6 Eastman Avenue: What happened?
In 1980, before the Central Riverfront regional park was formed, the
Nicollet Island Inn began doing business on Nicollet Island. It appears
that the Inn needed more parking than was available in its adjacent lot
and so, obtained a long term lease on a lot 'across Hennepin' (must be 6
Eastman). See Letter to Nicollet Island Partners, re: Island Sash and
Door Bldg., from William Nordrum, Zoning Supervisor dated 17 Sept 1980.
Repository: Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. File Location:
Unknown.
In the mid-1980s, MPRB acquired 6 Eastman Avenue with state funds
provided through the Metropolitan Open Space Commission. In return, the
MPRB agreed to a covenant on the parcel that restricts its use to only
regional park purposes.
In 1999, the MPRB Board passed a resolution authorizing a trade of 6
Eastman for a parcel owned by DeLaSalle (the "hill lot" or "DeLaSalle
Drive lot"). See MPRB Resolution 99-112 Declaring an exchange of two
land parcels on Nicollet Island, located at West Island Avenue and East
Island Avenue and DeLaSalle Drive, passed 3 Mar 1999, signed by Mary
Merrill Anderson, Secretary of the Board. Approved 16 Mar 1999, signed
by Sharon Sayles Belton, Mayor. Repository: Minneapolis Park and
Recreation Board. File Location: Unknown.
There is no evidence that this land transfer took place. No deed was
filed with Hennepin County. The County records today show 6 Eastman is
owned by the MPRB and that owners of the Nicollet Island in have a lease
interest. I checked last year with the Met Council and it has no record
of the MPRB seeking to release the covenant at 6 Eastman. Another
researcher tried to find a record of the transfer in District Court
without success.
DeLaSalle incorporated 6 Eastman Avenue into its front parking lot - the
date is believed to be 1999. City Zoning is unable to locate a 1999
file for a site plan review or conditional use permit on that
construction. The next conditional permit sought by DeLaSalle was for
the 2002 gym expansion and athetic field upgrade. That file notes that
DeLaSalle was "deemed" to have a conditional use permit.
In 2005, the Nicollet Island Inn was sold and it's lease interest at 6
Eastman was transferred to the new owners. See Doc No 8551414 dated
3/28/2005 Recorded at Hennepin County, Minnesota. Assignment and
Assumption of Lease, Nicollet Island Inn, Minneapolis Minnesota. An
agreement by and between Islewest Associates LLP ("Assignor"), Island
Sash & Door Co, LLC ("Assignee"), and the City of Minneapolis, acting
by and through its Park and Recreation Board ("Landlord"). Signators
include: Jon C. Olson, President and Don Siggelkow, Secretary to the Board.
In 2007, in testimony before the Zoning and Planning Committee (several
meetings), I was one of several to highlight Nicollet Island parking
problems including 6 Eastman. The July 16, 2007 City Planning staff
report on the Athletic Facility CUP discussed 6 Eastman: "The south
side of this parking area encroaches on public land, but that land is
landscaped for more than 9 feet before Hennepin Ave begins and has
existing trees. Staff recommends granting alternative compliance for the
lack of landscaping on this side on the condition that an encroachment
permit by obtained to provide screening between Hennepin Ave and the
parking lot in the form of either a hedge, a fence, or both." The
issue was raised again in July before the Metropolitan Council Community
Development Committee. The MPRB was represented at all these meetings.
Metropolitan Council staff pledged to investigate the parking lots on
Nicollet Island for 6 Eastman is not the only problem. The MPRB owns
about 250 parking stalls in 5 areas on Nicollet Island - all regional
parkland. Only 10 of these stalls, those at the West Island Avenue lot,
are posted for public parking. The rest have been used as private
parking - including by DeLaSalle. School parking, athletic facility
parking, and private business parking are not regional park purposes.
My thanks to the three tenacious Park Watch volunteers who work really
hard to get data from the MPRB and who kindly share it. Copies of the
documents cited above available upon request.
FYI,
Shawne FitzGerald
Rest of post
Kurt Waltenbaugh wrote:
> In the interest of fairness, the Park Board response (posted with
> permission from Commissioner Nordstrom):
>
> From: "Siggelkow, Don" <<email obscured>>
> Date: September 18, 2007 12:46:09 PM CDT
> To: "TNordstrom_Home account"
> Subject: RE: [Mpls] Parking mystery = favoritism?
>
> Hi Tracy,
>
> There was a land swap that occurred with DeLaSalle and it included
> agreements on parking - Park Board could use the DeLaSalle lot and
> DeLaSalle could use the Park Board lots. The problem is that none of
> the staff involved with the swap and agreements are with us anymore
> and there are no records that we have found. Brian is going back to
> his old law firm to try and find the records and Tim Keane who worked
> on this for DeLaSalle is doing the same thing. Until we find the
> agreements, we are all working on past practice... When we have
> recovered all the agreements and analyzed what rights each party has,
> we will correct any inequities or issues. Like all the other issues
> raised, there is no conspiracy or "favoritism" going on - the Park
> Board and DeLaSalle have a long history of working together to solve
> problems, just as the Park Board did many things to try and keep the
> island residents happy (brick pavers with no assessments, upgraded
> lighting, 2 hour parking, special staffing during fireworks to keep
> people off the Island)...
>