Semaglutide for Weight Loss in Saint Louis Park, MN

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A shuttered Sam’s Club store in the west metro is now reopening as the headquarters of a large Minnesota technology company.

The Sam’s Club closed back in January of 2018 and sat vacant for years, according to a spokesperson with the city of St. Louis Park.

Loffler Companies purchased the 150,000 square foot building in 2021 to transform it into a modern office space.

“There was nothing in it at all. There were a few dead birds that had flown in the building,” said Jim Loffler, founder and CEO of Loffler Companies. “But we looked at it and said, ‘How great could this be?'”

Loffler Companies, which started in a one-room office in St. Louis Park back in 1986, has now grown to 14 locations in five states, providing technology services such as copiers, printers, phone systems and cybersecurity.

“When we saw this we just thought, this is going to be a great home for us to continue to grow this business,” Jim Loffler said. “It really took a lot of imagination but we saw what it could be.”

The site underwent a massive transformation both inside and out over the course of two years.

“We added a second story and an elevator,” explained Danielle Loffler, who is in corporate real estate. “We have offices, conference rooms, focus rooms and indoor pergolas. We also added large windows to bring in natural light.”

In addition to office and desk space for 350 workers, the renovation included adding luxury amenities, such as a coffee bar, indoor golf simulator and gym.

“It’s been a great opportunity to build a space that’s collaborative, exciting and kind of new age that has a lot of perks that the next generation’s looking for in a workplace,” said James Loffler, company president.

Loffler said the only recognizable elements of the old Sam’s Club are the 160 skylights in the ceiling and the flooring, which has been polished but still shows permanent tire marks in the area of the former store’s auto shop.

“There was a good chance this building was going to be torn down. By us being able to repurpose the space, it saved all of this material from going into a landfill, so the environmental story here is significant,” Danielle Loffler said.

The City of St. Louis Park provided 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS with a statement on the redevelopment that reads, in part:

“Loffler’s new headquarters fit perfectly with the city’s vision for this property, transforming a vacant big box store into a technology and employment hub. Loffler’s investment in the property and repurposed building represents more than $10.5 million in taxable market value. The city looks forward to Loffler’s future in the community and is excited to see continued growth and expansion. The city also looks forward to working cooperatively with company leadership on any future creative ideas for the site, including possibly housing.”

Loffler Companies also intends to lease an additional 15,000 square feet within the site and is currently looking for a renter.

The reopening of the vacant building comes at a time when other large retail locations across the metro are shuttering, including the Aldi in north Minneapolis and Walmart in Brooklyn Center, which is slated to close its doors this week

Of the 592 free-standing big box stores in the metro, 17 are currently empty, including former Target and Sears stores, according to the Minnesota Commercial Association of Real Estate Exchange. Eight of those locations are not being marketed because they are leased for Amazon Fresh but are not currently being used.

Meanwhile, other vacant big box stores in the metro have seen innovative rebirths.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS was at the grand opening of the new Asia Mall in Eden Prairie back in November, which is housed in a former Gander Mountain store.

Vacant Menard’s and K-Mart stores in Apple Valley and Anoka have been transformed into locations for Eagle Brook Church.

And the old Herberger’s department store in Roseville will soon reopen as a Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Loffler said he is glad he took the risk on the empty Sam’s Club site.

“It comes to a time in a business that you have to take a step forward and kind of gulp a little bit because scary, but it’s always served me well to do that,” Jim Loffler said.

ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. -- They're as close competitors as you can get - twin brothers. Marley and Micah Curtis both have a big hoop dream and they had to work hard to keep their head in the game.

"Those were good days. Life was very simple. We were actually more of baseball guys I think. We were really focused on baseball back in the day," Marley Curtis said.

That changed after they grew four inches in one summer, they say.

But basketball didn't always like them.

"We actually got cut our first year, but the next year we came back and we really enjoyed it, playing for the team," Marley Curtis said.

Eventually, they changed and it changed, blossoming into prospects with high-end potential and high-end goals.

MORE NEWS: St. Paul Saints honor Billy Williams, one of Minnesota's most impactful Black baseball players

"I really want to go Division I, but NBA, G League, overseas - it really doesn't matter to me. I just want to say that I play professional basketball," Marley Curtis said.

But this is not a fairy tale of happily ever after. Their lives have been filled with challenges that most do not face.

"Times have not been easy at all. And I've always been with my brother this whole time. We talk through things. We go play basketball, get our mind off things," Marley Curtis said. "Everything we do is for each other's benefit. Its helped me so much. I really don't think I would need anybody else except for him."

And this is about leaning on each other - because sometimes that's all they had.

"He's always someone I can go to no matter what. We can talk about anything. There isn't anything we don't share with each other. We can always talk to each other," Micah Curtis said. "Feels great having someone you can just release everything about 'life's been hard,' and you just always have someone to play with."

