The actually have a good search engine that pulls in a bunch of data based on certain criteria that tries to put together the best neighborhood in the Twin Cities metro area and that neighborhood just happens to be Lake Shore Park in White Bear Lake located on the south east tip of the lake.

Per Neighborhood Scout the area has a median home price of $252,175 in regards to the premium homes in the metro area of $547,499 which comes out to a discount of 54%.

The metholodogy used:

Undervalued neighborhoods / towns are areas that combine educated neighbors (a powerful indicator of overall neighborhood quality), safety from crime, excellent public schools, and a high proportion of larger, owner-occupied single-family detached homes, in the price range you want, and in the location and setting you choose. Homes in these areas are generally great deals and much less than they are really worth.

Be aware that the data is not used from zip codes but areas, so the information might be a little misleading if looked at from a different perspective.

flickr photo cred of White Bear Lake: Pirate Johnny

Of course this is just my opinion…

The TractorWorks building located at 800 Washington Ave in the Warehouse District is one of the best redevelopment projects that I have ever seen. It is definitely one of the premier buildings in Minneapolis for creative office space and there isn’ much square feet left.

To understand its prescence first look at the past. The building used to be home to Deere & Webber Co (Deere being John Deere Tractor factory) and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The redesign of the building fits that entrepreneurs and start ups, contemporary but not leaving the historic past. The hallways are wide, the flooring is concrete that stands out from the creative lighting that hangs from open timber ceilings. Many of the fixtures are oxidized steel and the doors are frosted.

TractorWorks Amenities

• Secured, covered, connected parking ramp
• Visitor parking (metered
• 16′ Windows with views
• Onsite Management
• Rooftop Deck overlooking Downtown Minneapolis
• Fitness facility on site: North Loop Fitness
• Two world class eateries: Be’Wiched and Bar Lagrassa
• You can bike to work and store it

North Loop Neighborhood

The Warehouse District has exploded in growth the past decade, but has seen its share of declines as well. The North Loop’s current revival started with Minneapolis condos and now with old warehouse buildings being converted into usable office or condominiums along Washington and the riverfront.

Fast forward to present time and Target Field is just a few baseball throws away and the Northstar Commuter Line will be bringing more people into the area.

Businesses and Tenants, no better place to start than here.

If you’re looking to lease office space in the TractorWorks building, reach out here.

Located in the endcap unit of Rosemount Village Center where Quizno’s used to be located, this store should do well here. Lots of traffic from County Road 42 and should pick up quite a bit of foot traffic from Cub Foods, Caribou Coffee and others in the area.

Click the image to enlarge

Source: Fixr

[h/t Agent Genius]

If you are looking for some retail space in Eagan, make sure to check out Town Center. It has gone through quite a transformation over the past few years. Has brought in some good anchor tenants and a Best Buy right down the street also helps with traffic.

Waterford Commons, the upscale apartments with light retail space on first floor in downtown Rosemount has it’s first tenants. I was driving by the other day and noticed a completed karate center along with a mortgage shop.

This isn’t what I was thinking would go here and I can’t be the only one.

I pictured this: an area to walk by on sidewalks, step into the stores/businesses and move along. Maybe grab a bite to eat at non-franchised restaurant (still hope on this one). It just seems there is going to be no foot traffic seeing what is going in the leased spaces.

Now don’t get me wrong here but I don’t think this is what most people had envisioned when the project first started about two years ago. I’m not sure if the landlord was getting restless not being able to find any tenants and just had to pull the trigger or jumped on the first breathing business owner that walked through the door.

Will have to see where this one goes and I hope it doesn’t bust because of the hassle eminent domain the city put on owners because it just had to redevelop the area.

I wish all tenants the best but this project looks wrong from the outside. Let’s hope that end-cap corner space has a solid anchor tenant.

Anyways, I marked out my favorites already and they are all on the upper bracket price range. John Kraemer & Sons has a listing in Credit River Township for $2.4 million in Cress View Estates (114 Parade #) and J.B. Woodfitter has another one in that neighborhood listed for $1.795 (115).

