People attending the Jan. 23 State of the City event were among the first to hear of plans to turn a vacant building originally planned as an Amazon Fresh grocery store into a Lava Island indoor playground, among other updates from local leaders.
Eden Prairie City Manager Rick Getschow said that, although “it’s not a done deal yet,” the Lava Island in the building on the southwest corner of Flying Cloud and Prairie Center drives, near Chick-fil-A, would be the business’s first location in Minnesota and would utilize the entire building.
Getschow, along with Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce President Pat MulQueeny and Eden Prairie Schools Superintendent Josh Swanson, gave updates to attendees on what’s happening in the city, its businesses and schools at the chamber’s annual State of the City event.
JCPenney space plans, a bigger drone light show, property taxes and more
In addition to the Lava Island plans, Getschow discussed other business and residential development in Eden Prairie, as well as property tax rates. “One of the biggest projects that we’re going to see when it comes to commercial development, or redevelopment, is what happens with JCPenney,” he said. The retailer announced in August that it would permanently close its location in Eden Prairie Center.
The city is looking at transforming the space into a large mixed-use development that could incorporate hotel, residential, commercial and office space. Getschow indicated that 2025 could see the beginning stages of what he described as a four- to five-year project. “Eden Prairie and Eden Prairie Center is a desirable location. We will see positive development, and that’ll be coming within the next year,” Getschow said.
The first major remodel of Eden Prairie City Center in more than 30 years will begin this spring, expanding space for the police department within the City Hall building and providing indoor parking for police vehicles. With recent City Council approval, 2025 will also see the beginning of construction on Marshall Gardens, a residential development featuring 15 single-family homes and 100 townhomes on 32 acres of the former Marshall family farm. Accompanying this project will be reconstruction of nearby Dell Road, set to begin in 2025, including paving the remaining gravel portion of the road.
Getschow also mentioned the planned spring 2025 opening of a renovated Miller Park sports complex which will add eight new outdoor pickleball courts, bringing the city’s total to 22; a spring or summer 2025 installation of the historic Flying Red Horse sign atop a monument along Flying Cloud Drive, near the Redstone American Grill restaurant; and several restaurants in the city. Additionally, he said the city plans to expand its Independence Day drone light show in 2025
When it comes to property taxes, Getschow said Eden Prairie ranks 14th among the 16 largest cities in the Twin Cities metro area, with $1,676 in city tax levied on a median-value home worth $540,000. Of note, Getschow said, is that, “For the first time in at least two decades, we are lower than the Emerald City: our taxes are lower than the City of Edina next door.”
While recent discussions at City Council meetings have focused on residential property tax rates, Getschow addressed commercial property taxes at the State of the City event. He noted that the projected city property tax impact on a median-value commercial property worth $4 million is just over 1%. “That is quite a bit lower than the rate of inflation or the rate of spending, so we think we’re being pretty competitive,” Getschow said.
EP businesses expect increased sales, hiring in 2025
In his presentation, chamber president MulQueeny spoke about feedback gathered from businesses at the local and the state levels, including indications that a majority of Eden Prairie businesses plan to hire in 2025, as well as plans for the potential return of a Taste of Eden Prairie event.
“When we look at employment in 2025, the good news here is that our members are saying that they’re not seeing any decreases, and either remaining the same in terms of their current employee count, at 45%, or a majority, 55%, have said they’re going to be hiring in the year ahead,” MulQueeny said. He was presenting data gathered from the chamber’s 2025 annual economic survey of its 330 members. Business respondents, however, said they were experiencing difficulty in finding talent in the areas of accounting, dental hygienist, sales and financial services.
Local chamber members also reported similarities in net income between 2023 and 2024, with 49% seeing an increase in net income in 2023 compared to 58% in 2024. Sales projections for 2025 were also similar to those for 2024, with 8% of survey respondents expecting or experiencing decreases in both years, while 85% expect increased sales in 2025 and 84% reported increased sales in 2024.
“We have a high expectation from previous years that we will see sales increases locally with our business community,” MulQueeny said.
