Owner of Uptown's Seven Points moving ahead with $150M redevelopment plan

The Chicago-based real estate investment firm that acquired the Seven Points building in Minneapolis' Uptown neighborhood in 2019 is keeping its promise to invest in the property's redevelopment, announcing Friday it will spend $150 million to add apartments, more restaurants and a grocery store to the shopping center at the key intersection of Lake Street and Hennepin Avenue.

Northpond Partners Northpond Partners said on Friday it is partnering with Minneapolis-based Doran Cos. for the design and development of 264 apartments on the south end of the site, and at the northeast corner of Hennepin and 31st Street.

Northpond has already submitted plans to the city for the redevelopment project, according to a news release. If the plan is approved by city officials, construction would begin this year.

In addition to restaurants and the yet-to-be named grocer, the three-story shopping center, formerly known as Calhoun Square, is getting a mini golf and performance space called Arts & Rec.

Designed by the creators of Can Can Wonderland in St. Paul, the Arts & Rec project was announced in December and will include 13,500 square feet of artist-designed mini golf, a performance space, as well as food and beverage served on both the first floor and rooftop sculpture garden.

The Seven Points redevelopment could inject much needed traffic and transactions in Uptown, which has been rocked by the pandemic and business closings during the past two years.

Uptown lost its Apple Store in 2020, and other big brands to exit the community recently include Columbia Sportwear, North Face and Victoria's Secret. Last month, cooking school and housewares store Kitchen Window, a fixture in Uptown for 35 years, permanently closed its doors.

Lake Street has also dealt with some public safety issues during that time. Some Uptown buildings were damaged during the riots following the police killing of George Floyd in 2020.

Then last summer, Winston Smith, a Black man, was fatally shot by police after police surrounded him on the top floor of the parking garage at Seven Points.

There were several protests on Lake Street following Smith's death, and 31-year-old Deona Knajdek was killed and two others injured after Nicholas Kraus plowed into a crowd of protesters there during one of them.

In the aftermath, one business, Juut Salon Spa, a fixture at Hennepin and Lake, one of Uptown's busiest intersections, announced on its Facebook page it was closing its Uptown location after 35 years there, citing concerns about the community's continued struggles with other store closings and street closures, as well as crime and social unrest.

Amid the upheaval in the Uptown business community, a spokesperson for Northpond Partners said the real estate investment firm remained committed to its previously announced plans for the property.

"Uptown's best energy is ahead of it," Sam Ankin, managing principal of Northpond Partners, said in a statement. "We believe strongly that bringing new housing combined with retail and hospitality will enhance the pedestrian traffic of the neighborhood."

Northpond also has an memorandum of understanding with a nonprofit developer to build affordable housing on an adjacent site on Lake Street. Construction of that development is expected to begin in 2024.

Additional new tenants at Seven Points include Chase Bank, Curioso's Cafe and True North Collaborative, a pop-up shop space for small businesses.