Politics & Government

SLP Buying $2.25M, 3 Acre Plot Near Proposed Beltline LRT Station

The city plans to eventually sell or lease the land.

The Southwest Light Rail line is still years away and exact station and park-and-ride locations are still up in the air, but St. Louis Park, but the city is moving to buy up land in areas surrounding the proposed light-rail stations.

St. Louis Park’s Economic Development Authority has agreed to purchase a 3.16 acre plot of land just northeast of the tentative Beltline station for $2.25 million.

In addition to its proximity to the Beltline station, the property’s value comes from its “prominent location east of Highway 100,” visibility along Highway 7 and “the difficulty of assembling more than three acres in St. Louis Park,” according to a staff report.

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The EDA hopes eventually to fund the purchase by selling or leasing the property in the future to a developer “consistent with the city’s station area plans.”

A 12,000 square-foot industrial building, currently leased month-to-month by the Professional Instrument Company, Inc., on the 4601 Highway 7 plot will be razed by the city.

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“It’s in poor condition and structurally obsolete,” economic development coordinator Greg Hart said during a presentation Monday to the city council.

Clear Channel billboards on the site will be taken down by the company.


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