The City’s smallest commercial corridor is changing, can you see it? Lyndale Avenue, from 49th to 43rd Avenues, the City’s North Gateway, is home to over 30 businesses, some new, some historic, and some are in transition like the emerging spring.
One of the first and largest alterations coming to Lyndale will be the demolition and transition of the long-time Camden Motel at 4651 Lyndale. [The Project for Pride in Living and Pillsbury United Communities’ successful eight-year joint program called “Fathers and their Children Together” needed a permanent location and saw the spot as a potential development site from the Lind Bohanon Neighborhood Association (LBNA) Lyndale Ave Gateway Redevelopment Roadmap.] This site will soon begin its transition, giving way to a new $6.5 million three-story brick building with landscaping improvements designed by renowned architect Ralph Rapson.
Traveling along the corridor, long-established Waldo’s Bar, 4601 Lyndale, has done some major sprucing up for spring with a new look inside and out. There are now more windows, kitchen improvements for enhanced service, and a remodeled bar that greets old and new customers with fresh appeal. And Hirschfield’s, 4450 Lyndale, is looking to add much needed additional warehouse storage space to their facility.
Watch for a new look for the Lyndale Gateway entrance at Traffic Technologies, 4754 Lyndale, and United Rental, 4700 Lyndale, as the fence and entrances get a long-overdue makeover. Using ideas outlined in the LBNA Lyndale Design Guideline book (which was produced with a Neighborhood Initiatives Project Grant) the owner is looking at adding new river rock pillars at the entrances (continuing the river-theme down the corridor) and installing fence improvements at the two sites.
Rainville Carlson, 4540 Lyndale, has added a new entry to its building and has attracted a new business neighbor to the corridor, Pleasant Lake Landscaping. Top Diner Restaurant, 4324 Lyndale, has reopened under new ownership and management. The new owners are also attracting other new and interesting businesses to fill their building corridor.
Nothing spruces up or connects a drab street than by adding color. This spring the LBNA through its Department of Natural Resources/TreeTrust “Leafing Lyndale” grant will help to add 30 new trees on Lyndale. The City of Minneapolis Park and Recreation Forestry Department and neighborhood volunteers are helping coordinate the effort.
Lyndale Avenue, the North Gateway to Minneapolis is changing! Watch for more developments springing up soon!