Woodbury's City Place development snags retail and restaurant tenants

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Elion Partners

A rendering of the City Place development under construction in Woodbury

Nick Halter

Staff reporter- Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal

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The City Place redevelopment project in Woodbury is attracting a mix of retailers and restaurants that are both familiar brands and new to the market.

Crews broke ground onin October, the 100-acre site the start of a transformation of the former State Farm campus at Interstate 94 and Radio Drive.

A marketing site plan shows several restaurants and retailers, including some fast-casual restaurant concepts that are new to the Twin Cities.

Here's who has signed leases or letters of intent:

• Naf Naf Grill, a Naperville, Ill.-based fast-casual Mediterranean chain that is expanding from 12 Illinois restaurants to Wisconsin and Minnesota
• Pie Five Pizza Co., a fast-casual pizza chain based in Dallas
• Cafe Zupas, a soup, salad and sandwich chain out of Provo, Utah
• Retailers who are already in the market, including Wedding Day Diamonds, Verizon Wireless, Mattress Firm and Spire Federal Credit Union
• Familiar restaurants Potbelly Sandwich Works, Caribou Coffee Co. Inc. and Bruegger's

The project's developers, Elion Partners and Kraus-Anderson Cos., announced in September that Whole Foods will anchor the retail center. The development also includes a Residence Inn by Marriott hotel.

The site plan shows proposed retailers and restaurants, including The Container Store, Bonefish Grill, Bank of America and Outback Steakhouse.

There are sill a couple of large retail spaces left, one of 18,000 square feet and one of 10,000 square feet. Two office buildings of 32,400 and 40,000 square feet are also free.

"It's doing well. It's meeting expectations and performing as it was budgeted originally," said Matt Alexander, Kraus-Anderson's director of real estate development, who also cautioned that the site plan is marketing material and not all leases have been signed.

Nick Halter covers retail and sports business.