urbanMSP

Homeowners from the surrounding neighborhood, which includes large lots and homes spread far apart, weren't pleased with the scale and density of the project. 
John Sexter, who lives across from the proposed development, called the plan shocking and absurd, comparing the row of continuous homes to Maple Grove. 

"If it's going to be housing, it should revert to estate lots," Sexter said. "To keep it cohesive, it should be the same as the surrounding neighborhood."

You’ve got to be kidding me


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Homeowners from the surrounding neighborhood, which includes large lots and homes spread far apart, weren't pleased with the scale and density of the project. 
John Sexter, who lives across from the proposed development, called the plan shocking and absurd, comparing the row of continuous homes to Maple Grove. 

"If it's going to be housing, it should revert to estate lots," Sexter said. "To keep it cohesive, it should be the same as the surrounding neighborhood."

You’ve got to be kidding me


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Not Maple Grove!!! Anything but that!!!

Neighbor referring to his 2 acre subdivision lot as an estate, which was platted in the late 50s out of an actual estate (Peavy's 'Highcroft') is actually kind of funny.

I know this idea won't stick but I'll just throw it out there anyway: convert the building into a small grocery store or build a new small grocery store on the site. It looks like the two closest grocery stores are both Lunds & Byerlys with one in Navarre and the other on 101 & Wayzata Boulevard. The site already has bus service, plus it's across the street from the Dakota Rail Trail, so in theory easy to get to without needing a car. The amount of traffic would increase, but I can't imagine it would be a significant increase (though for residents any increase would be equated to having New York City levels of traffic).

I'm not seeing that house in the first picture in the satellite images of the area. Any idea what happened to it?

What would the market be for those hotels? Maybe there could be one or two, but if you're from the area spending a day at the lake, you just drive home at the end of the day. I'm not sure Lake Minnetonka is a big destination for people out of state. If you're just here on business or visiting relatives you stay at a downtown hotel or a Hampton Inn by the freeway exit.

Strib: Excelsior's first new apartment building in 50 years raises questions about the city's future

Wherein a new 50-unit market-rate apartment building with 300 underground parking stalls, and starting rents as high as $7,000 per month, causes city leaders to fear "that we no longer feel the comfort of being home".

Meanwhile a prime corner parcel at the end of Water Street, right next to the lake, remains vacant for nearly 15 years.

Have you been to Excelsior? It was my only escape to an "urban" form as a kid.

And yet people are paying a lot of money for the other amenities, i.e. a big lake

I'm not usually a suburb defender but this is my one. I'll defend Excelsior and beg for commuter rail to return to Wayzata with ferry service to the lake. Metro Transit branded ferries anyone? Like the Copenhagen ones...

Excelsior really does have excellent urban form, but the real problem in Excelsior today is that the urbanism there is unattainable (i.e. millionaires-only). That's really what the crux of the arguments about building new apartments in Excelsior is about - it's not about building materials or "neighborhood character". It's that Excelsior is more or less a country club, with housing prices high enough to exclude the riff-raff, and anything that threatens to "open the floodgates" gets fought tooth-and-nail.

Not to get to Strong Towns-y, but it really sucks that these quaint, walkable town centers are so desirable that only the very rich can afford to live near them, but are also illegal to build basically everywhere in suburbia and are also not allowed to evolve and grow / intensify to meet the market.