A new proposal shows a small-scale Cub Foods supermarket anchoring the redevelopment of Blaine's Oak Park Plaza.
The property owners, Tri-Land Properties Inc., presented a $17 million redevelopment plan during a workshop with the City Council last month. Formal action by the council has not yet been scheduled.
The proposal called for renovating 36,000 square feet of property located at the intersection of 109th Avenue and University Avenue NE., and then building a 45,000-square-foot Cub Foods.
Currently, the main tenants at the 1960s-era shopping center include an Ace Hardware and a liquor store.
Oak Park Plaza is about 69 percent vacant, according to Tri-Land.
The area has been without a grocery store for about a decade, leaving many nearby residents to travel about 15 minutes to the nearest store in Coon Rapids. There are three "full-size" Cub Foods in Blaine.
"A grocery store would serve the area that right now doesn't have anything," said Bryan Schafer, planning and community development director for the city. "[The council] is doing our due diligence in reviewing the plan. The council wants to see the plaza redeveloped."
The property owners have been trying hard to land a grocery store to anchor the development after a Jubilee Foods left the center about 10 years ago. Tri-Land purchased the property a few months before the Jubilee Foods left and had hoped Rainbow Foods would relocate a store near Northtown Mall to the plaza, but that deal never materialized.
