CSM to build shopping mall, hotel by health campus

Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal - September 29, 2006 by Sam BlackStaff Writer

CSM Corp. plans to build a $20 million shopping center and hotel in Plymouth.

The Minneapolis-based developer has purchased a small site adjacent to the West Health Campus where it plans to build about 22,000 square feet of retail and a 115-room Residence Inn by Marriott, an extended-stay hotel that will cater to business travelers in the area.

CSM purchased the land from West Health Inc. for an undisclosed sum. The parcel has an estimated market value of $1.8 million, according to Hennepin County property tax records.

West Health is an outpatient clinic that was developed in the mid-1990s by a consortium of North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis and independent physicians.

Last fall, West Health decided to sell off a chunk of vacant land on its 170-acre campus that had been set aside for a possible expansion. Minneapolis-based real estate consultant CRESA Partners helped solicit development proposals and CSM won, beating out about 13 other firms.

Potential restaurant tenants include Cosi Deli and Caribou Coffee with a drive-through. Other fast-casual restaurants and a small, locally owned-and-operated chocolatier and gift shop also may be part of the mix, said Scott Tubman, development associate with CSM Corp., who is heading up the project.

CSM's hospitality division will own and operate the hotel. It hasn't named a general contractor for the project.

Tubman said CSM's architects wanted to create a retail space that maintained the integrity of the health care campus and still had elements exciting to the consumer, like a patio area with umbrella tables overlooking a pond and fountain.

The development is shaped like a horseshoe around the site and the parking is concealed in the center of the project, which differentiates it from many other retail centers. The buildings are set back 30 to 35 feet -- fairly close to the curb by suburban standards.

CSM plans to start construction next summer and have the development finished by the middle of 2008.