Lyndon opened the meeting with a trumpet rendition of the intro used to start horse races! And he also performed a beautiful “Closer Walk With Thee” for the Inspiration. Thank you, Lyndon!Future Meetings:
- August 15–Darin Mastroianni from the Minnesota Twins Community Fund will speak.
- August 29–Speaker will be Don Anderson, the Founder/Owner/Head Brewer of Fat Pants Brewing.
- September 5–No meeting due to the Labor Day holiday.
- Contact Lyndon Moquist with any program ideas.
Announcements:
- People’s Patchwork Garden needs watering help on August 1 and August 4-6. You can sign up online. See Lori Thrune’s emails. The garden has already provided PROP with a great deal of fresh produce to distribute–with more to come!
- The Northside Ramble is August 5 from 1:00–5:00 pm. Cost $30. The Ramble is a bike ride to visit breweries (with free beer and nonalcoholic drinks), meet new people, and learn the history of North Minneapolis. You can also choose to drive the route. Irene Kelly will send out another reminder email with more details.
- Mary and Dan O’Brien will be celebrating 50 years of marriage with an open house on August 13 from Noon–3:00 pm at Staring Lake Park Building. Please join Dan and Mary in celebrating this special milestone!
- There will be a Garden Party social gathering at Jan Eian’s house on August 17 from 5:00–7:00 pm. Come and enjoy spending time with your fellow Rotarian friends! Sign up on Blake Cadwallader’s email.
- “Pack the Park” for Feed My Starving Children is August 23. You can sign up to attend with other EPAM Rotary members or go at another time that works for you. Family and friends are welcome too. See Blake’s emails for details and to sign up. This has been a very fun event in the past!
- “Rotary Community Core at Lake Street” and 12 other honorees were each awarded $5000 from the “Here in Minneapolis” campaign. Irene Kelly and Tim Conners are involved with this Rotary program to strengthen the businesses on Lake Street. The award will go to support these businesses.
- Jan Eian was awarded a plaque in honor of her recent past presidency role with EPAM Rotary.
Happy Fives:
- Josh Swanson was happy that he was recently able to take his longest vacation in 17 years–three weeks. He enjoyed time with his family in Colorado. Also, Josh was happy with the “People Fest” kick off this past Sunday. In addition, Josh expressed appreciation to Fat Pants for paying off the lunch debt at Eden Prairie schools
- Bob Starr said that his daughter will be spending two years in Zurich. He is sad that his daughter will be living far away, but he’s happy for her and her new adventure.
- Aaron Casper was happy about his upcoming 25th wedding anniversary. He and his wife will be going to Sedona to celebrate.
- Jen Loon is happy about the neighborhood “Nite to Unite” event this evening. Last year, PROP received 9000 pounds of food from donations at this event.
- Jan Eian said that her birthday was in July. To celebrate, she enjoyed a trip with family to Prince Edward Island.
- Dan O’Brien is happy for 50 years of marriage with his wife, Mary. Their wedding anniversary is August 4.
Vocational:
Pastor Rod Anderson gave the vocational stating that his life currently revolves around being with/supporting his wife while she undergoes care for skin cancer at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Pastor Rod and his wife have been staying at the Schulze Hope Lodge while his wife receives proton therapy at Mayo. The treatments will hopefully be completed this Friday.Speaker:
Our speaker for the meeting was David Lindahl, Economic Development Manager for the City of Eden Prairie.Dave outlined the following new developments in Eden Prairie:
- One of the old Burger King properties sold for $5 million. There will be a car wash on this site. There were stipulations with the sale that no food could be sold on the site.
- Ellie Apartments
- Smith Village
- Sheldon Place Townhomes Development–will be six units.
- City Ground Water Reservoir Project–completed except for a water tower.
- The former Jakes Restaurant will be home to the new Flying Cloud Pet Hospital and a Krispy Kreme.
- Chestnut Townhomes.
- Parpavel Apartments.
- Flying Cloud Commons. Lakewinds is no longer planning to move to this site. Amazon purchased this site but will not be using the space for Amazon use–will be leasing it out.
- Mister Car Wash will be moving onto another former Burger King site. Construction may start in the fall.
- Asian Mall is doing well. Parking problems there seem to be resolving.
- Lifetouch/Shutterfly site. Half of this building is now torn down.
- Winter Park Development. Discussions are underway with the Vikings for possible apartments and commercial use of this site.
- Greco-Bluestrom North Apartments. Projected to be 425 units. Breaking ground soon.
- Crosstown Core Industrial Building.
Dave also talked about high profile office vacancies in Eden Prairie due to COVID and its aftermath. The vacant buildings are either on the market or are being subleased.
Dave discussed the Development Fund/Infrastructure Properties including the Golden Triangle Station Trail connection and the West 70th Street (East) Extension. The Green Line Light Rail Extension should be completed in 2027, although Eden Prairie’s portion of this should be completed later this year. The stations in Eden Prairie are essentially done.