In the middle of it has been basketball - this has become their refuge - without self-pity, but with reality.

"You can have hope along the way but in the end of the day, it's how much we want it, how much we want to succeed and make it in life because life isn't gonna wait for us," Micah Curtis said.

They are each other's best friends and best competition.

They are part of an AAU circuit - a program that demands discipline, something they are keenly aware they need.

"It means a lot, playing with a lot of people who know how to win and know what it takes to win. It's really making me better," Marley Curtis said. "The people around me just are very competitive."

The two boys want to maintain their unbreakable bond that started before they were even aware and have learned the hard lessons of life.

"In reality, nobody really cares as much as you think they do. You've just got to keep excelling at what you're doing," Marley Curtis said.

Because of basketball, that bond is bigger - it's a brotherhood.

Mike Max

Mike Max is sports director at WCCO-TV. Mike returned to WCCO-TV as a sports reporter and anchor in April 2005, having joined WCCO Radio in 1998.

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A New York-based real estate company has paid $14.26 million for the 42-year-old Menorah Plaza apartment building, an affordable senior high-rise in St. Louis Park.

Capital Realty Group acquired the 155-unit building at 4925 Minnetonka Blvd. from an entity related to Sholom, a St. Louis Park-based provider of senior homes and services, according to a certificate of real estate value made public Thursday.

The sale price breaks down to $91,987 per unit. The property’s estimated market value is $18.26 million, according to Hennepin County records.

The average sales price per unit for apartments in the Twin Cities is $152,147, according to the Finance & Commerce’s Apartment Sales Tracker, which has recorded the sale of 78,891 apartment units since August 2011.

Barbara Klick, CEO of Sholom, said Thursday that the new owner will handle leasing for the property, but Sholom will continue to provide services.

“The very good news is the mission remains the same and we’ll continue to take care of our same tenants,” Klick said, adding that some building renovations could come along with the ownership change.

“We know that it needs some window replacements, maybe some roof repairs. I also think they’d just like to refresh the building,” Klick said.

Finance & Commerce reached out to Capital Realty Group for comment.

Capital Realty Group’s website notes that the company focuses on “all aspects of the affordable housing arena” and has “deep expertise in the acquisition, development and management of affordable housing communities.”

The company says it owns and operates more than 16,400 housing units in 27 states, but Menorah Plaza is the only Minnesota property currently listed on its website.

The Menorah Plaza transaction comes at a slow time for apartment sales.

So far this year, Minnesota has seen 136 such sales, with only 14 deals over $5 million, according to a Finance & Commerce search of Minnesota Department of Revenue records. That’s down from 215 sales overall, including 32 in excess of $5 million, at this time last year.

Built in 1981, Menorah Plaza offers 143 HUD-supported one- and two-bedroom apartments and 12 memory care units, according to Sholom’s website.

A marketing brochure notes that the property offers a controlled entry, 24-hour emergency call system, a community room and meeting area, outdoor patio, walking paths, mini store, beauty/barber salon and other amenities.

Located just off Minnetonka Boulevard between Raleigh Avenue on the west and Ottawa Avenue on the east, Menorah is close to St. Louis Park City Hall, Carpenter Park, retail attractions and public transportation.

Menorah Plaza is also about a mile and a half from Via Sol North, a relatively new building with 217 income-restricted apartments. Via Sol North, at 5855 Highway 7 in St. Louis Park, was completed in July 2022.

A year ago, dozens of St. Louis Park residents woke up to sludge spewing from basement drains and toilets as over a million gallons of water, dirt and sewage rushed into more than 50 homes, flooding basements with more than two feet of muck. Two weeks later, another water main break nearby flooded some of the same homes again.

The basements are dry and mostly repaired, but officials in St. Louis Park and other suburban cities are growing more concerned about their water mains and sewers coming of age all at once — and what it will cost to keep up with repairs. In Excelsior, residents are paying higher property taxes after a series of water main breaks in 2020. In Bloomington, they're seeing water and sewer rate hikes so the city can keep up with repairs.

"We may be the canary in the coal mine for first-tier suburban communities," St. Louis Park Mayor Jake Spano said.

The Twin Cities' inner-ring suburbs boomed in the years just after World War II, with many cities built in a single spurt of development. More than 60% of St. Louis Park's houses were built between the late 1940s and early 1950s, and nearly all the water and sewer infrastructure was in the ground by 1960.

The infrastructure worked well for decades. But as those water mains and sewer lines get older, cities are going to have to do more to monitor and maintain them — which will mean spending more.

"For a long time in newer communities, suburbs, the infrastructure was essentially brand new," said Scott Anderson, utilities superintendent in Bloomington. "A lot of that infrastructure is tending to age out all at once, or in big pieces."

