Relationships Redeem a Vision
 This suburb located south of Minneapolis was beginning to see large tracts of new homes on its southern border and was looking for developers to create new grocery-anchored centers with service retail to serve those new residents. |
Challenge
A small, private developer worked for a number of years to assemble enough parcels of land to facilitate the development of a 15-acre site for a grocery-anchored center in a growing community.
However, even after securing control of this difficult site, the developer could not come to terms with either a grocer or the city planners within a reasonable time and was in danger of losing the entire project.
Strategy
United Properties was initially asked only to step in with funding to allow the developer to continue work on the site. After fulfilling that request, the developer was offered the expertise and flexibility of the Midwest Retail team to turn the project around. We conducted primary research analysis and leveraged our strong relationships with the two-targeted grocers to prove the market potential and secure the critical commitment necessary to gain approval from the city.
Results
The project was approved by the city pursuant to United Properties’ involvement. The parcels of land were assembled and re-zoned according to the original plan. The center is currently under construction and expected to open in early 2005.
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