Business & Tech

Leaman’s Gone, Nelson’s Moving Under Redevelopment Plan

The plan aims to help businesses that are being hurt by the upcoming Shady Oak Road expansion.

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Purchase agreements that Hopkins plans on approving Tuesday highlight the big changes coming to Shady Oak Road this fall—including the closure of Leaman’s Liquors and the relocation of Nelson’s Meats and Bakery.  

The Hopkins Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) plans sign off on purchase agreements for the following three properties:

If approved, redevelopment in the area will proceed as follows:
  1. The HRA will buy the Snap Print and Studio Tan properties for $950,000. Mokabaka will receive development rights to the properties on 108 and 112 Shady Oak Road, and a portion of its current property will be offered in exchange for the Syndicate Sales property.
  2. Nelson’s, Studio Tan and Snap Print will receive letters on June 5 notifying them of their relocation eligibility. Nelson’s will be relocated within 90 days, but it’s not yet known where the Hopkins mainstay will move.
  3. The city will buy the Leaman’s property for $952,500 and close on the site June 27. It will lease space Leaman’s and Nelson’s until the 90-day period is over. Leaman’s owner Jim Mason plans to retire and close the business, said Kersten Elverum, the city’s economic development and planning director.
  4. After both Leaman’s and Nelson’s are gone—likely sometime in September—the city will demolish their building and hand the property over to Mokabaka.
  5. Crews will next demolish the northern part of the existing Mokabaka properties on 20 and 24 Shady Oak Road and make additional improvements to accommodate Syndicate Sales, which will move into the former Snap Print space.
  6. Syndicate Sales will receive an allowance of $80,000 to make interior improvements and $20,000 in relocation assistance. Closing on the property will take place in early September, but the Mokabaka property will not be available for Syndicate Sales until April 2014.
  7. Finally, workers will demolish the current Syndicate Sale building to create parking for the new Snap Print and shared parking with the VFW.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the HRA is also expected to schedule a public hearing on the sale of the Syndicate Sales and Leaman’s properties. That hearing should take place at 7 p.m. June 18.  

City leaders have been searching for a way to help Shady Oak Road businesses ever since word came down that the road would be narrower than expected. That will leave the road within a few feet of some Shady Oak businesses—just enough to remove essential parking without paying property owners enough to help them move.  

To compound the problem, Hopkins and Minnetonka are getting $3 million in Community Works money to improve the corridor instead of the $9 million earmarked at the earliest planning stages.  

The Shady Oak Road reconstruction is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2014. 

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