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‘The Story of Music, Stories from Home’ comes to the Lakeville Area Arts Center. See Thisweekend Page 8A.
Thisweek Burnsville-Eagan APRIL 15, 2011
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VOLUME 32, NO. 7
A NEWS OPINION SPORTS
www.thisweeklive.com
Announcements/5A
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CSM to buy Lockheed site Minneapolis-based developer sees possible mixed-use project with stores, restaurants, offices, data center by Erin Johnson THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
A Minneapolis-based developer announced it will buy the Lockheed Martin facility in Eagan for potential use as a large-scale retail, restaurant and office development. CSM Equities LLC, an affiliate of CSM Corporation, said the sale of the 51-acre property is expected to close this summer. “We are excited about the opportunity to acquire this facility,” said Tom Palmquist, vice president of commercial development for CSM. Lockheed Martin will continue to occupy the space under a lease agreement until it officially closes in the spring of 2013. The site is at a prime location – the intersection of Pilot Knob and Yankee Doodle roads – which is Eagan’s busiest intersection and also near its major existing retail centers, Town Centre and Promenade. While a statement released by
CSM said the developer envisioned a larger, mixed-use development on the site, nothing is set in stone at this point, said spokesperson Joel Carver. “I would say we have a number of ideas, but prior to meeting with the city we can’t really say what those are,” he said. “We are looking to the city of Eagan as a true partner in this.” The property has long been zoned for research and development, said City Administrator Tom Hedges, so any use outside of that would require the city to approve a zoning change. CSM is also considering retaining portions of the site’s 623,000 square-foot building for a potential data center. The city is currently looking to bring a large data center/colocation facility to Eagan, and in fact just approved a feasibility study to determine how and where such a hub can be built. But it hasn’t yet had any discussions with CMS about a data center, Hedges
said. City officials hope to meet with CSM representatives over the next several weeks. “We’re looking forward to meeting with them to see what their ideas for the area would be, and from there we can assess the impact,” said Eagan’s Community Development Director Jon Hohenstein. CSM said it will submit applications to the city later this summer once concept plans for the project are more complete. Lockheed Martin announced in November it will close its Eagan facility by 2013, resulting in about 250 layoffs and 750 job transfers to other facilities throughout the country, including facilities in Owego, N.Y., Manassas, Va., and San Diego. The move is expected to save the company $150 million over the next 10 years. Erin Johnson is at eagan.thisweek@ ecm-inc.com.
Photo by Erin Johnson
Its legal recourse over, U-Haul will now negotiate with the city over a purchase price for its property in the Cedar Grove redevelopment area.
Court won’t hear Eagan eminent domain case U-Haul was last remaining Cedar Grove business to fight city over taking of property by Erin Johnson THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
The Minnesota Supreme Court will not hear an appeal by the last remaining Cedar Grove property owner fighting Eagan’s use of eminent domain. U-Haul was the last business standing in a lawsuit brought by three property owners in 2007 over the taking of their land for a planned ur-
ban village. The other two businesses, Larson Automotive and Competition Engines, reached settlement agreements after the state appeals court sided with the city in December. Now the city and U-Haul will go back to district court to work out the valuation of the property, according to the city. This brings to an end a See Eminent Domain, 15A
Burnsville High School’s Envision Academy will close by Jessica Harper THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
After only two years, Envision Academy at the Burnsville Performing Arts Center will close at the end of the school year due to lagging enrollment. “It’s disappointing, especially for the students involved,” said Dave Helke, principal of Burnsville High School. “It was a great program.” The Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District had hoped the magnet program would draw nearly 100 students, but only 40 enrolled this year. That is 26 fewer students than the previous year. The program was projected to have only 38 students next school year, Helke said. The academy was one of several magnet programs launched in 2009 as part of a state-mandated plan to reduce racial imbalances between the Burnsville-EaganSavage district and the nearby Lakeville school district, which was 25 percent less diverse than District 191. The idea of magnet schools is to create a more integrated education experience by, for example, attracting white students from Lakeville and students of
Photo by Jessica Harper
Burnsville High School’s Envision Academy will close at the end of the school year as a result of declining enrollment. The arts magnet program is based at the Burnsville Performing Arts Center in the Heart of the City. color from Burnsville to Envision Academy. The program enables students to take music, dance and theater classes at the Performing Arts Center in Burnsville and all other courses at Burnsville High School.
