Photos courtesy The District Edina
Just steps from beautiful Nine-Mile Creek, on a wooded three-acre lot, is a white three-level building long used as office space for the likes of insurance and title companies. Built in 1972, the structure is currently being reinvigorated for an entirely different use: a new design destination, The District Edina.
The 21,000-square-foot building is located at the intersection of Highways 169 and 494, where Eden Prairie, Bloomington, and Edina merge, which—in addition to its scenic site—makes for an ideal and scenic location. The District Edina, which is the brainchild of Gregory Rich, founder of Habitation Furnishing + Design, will occupy the main or creek-side level and the upper level.
In addition to Habitation, Rich is curating the other tenants, which will represent a mix of showrooms selected “to provide homeowners, designers, builders, and architects with a variety of remodeling-focused businesses under a single roof,” he describes. The tenants will also be chosen to complement, not compete with, one another.
“We’re also looking for businesses that subscribe to the same values—premium quality merchandise, and engaged with The District Edina and our customers. A board, made up of our tenants, will decide on things like how we spend our advertising dollars. In a certain respect, it’s like a co-op. We’re also collaborating and complementing with exclusivity in each category,” he adds.
Rich is currently negotiating leases with a builder/remodeler and art gallery that would include an artist-in-residence studio. “We’re planning to start construction in the fall,” he says. “We’d like to have at least five tenants locked down by then.”
The District Edina was on track to open this year when Rich and his team closed down the building on February 28 in light of the COVID-19 epidemic—a week before the national mandated quarantine. “Everything came to an absolute crashing halt,” he says. “Now that we’re sticking our heads out carefully, we’re starting to gain some nice momentum.”
