The City of Eden Prairie may allow another half-dozen parking spaces at the historic Smith-Douglas-More House on County Road 4 to help its tenant, Smith Coffee, handle peaks in customer traffic.
The city-owned house currently has 45 parking spaces, which at times are completely filled by customers and employees of the popular coffeehouse run by longtime resident Ann Schuster and her family. A full parking lot, especially in midmorning, means some customers park where they shouldn’t or drive away in frustration.
The six-space parking expansion, which would require a small amount of tree removal and possibly the relocation of an interpretive sign, was endorsed Monday, Jan. 27, by the Eden Prairie Planning Commission. The plan now heads to the city council, where it is expected to receive final approval.
Smith Coffee would pay for the construction, said David Lindahl, the city’s economic development manager who works with tenants of city-owned buildings. New parking spaces would be added in stages, according to Smith Coffee general manager Alex Schuster.
Alex Schuster said business at Smith Coffee is good, back to pre-COVID-19 levels, and they’ve explored other parking options – such as shared parking with neighboring businesses – without success. He acknowledged that six additional parking spaces will help but may not be a cure-all.
The Smith-Douglas-More House was built in 1877 and sold to the city in 1981. In 2001, the city hired an architectural firm to map out improvements that eventually led to its use as a Dunn Bros. and later a Rustica coffee shop before the Schusters went independent with Smith Coffee in 2018. A significant increase in parking was constructed about 12 years ago, Lindahl said.
Adapting a landmark property for commercial use in a way that preserves its historic integrity but allows full functionality as a business can be difficult. It’s a topic the city council and community vigorously debated in 2008, when a lease for the Smith-Douglas-More House was expiring.
But today, the arrangement with Smith Coffee is considered a success story because it has created a thriving business and introduced thousands of residents to a historic building, Lindahl said.
“I think this is really a poster child,” he said. “It’s just been a great example of a successful adaptive historical use project. They continue to grow and become more and more successful, but that does lead to a parking crunch.”
That the parking plan needs city council approval at all is due to a regulation quirk. A small corner of the property is in a shoreland protection zone that extends 1,000 feet from Mitchell Lake in order to protect water quality, a regulation that originates with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
The historic home is separated from Mitchell Lake by County Road 4 and an entire neighborhood to the west, and its water runoff actually drains to Red Rock Lake, not Mitchell. The property also contains several rain gardens. Nevertheless, adding blacktop at Smith Coffee requires a variance from city code.
The planning commission, which advises the city council, unanimously approved the code variance this week. Public comment at the hearing came from a single speaker, Brian Lubben, a resident of nearby Glory Lane. Lubben said Smith Coffee is a valuable community landmark, contributes to the neighborhood’s ambiance, and employs young people. Additional parking, he added, is “desperately needed.”
Smith Coffee’s current lease with the city is up for renewal in 2029.
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