Franklin Area Station Redevelopment
Bystrom Brothers Site
Access to transit is important to any forward-thinking community these days Transit is particularly important to Seward and Ventura Village as communities with many families of modest means striving to stay at work despite escalating transportation costs. While these neighborhoods have some of the highest transit ridership rates in the Metro Area, access to the light rail station in their midst is minimal. The station is located in a virtual no-mans land accessed through a maze of intersections, freeway underpasses and industrial uses.
The neighborhoods and the City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County and the Metropolitan Council have worked tirelessly to address this issue. Redevelopment in the station area has been widely seen as the best means of populating the station area to make it safer and more accessible. But, development is hampered by grade changes, limited access, power line obstructions and out-dated infrastructure, and unrealistic expectations of property owners. All studies of the station area have acknowledged that development will occur only with significant impetus from the public sector, even before the current downturn in the housing market and the economy.
After several years of work, Redesign is positioned to acquire the 4-acre Bystrom site. Only a block from the Franklin LRT Station, the site has direct access to the station platform along the pedestrian bike path without the need to cross intermediate streets and has high visibility from Hiawatha and Cedar Avenues. This site includes land critical to major infrastructure changes. This first redevelopment project will provide the catalyst needed for further development throughout the station area.
$2.25 of the $5 million needed for land acquisition has been committed. Nearly $3 million in Federal funding is committed for road and other infrastructure improvements. Detailed site planning is underway.