Survey respondents identified “government regulations” as the top issue affecting their business, with 39% citing this option, compared to 31% who chose the economy and 15% who chose inflation. In particular, MulQueeny said, businesses are concerned about the impact on small businesses of the state’s paid family leave law, set to go into effect Jan. 1, 2026, and the earned sick and safe time law, which is currently in effect.
The Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce is one of 50 chambers statewide that partner with the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce as part of the Minnesota Chamber Federation, which advocates for local chambers’ legislative priorities. “This is important because we work hand in hand to make sure that our business voice is heard and that issues being raised locally are heard at the state and federal levels,” MulQueeny said.
The chamber’s current legislative priorities, MulQueeny said, include small business exemptions for the paid time off laws, working specifically to help the restaurant community and generating a competitive tax driver. “When we say competitive, that means we don’t want to be No. 1 in corporate taxes,” MulQueeny said. He had previously shared data from the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce’s 2025 Business Benchmarks Report that listed the state’s corporate income tax as the highest in the nation.
The local chamber, MulQueeny said, is “actively working on Taste of Eden Prairie, which would be, obviously, a food event and highlight and kind of provide some additional support for our local restaurants, as well as bringing our community together.”
Also new in 2025 is the Eden Prairie Chamber Foundation, a 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization. “The reason for this isn’t just to create another nonprofit organization, but it really is to provide resources for high impact opportunities within our business community, and one of the key focus areas of that will be on workforce,” MulQueeny said. He also mentioned the 2025 launch of a nine-month Leadership Eden Prairie training program, as well as ongoing programs such as the Small Business Roundtable, Entrepreneurs Bootcamp, Everything Spring Expo, and partnerships with Eden Prairie Schools.
Eden Prairie Schools’ plans for new Valley View Road building
Schools Superintendent Swanson also spoke at the State of the City event, held in the district’s Valley View Road Building, an office building formerly owned by United Natural Foods Inc. The building now houses the school district’s TASSEL Transition program for students aged 18-22 with disabilities.
“Our students really are in a state-of-the-art learning environment here,” Swanson said. “They’re going to have lots of opportunities to learn in lots of different ways, as we think about having a full-scale industrial kitchen, a print shop and some of those things that will help develop life and career skills.”
The school district began occupying the space in July, with the TASSEL program needing to find a new home from its previous spot in the west end of Eden Prairie City Center, now set to be remodeled for the new police station.
The Valley View Road Building property abuts a portion of Bryant Lake. District science staff are exploring possible uses of the lake and woodlands for environmental sciences study, and activities groups are considering use of the site’s outdoor trails, Swanson said. Additionally, the district plans to bring its alternative learning program, currently outsourced to Intermediate District 287, to the space, as well as renting out the building’s third floor, Swanson said.
“This new learning environment is one part of our larger effort to keep creating more authentic and personalized learning experiences for our students, and we really believe we’ve only scratched the surface of what we might be able to do,” Swanson said.
The district, he noted, is working on its next 10-year vision through its Flight Plan 2035 process, which includes a speaker series featuring experts on education, well-being, learning, work, technology and more, followed by feedback from community members. So far, more than 1,800 people have contributed to the process, Swanson said.
“We’re already hugely successful right now, and it’s about continuing that great work that we’re doing and evolving it to find ways that we can even better fit the needs of tomorrow’s students,” Swanson said.
He based the “hugely successful” comment on data gathered from a 2024 random sample survey conducted by the Morris Leatherman Co., where over 90% of respondents rated the district as excellent or good, and 99% of graduates said they were prepared for life after graduation. Those rating the district “excellent” in the 2024 survey increased 15% from 2023.
“There’s an appreciation by our community for the amazing work our teachers and our staff and our principals and our schools are doing,” Swanson said.
He also shared stories and videos from 2024’s celebration of the school district’s 100th anniversary, which included a spring Citywide Prom and a September parade.
“This wasn’t just a celebration of our schools last year; it was truly a celebration of our community intended on fostering ongoing pride,” Swanson said.
The district, he said, is deepening its work in alumni relations, which may include sharing stories of alumni, as well as students, in the district’s new annual magazine, Inspire. Copies of the first issue of the publication were available to those attending the State of the City event.
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