Southdale Area - Edina

[sdho]

Speaking of walkablity around Southdale, the Mall owner has been installing a lot of sidewalks. Plus with the sidewalks some new crossings are installed. Can't walk around the mega block entirely yet but great strides have happened from the disaster it was up until a year ago.

Mixed feelings. Better to have sidewalks than not have them, but we can hardly say that a sidewalk between high-speed stroad and a mega-sized parking lot makes things walkable. In the long run, we need about 8 more One Southdale Places so that we can sufficiently block Southdale from pedestrian exposure...

http://geo.lib.umn.edu/hennepin_county/ ... -1-150.jpg -- to look at aerial photos from the time of Southdale's construction, it's really amazing to see how the form completely changes at Xerxes Avenue. Although sidewalks are largely absent from RIchfield as well, you can see how starkly the form changes. York, 66th, and France are all rural expressways around Southdale Center, and what's now Centennial Lakes, etc is just a gravel pit. Explains a lot how we happened to get these massive stroads with sidewalks on only one side (and barely on that side).

[mister.shoes]

Does anyone know the story behind why Xerxes bends over to York through Edina? It's always made me curious as to why Richfield completely missed out on all that commercial tax base due to the bend in the major road.

[mister.shoes]

And to be clear, it's obvious that Richfield had developed on a grid with single family residential entirely to its western border, so Xerxes was never going to be the major N-S commercial route at that point. But how did the bend happen? Was Richfield perfectly content letting the traffic shift over to York and Edina? Or was there some sort of debate/negotiation?

I'm in that area pretty regularly, considering I work in Edina and live in MPLS, and it's always struck me as odd that Edina has all the commercial property and Richfield has zippo. The recent fight over the new apartment complex on the old Wickes Furniture site only amplified the dichotomy—as did the short conversation about school district borders vs. municipality borders.

I keep meaning to go to the Richfield History Center on Lyndale. Maybe this is the final nudge to do so.

[Wedgeguy]

25 years ago Xerxes actually went to 66th. The was a Savings and Loan that was in that triangles piece of property about where the jewelry store is now. After the Saving and Loan disaster in the 80's that company basically went broke and was bought up and the land sat empty. A developer came up with the present plan and the street was vacated and retail was built over it.

Can anyone remember the name of the Saving and Loan company that was there. It was based downtown.

[seanrichardryan]

I assume it all had to do when each area was developed with a little nudging from Southdale. Looks like a 'glass hat box' Midwest Federal branch used to stand in the triangle.

Ghosts of the Xerxes 'braid' exist in 1956 while Southdale was going up.

http://geo.lib.umn.edu/Hennepin_County/y1956/HHJ-76.jpg

And fully developedin 71'
http://geo.lib.umn.edu/hennepin_county/ ... 1-1228.jpg

1971-

[seanrichardryan]

Actually it's older and must be on the original plat. Here is the road oddity in 1937 in the middle of farm country-

http://geo.lib.umn.edu/Hennepin_County/ ... -9-808.jpg

[web]

. But how did the bend happen? Was Richfield perfectly content letting the traffic shift over to York and Edina? ?

yeah that part of edina is richfield school district.

The sand pits probably had a lot to do with xerxes and york......the richfield homes are from the 50s and until the mid 70s there was nothing past southday and the galleriia and a dx gas station. Until Hennepin county built that library.

There were a lot of sand and gravel places out there! all the way to the france avenue drive inn

[min-chi-cbus]

Speaking of walkablity around Southdale, the Mall owner has been installing a lot of sidewalks. Plus with the sidewalks some new crossings are installed. Can't walk around the mega block entirely yet but great strides have happened from the disaster it was up until a year ago.

As a teenager who was old enough to trek far away from my home but not old enough to drive a car, rollerblading and bicycling was what I did to get around. Anytime me and/or my friends would try to do so across Southdale's empty acres of parking lots (to avoid imminent death on France Avenue) we were told to stay off the asphalt. They didn't kick us all the way to the street, but rollerblading on grass isn't exactly ideal either.

Great strides indeed!

[mister.shoes]

Actually it's older and must be on the original plat. Here is the road oddity in 1937 in the middle of farm country-

http://geo.lib.umn.edu/Hennepin_County/ ... -9-808.jpg

OK, that's fascinating to me. Great find. I wonder if that was a correction line in the original land survey.

[sdho]

I've wondered about the moving of CSAH 31 to York Ave as well (which actually runs in Zenith Ave... no idea why it's called York). But from the images, it appears that CSAH 31 was not developed as any major commercial route until Southdale Center's construction. I guess it made sense to orient the new expressway-style road to the shopping center rather than placing it up against existing homes. Xerxes was never a continuous street all the way to its current dead end (at 79th/American Blvd), but interrupted by gravel pits where Centennial Lakes is now.

But yes, in the long run, this has been a cost to Richfield. They do have most of Southdale Square shopping mall, but that's pretty insignificant compared to the major developments like the one on the Wickes site.

[sdho]

Actually it's older and must be on the original plat. Here is the road oddity in 1937 in the middle of farm country-

http://geo.lib.umn.edu/Hennepin_County/ ... -9-808.jpg

OK, that's fascinating to me. Great find. I wonder if that was a correction line in the original land survey.

Look at the scale, though. That notch is less than one city block, whereas the current curve is about two blocks.

[sdho]

As a sidebar, I love this old pattern of development (from that 30s picture). Carve out a grid, subdivide to sensible sizes, and plant some boulevard trees (at least in that segment of Edina north of 62nd). No paving, curbing, driveway aprons, buried electrical, cul de sac pie platting, access management, and various extra complexity and expense we build into modern subdivisions.

[David Greene]

Southdale doesn't have a Taco Bell, but it does have a DQ, Subway, and Smash Burger).

Southdale has a Smashburger?

[Anondson]

Right next to Qdoba.

[David Greene]

Right next to Qdoba.

There's a Qdoba there?!?

[TommyT]

Right next to Qdoba.

There's a Qdoba there?!?

You do know there is an entirely new food pavilion there, right?

[Wedgeguy]

Right next to Qdoba.

There's a Qdoba there?!?

You do know there is an entirely new food pavilion there, right?

Check out the Penney's wing of the mall for the new food court area on the upper level of that wing.

[seanrichardryan]

Look at the scale, though. That notch is less than one city block, whereas the current curve is about two blocks.

It's not a full block, the road continues the curve past 66th. Also, it's now four lanes instead of a dirt country lane.

[sdho]

One other oddity in this area is the fact that Xerxes Ave has two different connection points at American Blvd/79th. Rather than going straight through, the section south of American Blvd meets the main street at York/Zenith Ave -- in fact, in perfect alignment with Southdale's York Avenue. But of course, York Ave does not cross 494 at that alignment -- it goes back to Xerxes, and seemingly dead-ends at American Blvd.

In 1960, Xerxes went straight through (before York was extended south of Southdale Center, and Xerxes didn't go through): http://geo.lib.umn.edu/hennepin_county/ ... -1-152.jpg. By 1971, the Bloomington Xerxes Avenue was realigned: http://geo.lib.umn.edu/hennepin_county/ ... 1-1226.jpg.

Think this was done to appease homeowners in that subdivision? Or in anticipation for the Xerxes crossing moving to York/Zenith Ave?

[RailBaronYarr]

Interesting to see how many of those homes didn't have garages in 1960.