Cottage Grove is taking a step into the future — with its first walkable mixed-use project.
The proposed 74-acre development would be one of the largest of its kind in the metro area. Tentative plans for the Shoppes at Cottage View call for homes, apartments and businesses to be blended together.
They would be clustered around a $19 million community center — if voters approve it in a referendum set for November.
Economic-development director Christine Costello said the plan was drawn by the city — not by a developer.
“It’s a starting point,” Costello said. When a developer steps forward, she said, the ultimate plan will undoubtedly change.
At a meeting March 4, the Cottage Grove City Council voted to apply for funding for a $40,000 feasibility study for the project. There are not yet any estimates for total construction costs.
The Cottage Grove community center — at the heart of the project — requires voter approval.
The 75,000-square-foot facility would have an indoor playground, sports dome, community rooms and a multi-purpose space for performances.
The project would be built on property northeast of Keats Avenue and U.S. Highway 61, and east of a Walmart store.
The development would be served by a new road starting at Keats Avenue. It would continue west, then intersect with an extension of Ravine Parkway at a roundabout. It would end at East Point Douglas Road.
Director Costello said the mixed-use proposal wasn’t even allowed until the city recently approved the new form of zoning in its 2040 Comprehensive Plan.
“This would be entirely new to the city,” said Costello.
Large-scale mixed-use projects are a relatively new twist in metro-area projects.
The most recent was the 100-acre CityPlace project in Woodbury, which mixes together retail businesses, apartments, hotels and medical buildings.
Cottage Grove’s preliminary plan calls for eight apartment buildings, more than four retail businesses and two restaurants. The apartments would be in four high-density buildings and four mixed-use, three-story buildings.
Next to them would be 24 villas with two homes each.
A 42,000-square-foot hotel would be the farthest south, facing U.S. 61. The project would include two ponds and several parking lots.
Previously, the site was the home of the Cottage View Drive-In theater.
It was torn down in 2012, but the name has resurfaced in the Shoppes of Cottage View.
The site is the last large parcel in Cottage Grove along U.S. 61, according to city spokesman Scott Seroka.
The city is using the plan to market the site, he said.
“It is developer-driven,” said Seroka. “That means someone has to come in and make this a reality.”