Proposed Les Schwab Tire Center & Orchard Place Apartments - Apple Valley, MN
APPLE VALLEY, MINNESOTA - During the Apple Valley Planning Commission Meeting on Wednesday, February 7, 2024, Community Development Director Tim Benetti, detailed a proposal for the new auto accessory store for the Apple Valley, Minnesota area, Les Schwab Tire Centers. The location of this proposed store would be west of the Texas Roadhouse and south of the Mr. Car Wash at 15690 English Avenue.
These closures are likely tied to Best Buy's plan to shift toward online sales after a 9.3% decrease in sales in their 4th quarter and an outlook of continued decline ranging around 3-6% into 2024. From 2023 to 2024, Best Buy is projected to go from 925 US Stores to 901, closing 24.
Les Schwab currently has 526 stores in 10 western states and is working on expanding their footprint into three new markets, which include the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota. Les Schwab already has one store being built in Moorehead, Minnesota. If this proposal gets approved, the Apple Valley store would be the second store in Minnesota. Les Schwab primarily offers Tires, Tire Repair, Tire Balancing, and Wheel services, but depending on the store, they have to provide brakes, shocks and struts, alignment, batteries, oil changes, fluids, and wipers. The proposed Apple Valley store could offer additional services, including brakes, shocks, and struts.
According to Mark Rohweder, a civil engineer for KLJ Engineering and representing Les Schwab at the meeting, Les Schwab is very active in the local communities in their stores are located, hosting annual food and toy drives and donating $5.7 million to local communities in 2022. They also invested $18.5 million into local media, where their stores are located.
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Tim Benetti says the applicant will revise their plans for the property based on feedback they received from the Planning Commission members. They hope to return with the revisions at the next Planning Commission meetings on February 21st or March 6th. If the applicant receives a recommendation from the Planning Commission at either of those upcoming meetings, the proposal for the Les Schwab property will then be passed along to the City Council for final consideration and action in a future City Council meeting.
Multi-Family Apartment Complex
During this same Planning Commission Meeting, a 4-story, 128-unit multi-family apartment building was proposed. This complex would be known as the Orchard Place Multi-Family Apartment Complex. This apartment building would be just west of the proposed Les Schwab Tire Center.
During the meeting, there was some opposition to building a residential property this close to or within the commercial property. For this proposed apartment complex to be constructed, the zoning for this area would have to be changed from the designated commercial space to residential, thus taking away from the pre-approved land for expanding Apple Valley's potential commercial space. Additional conflicts included noise complaints from the residential establishment from the neighboring commercial spaces and possible limited hours to neighboring businesses with outdoor patios.
Chris Moe, with HJ Development and the Master Developer for the Orchard Place complex, also spoke at the meeting. According to Mr. Moe, several years ago, the plan for this location was to have several large box stores built here, but the retail landscape and market have changed since the project began and no longer support the development of these large box stores.
Roger Fink of Trident Development, one of the developers for this project, also spoke at this meeting on behalf of their proposal. Mr. Fink spoke about how there could be a symbiotic relationship between this housing development and the retail space for those who might be employed at the nearby retail stores, giving them great walkability for groceries, retail, work, and medical.
No motions were made on this matter at this time.