The Promenade of Wayzata replaces Bay Center Mall, a 1960s-era shopping center with sprawling parking lots. The largest redevelopment project for the city in scale, size and investment, it was controversial when a divided City Council approved it in 2008.
Some residents opposed it for its size and scale. But city officials said it would create a mass of retail, address housing needs and provide a walkable area that one said would become “the most lavish pedestrian environment in all the Twin Cities.”
“It was a blighted property [that was] underutilized,” City Manager Jeff Dahl said.
Construction stalled for two years during the tail end of the Great Recession, starting in 2012. Now public sentiment may have shifted, said Steve Bohl, the developer of the hotel and a condo building called the Regatta.
“Now that we’re here, a majority of the people have accepted it and most are delighted and excited,” he said.
The five blocks include 326 units of senior housing — from apartments to assisted living, memory care and nursing home units — 88 condos and 26 apartments, 119,000-square-feet of retail, and parking.
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| Nelson during Wayazata tenure. |
Ramsey residents may recall Nelson's time working with Darren Lazan of Landform on the failed Town Center project in Ramsey during the real estate downturn times of 2007, and onward; when the McDonald's promise of a Town Center site was spawned but never, since, materialzed. There was council turnover.