UPDATED: Inver Grove Heights Council Hires Consultant to Update Concord Boulevard Plan

The city’s 13-year plan to redevelop the Concord Boulevard neighborhood took a significant step forward Monday night.

 At its regular meeting, the Inver Grove Heights City Council unanimously approved hiring a Minneapolis-based consultant to help the city update its redevelopment plan for the Concord Boulevard neighborhood.

Hoisington Koegler Group, Inc., a planning and architecture firm that worked with the city to review its comprehensive plan in 2007, will conduct the plan update, estimated to cost $38,000. The cost to hire the firm is covered by a "Livable Communities" grant from the Metropolitan Council, Inver Grove Heights Mayor George Tourville said.

Hoisington Koegler will be responsible for gathering public input on the proposed redevelopment from businesses and residents in the Concord Boulevard neighborhood, determining which areas of the neighborhood should be used for commercial, residential and industrial purposes and recommending priority sites within the neighborhood for redevelopment, according to a Request for Proposal issued by the city last year. The study will likely take six months to complete, city officials say.

The city’s 13-year-old quest to redevelop the Concord Boulevard neighborhood began in 1998, when the city hired a consultant to do neighborhood land use study — the same study that Hoisington Koegler will update this year.

The neighborhood, centered around the intersection of Concord Boulevard and 66th Street, was home to several blighted properties and an environmentally-contaminated railroad yard at the time, said Community Development Director Tom Link. Since 1998, the city has acquired more than 20 properties along Concord and Doffing Avenues, including the abandoned railroad yard, a tax forfeiture.

The railroad yard is now the centerpiece for the 80-acre Heritage Village Park, which will be restored in conjunction with the historic Rock Island Swing Bridge.

The city isn’t the only governmental entity that made large investments in the area: Dakota County began a reconstruction of the length of Concord Boulevard in 2008 and constructed a segment of the 19-mile Mississippi River Regional Trail through the area.

Given all the changes in the area since 1998, including the 2007 update to the city’s comprehensive plan, it made sense to review and update the original neighborhood plan for the area, Link said. In the original plan, the city sought to encourage commercial development in the area. Now, the city is pursuing a mix of residential and commercial uses for the corridor.

Once the land use plan is updated, the city will likely begin a market strategy study that will identify how the city can attract private investment and development to the area, Link said. That study, he added, will be paid for through a $48,000 Livable Communities grant from the Metropolitan Council. By the end of 2012, the city hopes to begin its search for developers for the neighborhood.

Progress Plus, an economic development program operated by the River Heights Chamber of Commerce, has worked with the city in its efforts to redevelop the Concord Boulevard neighborhood.

Redevelopment in that area, River Heights Chamber of Commerce President Jennifer Gale said, could revitalize business growth in the neighborhood. Progress Plus, she added, will likely be convening later in March with business owners from the neighborhood to get their perspective on the potential redevelopment of the area.

“It’s a neighborhood that has a lot of history and a lot of tradition,” Link said. “There are some buildings done there that go back to the 1880s. We want to see business come in [to the Concord Boulevard area] — either new businesses or reinvestment by existing businesses."

For Inver Grove Heights City Councilor Dennis Madden, the decision to hire Hoisington Koegler Group, Inc. came down to the firm's familiarity with the city and its methodical approach to collecting public input.

"They know the city and they do a good job,” Madden said. "We have a lot of experience with these guys."

The council also approved a rezoning, a Planned Unit Development amendment and a wetland replacement plan related to the proposed expansion of Gertens Greenhouse. The approvals should paved the way for Gertens to begin a 300,000 square foot construction project.