Uptown Business News – 9/7/11
Business, Featured — By Thatcher Imboden on September 7, 2011 10:40 pmA short update.
Amore Victoria opens rooftop deck
Seen the people taking in the sun and enjoying the great weather from Uptown’s latest rooftop deck? Amore Victoria spent this summer converting their rooftop into a rooftop oasis and by expanding their kitchen.
Too much booze leads to a fight? An entitlement fight, perhaps
That’s right folks, City of Lakes Urbanism first reported on a new liquor store proposal for 2700 Hennepin Avenue in the Lowry Hill District of Uptown. According to their report, the store would be a new building to replace the existing gas station. A quick glance at the City of Minneapolis’ PropertyInfo system indicates that Abdo Market House has a Master Land Use Application filed with the City (dated in August) for a new +/- 6,100 square foot liquor store on the site. A little peak at LinkedIn indicates that Paul Abdo is an executive at Abdo Market House and that he’s also involved with the My Burger restaurant company, the children’s clothing store Bumble Bee, and the State Fair-providing ice company Gopher State Ice Company. Abdo Market House is a real estate consulting and services company, which is likely (though not confirmed) aiding whomever it is that will own this proposed liquor store.
Also according to City of Lakes Urbanism, there is a liquor store proposed for the NE corner of Hennepin and 27th Street. The City’s PropertyInfo system indicates that Daniel Kerkinni filed the application in September for a new liquor store in the existing building at 2653 Hennepin Avenue. You may remember Kerkinni, as he attempted to open a liquor store at 25th and Hennepin but the City changed the zoning code so that he wouldn’t be able to open his store.
Previously, OurUptown.com reported that Kowalski’s at 24th and Hennepin is seeking to open a liquor store. According to the City’s PropertyInfo system, Kowalski’s applied in August for a liquor store within an enlarged building at its 2440 Hennepin Avenue store.
Now I don’t see how three liquor stores could ever open in that area due to the city’s rules that liquor stores have to be a certain distance a part. Our earlier post has a map of all the eligible sites in that area that could have a new liquor store and if you plop down a new one, all the other sites become unable to comply with the distance requirement.
So who gets approved? My take is that the Planning Commission who will review the land use application component(s) of the applications will likely grant them as typically the Licensing Division of Regulatory Services will deal with the distance provision. I believe, though I’m not positive, that before the Licensing Division can process the application and deem it complete, they need the zoning addendum filled out on the application. That would require the applicant to have all of their zoning and land use approvals in place, so I would bet that the first application approved by the Planning Commission would be deemed complete should the applicants be quick to move on their license applications. And what happens if two or all three of the applications goes through the Planning Commission at the same time? Will there be political jockeying and sly moves to get one application through quicker?
Pay attention folks, this could be a fun land use law exercise.
Tags: Business News, Lowry Hill District, Real Estate, Restaurants, Retail
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9 Comments
Each of the proposals are vastly different. The 2700 Hennepin proposal call for new construction of at 7,000 sf building. Kowalski’s would add 1,000 sf and incorporate some of the current gift and card area.
I was at the East Isles Resident’s Association meeting where these 2 proposals were deliberated. The vote went overwhelmingly for Kowalski’s proposal and soundly rejected the 2700 Hennepin proposal. Both of these will be considered at the Planning Commission meeting on September 19 at 4:30. The 2653 Hennepin proposal won’t on the Planning Commission agenda until October, as that was filed later. Chances are likely a decision on one of the first two proposals will be passed, which would effectively eliminate another option being considered, due to spacing regulations.
Meanwhile, the BP station has been closed for several days. There was some activity there later this afternoon, but it seems clear some development will happen there. I hope it conforms to the Uptown Small Area plan. It’s time we get developers to read and honor that thoroughly debated plan that was adopted by the communities and the Planning Commission a few years ago.
I’d be curious to hear why the neighborhood association sided so strongly with Kowalski’s. I live nearby but doubt I could afford the wine or beer they’d sell, much like I can hardly afford to shop there for groceries. I’m not saying we need ultra-cheap liquor nearby, but a tiny bottle shop would be a lot less useful for many of us than a real wine, beer, and liquor store, like those proposed further down Hennepin.
Thanks for the great update Harvey!
I would love to see a small liqour store go up with affordable prices and support our small business owners suceeed over these big shot guys coming in and charging way too much for a bottle of wine. What’s one more zero at the end of Kowalski’s bank account going to do?
Good Luck to NE corner of Hennepin and 27th Street, we support you!
It’s only right that they give the license to the person(s) who came up with the liquor store idea initially. I’m a active member in the neighborhood group and recall the initial proposal by Daniel Kerkinni to open a specialty liquor store in the previous US Bank Space. This was back in March, 2011. It was unfortunate that ordinances were changed at that time which stopped him. I say we support small business and grant licensing to Daniel Kerkinni.
I think from a process perspective (I’m not a lawyer), it would make sense that the Planning Commission will approve all site plans and conditional use permits that are reasonable and generally complying with the code. Once the appeal period expires, the Zoning division can sign off on the license addendum and the applicant can submit their final application. If it’s deemed complete, that would likely be the one that gets approved in my eyes SHOULD the applicant be a reasonable operator. Process-wise, I wonder if Licensing would simply make a staff report for the first fully-submitted application recommending approval (should it be approval-worthy) then recommend denial on the other applications should the first application be approved and weigh in on whether the applicant would otherwise have received their support or not. That way if the applications come in the same City Council meetings they can approve the first one and then deny the others.
Good question but while I would like to say that the original concept creator should be the rewarded, it’s more important to use a legal and respectful process to ensure that no person receives favorable or unfavorable consideration. I would agree with you about the previous ordinance change seeming like it was a direct action against the business proposal and an unfair way to deny their license request. I would even think there would be legal grounds to call the City out on that, but again, we only know a little bit about what actually took place.
I thought Kowalski’s was going to be up and done by November?
They had already been approved- which I was excited about.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but they haven’t been at Planning Commission yet. And since a liquor store is a conditional use in every commercial zoning district, they’d need to get that conditional use permit. No idea how far along they are with staff, and there’s still no posted agenda for the next CPC meeting, but still, no one seems to have received their land use/zoning entitlements yet at least.
So to answer myself: Kowalski’s is on the Planning Commission agenda for September 19. Staff recommends approval. The project at 2700 Hennepin apparently has some legal issues (applicant not being able to demonstrate ownership or something along those lines), and so their application materials have been returned. Looks like Kowalski’s wins this race.