwest Station. But it also will boast an 800-stall parking ramp and as much as 19,000 square feet of retail. retail will be developed by UHI Commercial Real he said, Klingelhutz Development is building the housing. LSA Design is doing the transit center and Collaborative Design Group is doing the parking ramp. retail is designed to appeal both to the transit riders and the neighborhood Simich said.

talking a coffee shop, a dry- cleaning store and that kind of thing. It will have a lot of amenities such as landscaping and interesting The $6 million first phase of construction will include 600 of the 800 planned parking spaces and the transit station itself. got all of our final approvals from the Simich said. goal is to open next fall With the housing, that will be starting in the spring, with the goal to get it ready for the fall 2007 Parade of DON JACOBSON By SUSAN FEYDER The retail rollout is underway at the Fountains at Arbor Lakes, an mixed-used development that blends large and small stores with office space and hotels in Maple Grove. The $100 million first two stores, Sporting Goods and DSW, opened last week.

be followed this week by Marshalls, Circuit City, Caribou Coffee, Trade Secret and Mattress Giant. During the next several weeks, 17 more stores and restaurants, including Costco, REI and Benihana, will open. A Marriott Courtyard and a Holiday Inn with a water park are scheduled to arrive early next year. Retail tenants so far have signed up for about 80 percent of the space, said Tim Murnane, senior vice president of Opus Northwest, developer of the project. He said the space should be fully leased by early next year.

The Fountains is the latest of several retail developments by Opus in the area roughly bounded by Weaver Lake Road and Hemlock Lane near Interstate Hwy. 94. The project, together with the Arbor Lakes Main Street project, Maple Grove Crossings center and Shoppes at Arbor Lakes lifestyle center, represent about $300 million in retail development, Murnane said. Part of the Fountains uses a design similar to the Main Street project, with office and service tenants on the second story above retail tenants. KKE Architects Inc.

was the project designer for the Fountains as well as the other Arbor Lakes developments. Besides giving the area the atmosphere of a downtown, the arrangement also helps to visually screen the large parking lots from the big-box retailers, Murnane said. a way of blending big- box with small shops and make the whole area more visually he said. Maple Grove has been a hot spot for commercial development since the 1990s, adding retail, residential office and community buildings, including a government center, library and fitness center. Going up at the site of a former gravel mine, the Fountains is part of a plan to give Maple Grove about 2 million square feet of retail space.

That would make it second in the Twin Cities area to the 2.8 million square feet in indoor retail space at the Mall of America. Murnane says not sure whether the Fountains will be the final phase of retail development in the Arbor Lakes area, where more land should become available as the gravel pit is tapped out. time we think done, we hear from someone who wants to go he said. retail concepts are represented there, but possible something else, like a department store, could wind up Susan Feyder 612-673-1723 The Minnesota Real Estate Journal is published monthly. www.rejournals.com Southwest Metro Transit Opus rolls out blended project A computer rendering of the Fountains, the latest retail development by Opus Northwest at Arbor Lakes in Maple Grove.

The developer expects the project to be fully leased by early next year. Tim Murnane of Opus said the Fountains may not be the final phase of development in the Arbor Lakes area. time we think done, we hear from someone who wants to go he said. commercial real estate hot property Maple retail profile continues to evolve with the opening of the mixed-use Fountains at Arbor Lakes. FOR HOME DELIVERY, 612.673.7999 get one FRIDAYS IN THE PAPER.

This summer, completed an ambitious, $15 million renovation of its store on Nicollet Mall. The changes include more windows, an expanded cosmetics section and a Louis Vuitton handbag shop. I build this building and all we have is this building, then he said. want to be an One of pet projects has been to lure Best Buy Co. the largest consumer electronics retailer, into the City Center building a block away from his store.

After a news conference last August, in which Guzzetta announced renovations to the Nicollet Mall store, Rybak pulled Guzzetta aside and said they should persuade other retailers to come downtown. Immediately, Guzzetta used cell phone to make a pitch to Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson. was quite a Rybak said. had all these reporters mulling about, and there was Frank in the corner telling about the big commitment they had just made Center of the action eyes widen, and his Boston-inflected voice pitches a bit higher as he recalls the department store of his childhood in Quincy, Mass. was a beautiful Guzzetta says.

had beautiful marble floors, wood paneling, and the department had a really clubby feeling to He pauses. rooster ties? Those little, square-end knit he asks. still remember buying my first rooster tie there at age first job was busing tables at the employee cafeteria of the Jordan Marsh store in Boston. From there, he managed the damaged stockroom items. But he would venture out onto the selling floor whenever he got the chance, to rearrange the merchandise and make it look more appealing.

wanted to be in the center of the he explains. Even now, nearly five decades later, Guzzetta can resemble an overeager teenager who wait to get his hands on the latest fashion trend. He likes to visit fashion suppliers in person, rather than rely solely on buyers; and not afraid to make snap decisions. exec on mission to make his store, downtown succeed GUZZETTA FROM D1 FRANCIS JOHN GUZZETTA Current title: Chairman and CEO, North Age: 61 Education: in marketing, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; MBA, University of Michigan Career path: Peace Corps director for North Africa and Asia, 1972-78; assistant buyer in clothing and general merchandise manager, Woodward Lothrup department store, 1978-1988; various management and merchandising roles at 1988-2000, becoming president and CEO from 2000 to 2004; president and CEO of Marshall 2004-2005. Cooking, piano, travel Favorite authors: Dostoevsky and Malcolm Gladwell Favorite clothing brands: Etro and J.

Lindeberg Favorite musical artist: Johann Sebastian Bach Car: 2006 BMW 750 (black) Dorothy Roberts, chair of the Echo Design Group, a New York maker of scarves, handbags and other accessories, recalls Guzzetta ordering 3,000 silk ponchos while still in a New York showroom. turned around to his people and said, want us to be the first one in the country to have ponchos. I want you to buy them for the entire Roberts said. lot of large stores go back, lay it all out, look at it and wait a few His passion for merchandising extends beyond work. Nancy Chistolini, a former senior vice president, said it unusual for Guzzetta to keep a running tally of what women were wearing at D.C.

societal gatherings. would say, at how many women are wearing black gowns, or sandals or she said. observant in retail, that makes you Eyes on Hennepin So far, lobbying landed major new retailers downtown. Last fall, Guzzetta, Rybak and Anderson met at the office, with Guzzetta making another pitch for a downtown Best Buy store. Yet the retailer committed, and much of Hennepin Avenue remains vacant.

But an idea Guzzetta proposed at the July dinner creating a comprehensive plan downtown is gaining traction. The Minneapolis Downtown Council is exploring hiring an outside urban planner to identify what could be add- ed and removed to bring more people downtown. has made it clear to us that he believes Hennepin Avenue could be one of the great streets of America, with the mighty Mississippi on one end and one of the most beautiful churches in the nation on the said Sam Grabarski, head of the Downtown Council. he think enough tying it all together. His comments certainly resonate with the leaders of the Downtown Guzzetta has a history of pulling off the unexpected.

As chief executive of Guzzetta insisted on a major renovation of the store in downtown Washington, even fighting the corporate board to get it. In 2004 was remodeled with wider, brighter aisles as well as a high-end MAC cosmetics counter. Since then, at least a half- dozen retailers, including Urban Outfitters and the trendy have opened stores on blocks surrounding Now, Guzzetta is focused on a new idea to make a similar thing happen here: Persuading retail executives to tour his newly remodeled store on Nicollet Mall. already recruited Rybak to help. get a group of who could be potential downtown tenants to come through and see what this place looks Guzzetta said, walking through the Nicollet Mall store.

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