On The Level has a home in Eden Prairie in a neighborhood called the Woods at Riley Creek on the tour with a price tag of $1.769  million (179).  There is also a home in Wayzata in Locust Hills for $1.975 million (215) built by Keith Waters and Associates that looks to be a good one.

If your looking in Medina, Stonewood Builders has home for $2.895 million that is located in Willow Hill (225). It appears to be the most expensive home on the Spring tour, but I did realize it had a $5 tax-deductible admission, lame.

Hours and Dates

Parade Of Homes:

March 5-28 – Thursday through Sunday

Hours 12-6pm

Remodelers Showcase:

March 26-28

Hours 12-6pm

Some builders might have extended hours, check on the website or grab a book at Holiday Stationstore.

I’ll be the first to say, disappointed by the lack of architectural designed houses but nonetheless will still make an appearance.

Until the other day I was driving by and realized they where putting some studs up and dividing up the some 7,000 plus square feet.

Currently the website doesn’t have anything listed as a possible tenant(s).

The end unit with the rounded corner appears to be some sort of restaurant but there is nothing on the outside of the building for advertising. The other end-unit has a VA loan banner on the front window.

There is definitely good street frontage and I’m surprised its stayed this vacant for so long after the luxury apartments are close to or already are fully 100% leased. On average 14,000 cars a day drive by Water Commons by way of South Robert Trail so the visibility is there day in day out.

The Other Redevelopment Area

There is also that other site in along South Robert Trail less than a block from Waterford Commons which is the former Genz Ryan building. Now that is a vacant eyesore. Now I’m all for redevelopment IF it makes sense. This would be one of them.

Last time I checked the purchase agreement that Kraus Anderson ran through April 30th of 2010 to get something done on it. There was plans but have since been nixed based on the current economic situation. Plans where for a senior living complex (since there are a few down the street in Evermoor that are struggling) and health clinic.

The city of applied for Met Council funds in the amount of $270k to demolish the building to make it more attractive for developers so they didn’t have to pay the money themselves. That has fallen through.

One of the biggest issues with the site is that it is so narrow. Someone would have to get creative with design and parking.

What’s Next

Hopefully the retail spaces in Waterford Commons has some long-term tenants that around for longer than a year like a lot of commercial real estate developments are seeing around the Twin Cities.

Then maybe it will sway the start of the other stalled redevelopment project.

I still can’t believe that it made it that long, which was around for 10 plus years.  I rarely saw any cars in the parking lot. Prime retail spot in where 27,500 cars cars drive by on a daily basis.

The building has now been remodeled to fit six tenants in which there is 14,500 square feet of retail space available. For being a bad market for vacant space in the commercial real estate arena, this building is 100% leased before it even is delivered.

The tenant that I’m looking forward to the most is Smashburger. I’ve been waiting for this franchise to open an a spot south of the river ever since coming into the Twin Cities market about a year ago, they have been mainly on the north end of the metro.

If you haven’t tried them before, compare them to a Five Guys or In-N-Out. Don’t place them high on the “healthy things to eat” list.

The New Tenants

• Smashburger
• Sports Haircuts
• Solo’s Pizza
• Verizon Wireless
• Pearle Vision
• Panda’s Express

Anyone could be called a good anchor tenant except for maybe Sports Haircuts and I’m a little surprised by the Panda Express, I thought those where relative to mainly malls but it landed the end-cap space in the building.

That’s one happy landlord/developer to land such quality tenants in such a short period of time.

From HUD.GOV:

“Vacant homes have a debilitating effect on neighborhoods and often lead to reduced property values, blight, and neighborhood decay,” said Donovan. “This additional $2 billion in Recovery Act funding will help stabilize hard hit communities by turning vacant homes into affordable housing opportunities. The Neighborhood Stabilization program is a key part of the Obama Administration’s comprehensive approach to address the national housing and economic crisis.”

There is a document on the website that lists where all the funds are being allocated, for your convenience I did it for you. Minneapolis is getting about $19 million and St. Paul will get about $18 million. Funds will be used to buy and rehab homes, purchasing vacant bank owned homes and provide assistance for financing home buyers.