Photo by: White Bear Lake Area Schools
No more waiting for improvements to be made at the White Bear Lake Area School District though. The $ 226 million renovation and addition to the White Bear Lake Area High School’ s former North Campus is now complete. Finally, all 9th through 12th graders are in the same building. The former South Campus now houses Mariner Middle School.
SHOREVIEW
A number of projects are also underway in the City of Shoreview.“ We’ ve had another extremely busy year. In fact, we set a new record for building construction valuation with almost $ 120 million,” said Tom Simonson, Assistant City Manager and Community Development Director for the City of Shoreview
The former Deluxe Corporation headquarters, which is located at the southeast corner of Victoria and 694, is in the process of being redeveloped into“ Seven Lakes.”
Deluxe Corporation abandoned its Shoreview headquarters in 2020, when it moved its corporate headquarters to Downtown Minneapolis. After the pandemic, the company relocated its business and finance divisions to Atlanta, Georgia.
“ Scannell Properties went in and tore down the outdated corporate office buildings that Deluxe had. They now have three large-scale building projects going on that are going to bring well over a thousand employees to Shoreview, so we are excited about that,” said Simonson.
The three buildings, when finished, will offer almost 500,000 square feet of high tech and manufacturing space. Carlisle Fluid Technologies will lease the majority of one of the buildings when the company moves into the space in Spring 2025.
Fairview Health Services will fully occupy a 150,000 square foot building that will serve as the headquarters for its pharmaceutical operations. This venture will bring 650 new jobs to Shoreview with the potential for growth that will bring up to 200 more.
The third building will house PAR Systems’ new 140,000 square foot stateof-the-art facility as part of an expansion of its operations in Shoreview. The company has been in Shoreview since 1961, and is world renowned for its automated technology and robotics.
“ We’ re excited that we actually have put together a business campus with so many good jobs. This is right across the street from Island Lake Park and other amenities,” said Simonson, who added there is one additional phase of development left to do on the Seven Lakes site that will either be a multifamily project or more business space.
Another big project in Shoreview, the transformation of the former Shoreview Corporate Center, just wrapped up. A 160,000 square foot office building, which is off Lexington and just north of 694, has been completely renovated into modern corporate office space.
The office portion of the property has been renamed The Lex at 4100.“ The new owners completely gutted the interior and modernized it to meet today’ s standards; and the building is now 100 percent leased. There is a technology company in there, along with several financial firms. We’ re really excited about how that transformed,” said Simonson.
In addition to The Lex at 4100, an old tech building originally built by Deluxe Corporation has been torn down and replaced with a new 200-unit apartment building called the Aloma. It is the third apartment building to go up on the site. The others are the Loden SV and Emrik SV apartments. Altogether, the project has brought 612 new apartments to the city, including 44 affordable units for people with lower incomes.
There are also some more residential projects in the works. Construction is now underway on“ Gramsie Junction,” which when finished will offer 53 apartments and 21 row-style townhomes at the corner of Hodgson and Gramsie Roads.
“ Shoreview Villas” at 580 Highway 96 is a redevelopment of the old St. Paul Union Gospel Mission property on Snail Lake. It will include 14 high-end detached villa homes and eight single family executive lakefront homes.
Plus, a project has been approved to turn“ Rice Street Crossing,” an 11-acre city owned piece of property at Rice Street and 694, into a mixed use development.
Enclave Companies will be building a 293-unit apartment building that will include eight live-work units on the first floor and 20 percent of the units( 59 apartments) will be dedicated for people living at 50 percent of the area’ s median income. The development will also feature a 5,200 square foot area for a restaurant or retail space.
“ It’ s the most deeply affordable project the city has been involved with, which
18 Northeast Metro Business