Star Tribune
Hopkins city leaders are eager to jump-start a massive redevelopment plan to bring commercial space and hundreds of housing units to a long-blighted corner.
But the $330 million proposed overhaul of a former industrial site on Blake Road is still mired in conflict — financing troubles and legal battles among them — leaving the site near the soon-to-open Metro Green Line light rail station in limbo.
After a recent failed sale of the property, the squabbles between the players are becoming increasingly caustic.
The breakdown means one of the premiere developments along the Green Line extension remains stalled even as light rail testing continues and Metro Transit gears up to start service in 2027. Hopkins Mayor Patrick Hanlon said there’s little chance construction will start on theBlake Road project by then “unless something unexpected happens.”
In interviews with the Minnesota Star Tribune, the developer and Hanlon criticized the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, which owns the land in question, as being unaccountable and accused it of operating in bad faith.
“They’re holding a large piece of our city hostage,” Hanlon said.
District leaders, meanwhile, are battling the developer, Alatus Development, in court and want the company removed from the project entirely.
“We need a developer who can finance this project and get this thing done and deliver it,” Arun Hejmadi, a district board member, said at a recent meeting.
By Nathaniel Minor