Navigating the redevelopment maze
May 05, 2010 | Staff Writer | Print Article | Email this Article
This guest column was written for Minnesota Real Estate Journal by Mark Hansen and Steve Oliver.
Working through the redevelopment process of a building project can be extremely challenging. The planning and design of the new Edina Crosstown Medical Office Building located in Edina, Minn., was no exception to this rule.
The building owner, Twin Cities Orthopedics, P.A. has had a long-standing presence in the city of Edina, and in an effort to maintain that presence and consolidate its three Edina clinics into one location, it conducted an extensive property search. Multiple sites were considered, but ultimately, TCO focused on the 4010 West 65th Street property for three basic reasons – location, visibility and access. The physicians of TCO viewed the site as an extension of the adjacent medical campus that includes Fairview Southdale Hospital and the Southdale Medical Building, as well as many nearby medical office buildings. Such a location provided recognition, convenience and the ultimate efficiency of services for patients and staff alike.
Once the site was selected, the challenge was to figure out how to satisfy TCO’s 75,000-square-foot. program requirements on a site that inherently had many challenges, including an irregular shape that limited building and parking area and created significant setbacks, groundwater issues, an existing cell tower and numerous critical utilities impacting the site, not to mention a zoning classification that would not allow for effective redevelopment of the property. The design team worked with the developer and the owner to consider numerous layouts and land use strategies and presented the best options to the city staff for consideration.
The initial technical challenge was rezoning the site from Planned Office to Regional Medical District, thereby allowing more height and doubling the density on the site. Along with the rezoning effort, numerous variances were required to develop the site in a manner that met the needs of TCO. The design team worked to find creative solutions to the challenges such that the advantages of approving such a development far outweighed the granting of the 13 variances required. Along the way, city staff, commission members, and council members provided timely and helpful feedback that aided the team in tailoring the project into a medical development that both Owner and City could be proud of.
In addition to the zoning-related development challenges, the team also had to address the relocation of a number of overhead utility lines including power, telephone, cable and fiber optic lines, not to mention a 60-foot tall cell phone installation that was slated to be on the site for the long-term with no out clause. The design team worked with the various companies to arrange for burying the utilities in a 15-foot wide easement along the north edge of the site. The nature of those utilities, the critical installation clearances and timing, required cooperation of the various contractors, utility companies and the Minnesota Department of Transportation in order to implement the integrated site design considerations.
Relocation of the cell tower presented very unique challenges that could only be addressed by having all parties on the same page – understanding each other’s necessities for operations, schedule and goals for future use, access and maintenance. Ultimately, the use of a temporary cell tower on the site allowed the existing tower to be removed so that the construction activities could move forward. In the final installation, all cell tower equipment, antennas and cabling will be concealed behind building construction, maintaining a quality appearance and image for the surrounding neighborhood.
The project demanded an interactive, consensus driven process which provided creative solutions to numerous challenges which required input, compromise and flexibility on the part of everyone. The final product is evidence of a successful collaboration. The building, scheduled for completion in June 2010, is seeking LEED Silver Certification.
Tags | Edina, healthcare, Minnesota, Twin Cities Orthopedics