By studying at the PAC, students are given an opportunity to work with professionals and arts groups such as the James Sewell Ballet. The district pays $135,000 to lease space at the PAC, and $90,000, which is reimbursed by
A front seat to history Eagan resident celebrates 100 years of a remarkable life by Erin Johnson
TV remodeling couple hated their kitchen, but that’s about to end THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
Photo by Erin Johnson $
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the state, to transport students to and from the academy. Staffing Envision costs $170,000 more each year – which is covered by state and local funding – than it would if students attended Burnsville High School E-mail Jessica Harper jessica.harper@ecm-inc.com full time.
Logarto Lane couple making the most of their cut-price, flipper-stripped dream home
THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
She has lived through seven wars, 17 presidents, the Great Depression and the Great Recession, Pearl Harbor and Sept. 11. Carole Newman has seen a lot in her lifetime, which as of April 10 has spanned an entire century. But she had a front seat to history on Nov. 22, 1963, when she was part of President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade the day he was shot and killed. “I was six cars back,” she said. Newman said she was with a group that was picked for security to surround the president. See 100 Years, 16A
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All four instructors at the academy will be let go at the end of the school year, Helke said. Helke said he is unsure why the program lacked sufficient interest. “I don’t know if it was the wrong design, or not the right time ... or if our marketing didn’t get the right niche,” he said. “It’s hard to pinpoint it down.” While designing the program, some School Board members suggested that it would attract more students if the academy were a permanent fixture in the Heart of the City, with students attending arts classes at the PAC and academic classes in leased commercial space nearby. Although students will no longer be able to take classes at the PAC, music and arts programs are abundant at Burnsville High School, Helke said. “We are still committed to supporting and developing quality programming here at the high school in music and theater, and plan to do a lot more in media arts with our TV studio,” he said.
Carole Newman shows off one of her many paintings, a hobby she continues to indulge in after turning 100 years old last week.
The only thing left in the kitchen of Eric and Amber Cameron’s stripped-down new home was some limegreen backsplash tile. They had to install a sink to prove to the mortgage company that the home had a functioning kitchen. The home’s previous owner – a “flipper” caught in a market gone bust – had even removed the furnace, the wet bar downstairs and the house numbers. “We kind of wanted a fixer-upper,” Amber said. “This was a little bit more than we had planned on.” But the price! The Camerons paid $197,000 for 3,800 square feet of house on Logarto Lane, a scenic Burnsville address south of Crystal Lake. And they’re putting the place back together again, with help from the DIY Network and its “I Hate My Kitchen” show. Eric answered a press
Photo by John Gessner
Eric and Amber Cameron inspect their work-in-progress: a new kitchen that’s being featured on the DIY Network’s “I Hate My Kitchen” show. Taping for the show was scheduled to conclude on April 20. release from the network seeking applicants for its how-to shows. “We hated our kitchen the most,” said Eric, who sent the network photos of the couple and their kitchen, along with two paragraphs on why they hate it. Now the Camerons are finishing taping for a show that is expected to air sometime in the last three months of the year. They’re appearing with James Young, a Minneap-
olis contractor and the star of “I Hate My Kitchen.” The DIY Network, which is available in 53 million homes, is providing more than innovative ideas. Donations through the show will cover about $7,000 of the project’s $18,000 budget, Amber said. The show is part of the adventure the Camerons, both 27, embarked on when they bought the See Kitchen, 16A