City panel backs transformation of UNFI building to a school

Eden Prairie Schools says it has a signed purchase agreement for the portion of the United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) property along Valley View Road that includes the company’s 45-year-old, 165,000-square-office building. Next for the school district is a number of bureaucratic steps, one of which was taken Monday evening.

The district’s request for a land-use change – from office to school use – was endorsed by the Eden Prairie Planning Commission, which advises the city council.

The matter is expected to reach the Eden Prairie City Council in mid-April, and approval by the Metropolitan Council is also needed.

These land-use changes apply only to the eastern 61 acres of the UNFI property, including the existing office building. Developers are looking to purchase the western side, about 46 acres, for possible hotel and apartment construction as well as open space.

Advertisement

Land-use approvals are needed by the district because schools are only currently permitted in the city’s Public Zoning District, and the UNFI property has an Office Zoning District classification.

City staff has recommended approval of the request, concluding that the land-use change would not adversely impact the property, surrounding land uses, or city services. Traffic at the property is expected to decrease as a result of the change in ownership, and the property’s open space is expected to remain. The district doesn’t plan to put a dock into adjacent Bryant Lake.

If Eden Prairie Schools were to significantly modify the exterior of the building or the site itself, it would need to return for city review, according to a city staff memo.

Commissioners generally spoke favorably about the change, although Commissioner Carole Mette encouraged Eden Prairie Schools to consider whether portions of their parcel can be split off for sale and development. That, she explained, would be a way to recoup some of the property taxes lost as a result of moving the 61 acres from private to public ownership. 

Advertisement

Hennepin County records show the total UNFI parcel had a property-tax bill of a little more than $378,000 for 2024. (In a preliminary meeting with city officials last month, CSM Corp. representatives said their conceptual plan for a hotel and apartments on the westernmost side of the UNFI parcel would also help offset property-tax revenue lost if the school district purchases the rest of the UNFI site.)

The district has proposed using the building as its new TASSEL Education Center, holding its TASSEL Transition program and an alternative learning center. TASSEL stands for Teaching All Students Skills for Employment & Life. It’s a post-high school choice program for students 18-22 years old who have special needs when it comes to learning. They receive special education programming, skill development, and job support, usually in one-on-one scenarios.

The TASSEL Transition program is currently housed in rented space at the west end of the Eden Prairie City Center, the city hall building at 8040 Mitchell Road. However, the city plans to turn that space into new and expanded quarters for its Police Department and the department’s vehicle fleet. The district’s lease expires in July, said Kyle Fisher, director of the Facilities, Safety, and Grounds Department at Eden Prairie Schools.

Eden Prairie Schools has indicated that its immediate need is for 60,000 square feet of space for the TASSEL Transition program. Fisher said some interior renovation of the building is needed before the 2024-25 school year starts next fall, and next school year is also when long-term programming of the building would be discussed on a bigger scale, with community input. He said the district is connecting with the Nine Mile Creek Watershed District – which helps manage Bryant Lake – for a potential partnership in educational and community-building activities at the school.

“There’s been a lot of questions as to why a district would need such a large property for this program that currently is housed in the City Center,” said Dirk Tedmon, executive director of marketing and communications for the school district. “Part of this is because we’re trying to look to the future and build what our community has deemed it needs – whether that’s our families, our students, our business partners. 

“This sort of facility really allows us to dream into the future,” he added, noting that increases in student enrollment are anticipated over the next few years. He said the project also allows Eden Prairie Schools to bring back students whose needs are being addressed elsewhere.

“We have to outsource some of our special-education services and programming for students in grades 6 through 12, before they get to that TASSEL Transition program, and this property gives us the space to be able to look at what that can mean for the future in bringing those students back, which we estimate will be more than 200 students,” Tedmon added. “We need a space to do that. And our current buildings are all at capacity. And so, what we’re excited about is this process where we know we have a need, we don’t know exactly what we need to use the space for, but we know the space is needed.”

A portion of the UNFI building’s lower level would be used as a centralized district warehouse, Fisher said Monday, and the building would also be used as a gathering place for community events and staff development.

Tedmon said the purchase price in the signed agreement would be shared with Eden Prairie Local News once the sale has closed.

UNFI announced last April that, with many of its employees working remotely, it would put its 107-acre Eden Prairie business campus up for sale and relocate staff to a smaller regional office elsewhere in the Twin Cities.

The one-building Eden Prairie campus was established in the 1970s as the national headquarters for Supervalu, Inc., a Fortune 500 company that Providence, Rhode-Island-based UNFI purchased in 2018. UNFI made the campus its regional headquarters.