http://m.startribune.com/minneapolis-will-buy-out-kmart-lease-reopen-nicollet/568526262/
21 replies (most recent on top)
They discuss it in this podcast:
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2020/3/13/minneapolis-kmart
Nice discussion here:
http://www.citypages.com/news/maybe-minneapolis-shouldnt-reopen-nicollet-at-the-kmart-site/568625611
If they are not closing til June 30th, they will be closing with the rest of the kmarts. I don't see how we can still be in business by mid year.
So, even Wikipedia is considering this MN store as closing. I am tempted to remove it from the list/map, but I think I will wait until the city council votes on it on Fri., May 13, and then if it's approved, I will remove it. I just hate to have to remove it, and then put it back on, in case the city rejects it or something. But as soon as the ink is dry, and everything is official, I will update my master list of remaining Kmarts. That all being Said, I'm cautiously optimistic that they can finalize this and work to begin opening up that Nicollet Avenue intersection. There's Talk of bringing streetcars back there, which would be awesome.
Here's Wiki on that road: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicollet_Avenue
Even if Kmart (Transformco) goes into Chapter 7 bankruptcy, that lease is an asset that can be sold to someone else (for instance, Target or Walmart) who could re-occupy the store and frustrate the city's aim to reopen the street. The city did the smart thing here.
What a waste of tax payer dollars. The City just needs to wait a little longer. Kmart will be out of business soon enough
Not sure if ol' Edward has some kind of fetish for North Dakota or something, but this article shows that store's lease ended in Nov. 9, 2019. I thought that would be a no-brainer to get rid of, but stubbornly, it remains. ND is by far, the smallest state left that has a Kmart, with Montana the second-smallest state with a Kmart.
Who Knows what his fetish for those locations are, especially being they are so isolated from other stores?
Here:
https://www.minotdailynews.com/news/local-news/2019/11/minot-kmart-for-lease/
@1ety+13PuamcP Because I like symmetry. Those oddballs stand out on the map like a sore thumb. If we can finally bang out those random onesies, then we can later focus our removal efforts to the states with multiple stores with pin precision, and finally be rid of them all.
Sort of when I am spraying weeds in the yard, I get the random, scattered ones first, then I get to the area where most of them are and really hit it hard with Roundup or whatever. Similarly, this map of remaining stores will finally get cleaned up. Good work!
Anyone who says they know for certain which stores are closing next is full of sh–.
Why would anyone care if the states with one Kmart close next ?
Well, according to this it still needs to be voted on by the city on March 9, then March 13. So it's not yet official, unless that vote is just a formality or something. I'm not from MN, so I'm not familiar with how their local politics works, exactly:
https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/city-of-minneapolis-aims-to-tear-down-last-kmart-in-minnesota
@1qtz+13PuamcP No need to be mad. It's true. :)
Wow, to be honest, among the states with only w Kmart left, I thought that Minneapolis MN, & Des Plaines IL would be the most stubborn and hardest to get rid of, because of the lease of the former, and the location near HQ of the latter. But this is so awesome we were able to bounce these two! If they can seriously get Mineapolis out of there, I am almost certain that MT and ND will fall next. Beautiful! Thanks for sharing this, you made me very happy!
This is the store that Minneapolis has been trying to get rid of for years, because 40 years ago some id–ts let them plunk down that store night in the middle of Nicollet Ave.
I keep wondering what's going to happen to the KMart on Guam. There aren't a lot of shopping choices on Guam, so it seems to me like someone would want to buy that KMart and reopen it under a new name.
@1sfl+13PuamcP you really need a life dude! Boom!!! Bang out a life or a hobby.
@axh+13PuamcP Be patient my son, it will come. This is great!
@dim+13PuamcP I am with u buddy! I hope they bang out Minot ND, Marshall MI, Hyannis MA, Lebanon NH, Hamilton MT, etc. first. Those are states with 1 store each. As for MN, this sounds promising, but apparently they still have to vote on it Next Week? So do you think I should count it now, or wait until then? Sounds like it's 98% certain but maybe I should wait until the city makes it official? Here is where I saw that:
https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2020/03/05/minneapolis-reaches-deal-to-close-lake-street-kmart/
(in case you can't read it because of paywall)
Kmart in Minneapolis is closing "by June 30". The city bought out the lease for $9.1 million, after three years ago buying the land under it for $8 million. The lease would have run through 2053.
This is at least the third Kmart i know of that is closing because the property owner bought out the lease early. Others are Assembly Square in Somerville MA, and Penn Plaza in NYC.
Eddie is sure a master negotiator! $9.1 million out of the dead!
Come on Sears Palmdale, Ca 1068, close that piece of SH-T store down already!!!
Hallelujah! First Des Plaines, now Minneapolis, the dominoes are falling down quickly as we move closer to that inevitable Chapter 7!!