Older, larger cities aren't immune. Duluth, which saw most of its water and sewer infrastructure installed in the 1930s and early 1940s as part of the Works Progress Administration, has been dealing with water main trouble in recent years.

The May 21, 2022, water main break in St. Louis Park was the result of soil around the cast-iron pipes corroding a series of holes in the main, which was installed under Minnetonka Boulevard in 1956. An investigation by an outside firm found water from the holes broke into a nearby sewer line, pushing 1.1 million gallons of muck into homes. Replacing the broken section of pipe put pressure on a nearby section of water main, which cracked in early June and sent more water rushing into basements.

Julie North's basement was one of those that flooded. A year later, repairs are almost done, and the rooms have been re-furnished with a couch, chair and TV stand from Facebook Marketplace and local Buy Nothing groups.

"We're happy we're getting back to a livable state," North said, though the garage is still jammed with stuff she fished out of the basement last year. She had retired in 2021, but said she went back to work teaching in part to help cover the repair bills.

Neighbor Linda Lovejoy is almost done fixing her basement too, but she can't replace 50 years' worth of photo albums she had stored there. The soaked albums are still in her garage, she said. "I don't know what to do with them!"

To help make repairs, the city authorized spending $4 million for resident relief, and has distributed more than $830,000 so far, Spano said. The relief program is set to end Aug. 1.

North and Lovejoy said they felt the city came through for homeowners, especially because many of their homeowners' insurance policies did not cover damage from water that flowed in from outside their homes.

Lovejoy said she's worried about other neighborhoods in St. Louis Park.

"Who's going to be next?" she asked. "We have old infrastructure!"

St. Louis Park has 160 miles of water main, almost all made from cast iron meant to last 100 years — similar to many other suburbs its age.

Some may last longer, but some may corrode earlier, and the city is trying to get ahead of possible damage. St. Louis Park is seeking money from the 2021 federal infrastructure bill to help repair more water infrastructure, Spano said, and has begun to incorporate water main maintenance and replacement as part of its regular street repair work. The city also has purchased a $400,000 machine that can scan the walls of water mains for weakness.

Spano said the water main breaks have hammered home the importance of road, water and sewer systems, the "drink-drive-flush" core functions of local government.

"If we don't get these core services right, none of the rest of it will matter," he said.

The cost of maintaining that infrastructure could influence the city's spending priorities going forward, Spano said. The city might work to cut costs in other areas, and raise revenue with either grants or increased property taxes in years to come.

Spano said seeing the damage from last spring has made infrastructure feel more urgent, and more personal.

"I hope this changes the discussion around priorities," he said. "When you have stood in someone's basement and seen baby blankets and photo albums soaking wet and piled on the ground, it changes your perspective."

Green + The Grain, a lunchtime staple in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul, is planting roots in the suburbs for the first time this spring.

The local fast-casual salad chain recently signed a lease for a nearly 3,000-square-foot space on the ground floor of the 10 West End office building, located at 1601 Utica Ave. S. in St. Louis Park, according to a Monday announcement from JLL, which was just awarded exclusive leasing rights for the 11-story tower.

The move marks Green + The Grain's seventh location and first outside of Minneapolis or St. Paul. Founder and co-owner Tiffany Hauser is currently targeting a mid- to late-March soft launch.

In general, the quick-serve salad space is quite crowded in the Twin Cities, particularly beyond the downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul cores. Green + The Grain's business model has always focused on daytime, weekday service, with most of its sales driven by office workers in the two central business districts.

At 10 West End, Green + The Grain can continue capturing the corporate crowd, while also taking advantage of the area's residential and retail density. Because of that, the newest location could extend its hours into the evenings and weekends.

"Once we open and get ourselves kind of established over there, we'll be able to figure out how that looks and feels, because this is kind of all new to us," Hauser said. She sees 10 West End as a good opportunity to grow Green + the Grain into an area that's less reliant on office workers without going too far from its comfort zone.

There isn't much saturation around the West End district — Roti, Panera and D. Brian's are the nearest fast-casual restaurants with salads on their menus. However, competition is growing:

Green + The Grain got its start as a food truck in 2014. Since then, it's grown to six locations: U.S. Bank Plaza, Baker Center, LaSalle Plaza and Forum 900, all in downtown Minneapolis, Wells Fargo Place in downtown St. Paul, and the Great Northern Building in Lowertown.

Green + The Grain also delivers its salads and wraps to office buildings and residential neighborhoods throughout the Twin Cities through its mobile eatery and catering programs. Those additional revenue streams have helped offset the days when sales are slower in the skyways.

At least in the near term, Green + The Grain doesn't plan to branch further into the suburbs with additional locations.

"Right now, our intention is not to continue down this suburban path," Hauser said. "This was an opportunity in front of us, and we were ready for the challenge. It's a suburban location but still kind of satisfies that downtown office model."