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REJournals.com -Elk River welcomes new dowtown housing, industrial park activity Page 1 of 3 INFORMATION ~1lNNESEiTA ~~~~ ~~~~~~ JIIIIRI~i! dviBdcantinent Choptcr inxiias you to o very sPacco) Tuesday November OS 2005 Elk River welcomes new dowtown housing, industrial park activity Don Jacobson Editor Elk River, which to many Twin Cites residents delineates the border between "suburban" and "rural" in the Northwest Metro, is chalking up gains on both the industrial and urban redevelopment fronts. preparation for a pair of new mixed-use buildings that are a key part of the city's long-standing efforts to encourage economic revitalization there. In October, demolition work began in historic downtown Elk River in And on the industrial side, the first two land sales have been made and another is pending for the Northstar Business Park, a 30-acre parcel owned by the city's Economic Development Authority that will have direct access to a train station along the planned Northstar Commuter Rail line. In downtown Elk River, the wrecking ball is swinging to make room for The Bluffs of Elk River, a 98,000 square foot retail-condominium building that will feature 67 for-sale housing units and 11,000 square feet of retail space divisible into eight individual storefronts. The Bluffs will go up along the river at the intersection of Main Street and County Road 42 (Parrish Avenue Northeast), which formerly was the site of U.S. Bank branch and Nadeau's Laundromat. Also getting underway downtown is a second building to be constructed in downtown's Jackson Square. Located at Jackson and Main, Jackson Place will act as the anchor of the city's revitalization effort. It's athree-story, 46,000 square foot mix of retail and rental apartments. The retail space measures 11,000 square feet and there will be 32 rental units in the floors above. The developer of the downtown buildings is MetroPlains Development LLC, a St. Paul-based real estate firm that specializes in, among other things, historical building rehabilitation in rural communities across the Upper Midwest. The developer says Elk River presented a perfect opportunity to do some new construction that contributes to the historic look and feel of a real "Main Street." "We've been around for 27 years, and have done about 45 historic rehabs," says Rob McCready, MetroPlains' chief operating officer. "The common thread is we do public-private partnerships with the communities we build in, with much of the new housing being affordable. We help them address their development needs." ~~t t ~pp~ N~ ~(fCl~ ~~ http://www.mrej.corn/story.efm?Market=MN&StoryID=13822 11/22/2005 '"°. ar Nov. 22,