Description
The 2025 Shady Oak Station Area Development Strategy Update sets a transformative vision for the incremental development of a vibrant, art-forward, mixed-use residential district around Shady Oak Station. Forged in partnership with VMWP, Toole Design Group, the cities of Hopkins, Minnetonka, and the Metropolitan Council, the strategy celebrates the area’s industrial heritage while providing an actionable vision to guide its gradual evolution into a new, connected neighborhood built for active lifestyles.
Organized around clear, integrated recommendations for placemaking, land use, and circulation, the strategy extends Hopkins’s successful track record with public art south of Excelsior to activate vacant land and craft a unique sense of place; positions Shady Oak as the premier bike commuter hub for the Green Line Extension; and leverages the exemplary trail infrastructure by transforming the “2T Corridor” (train and trail) into a linear park with active, trail-oriented frontages on new development.
Urban Design Features
- Establishes place types to organize the station area: “Front Door”, “Red Carpet”, “2T Corridor”, and the “Living Room”.
- Provides a vibrant “Front Door”by focusing ground-floor retail and pedestrian activation at the 17th Avenue & Excelsior Boulevard intersection.
- Recommends interim activations and art investment to build excitement and form a unique sense of place.
- Prioritizes short-term safety improvements for walkers and rollers at critical intersections.
Sustainable Design
- Encourages low-carbon human-powered transportation by closing key last-mile mobility gaps from the station for strollers and rollers.
- Establishes Shady Oak Station as the premier bike commuter hub on the Green Line Light Rail Extension to replace last-mile car trips and increase transit ridership.
Project Information
- Client: Hennepin County
- Site Area: 204 acres
- Funding provided through Hennepin County Housing & Economic Development’s Hennepin Planning Grants program
- Density: 40-150 DUA
- Completion: October 2025
VMWP’s Urban Design Projects
Van Meter Williams Pollack’s urban design work falls into three broad categories: Transit-Oriented Design, Master Planning and Specific Designs, and Design Guidelines. Using our architectural design expertise, we create development prototypes for cities that will assist them in achieving their goals to provide more intensive development in important transition areas of the community. Our design guidelines add the final level of detail to the prototypes and assist developers, property owners, and the city conceive of and design appropriate projects.
Our work always includes communication with and coordination between the City, various agencies, the development community, and community residents. It also includes an active community process where we work together with local stakeholders in workshops, charrettes, and meetings to prioritize goals and create a future vision of their place. We strive to maintain clear and open communication throughout the planning and design process to ensure an efficient process and the best possible product.