The hulking, windowless former Macy's Furniture Gallery on France Avenue in Edina is finally headed for the wrecking ball. Developer Enclave has purchased the long-derided "bunker" and plans to clear the site for a multibuilding mixed-use project with housing, offices and street-level retail. The deal caps years of planning along the Southdale strip and turns a long-discussed overhaul of the block into a live redevelopment play. Neighbors should expect demolition work and permitting activity to ramp up as the project shifts from concept approvals to detailed construction plans.
The sale quietly locked in earlier this month, then surfaced publicly on March 6, when the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal reported that Enclave had acquired the property and intends to demolish the existing building. The move is a key milestone following more than a year of planning and approvals tied to the broader Southdale corridor.
What Enclave Is Proposing
The city's project page for the former Macy's site shows Enclave's sketch plan calling for four new buildings: an 11-story mixed-use tower and three seven-story buildings. Together they would combine office space, about 500 residential units, including 49 condominiums, street-level retail and multiple parking garages, according to the City of Edina. City-rendered images show internal streets, plazas and new connections to the Edina Promenade that are meant to stitch the development into the surrounding neighborhood rather than wall it off.
Where Approvals Stand
Edina's City Council signed off on key early approvals on June 18, 2024, granting preliminary rezoning, an overall development plan, a site plan and a subdivision for the project, according to the Edina City Council minutes. That vote came with strings attached. Council members asked for design refinements and pressed for answers on parking garage capacity, delivery and staging logistics, and trail setbacks. Those issues will resurface in later permitting rounds, and the developer will have to address them before shovels hit the ground.
Money And Neighborhood Debate
On the financial side, city officials have floated the use of Tax Increment Financing to help close a gap in the project's funding. That possibility, combined with the project's size, has drawn pointed questions from neighbors at multiple public hearings, where residents have raised concerns about the scale of the buildings, added traffic and the use of public subsidies.
Mayor Jim Hovland has called the parcel "one of the best pieces of property in town," and prior coverage has pegged the project cost at roughly 300 to 350 million dollars with a potential completion around 2028 if the schedule stays on track, as reported by the Star Tribune.
Timeline And What To Watch
Before any demolition crews show up in earnest, Enclave still has to file plats and final permits and satisfy conditions carried over from the planning process. Some approvals already on file have time limits, and the city notes that plats must be recorded with Hennepin County to keep those approvals active, according to its online project materials.
Residents who follow City Hall minutiae will want to keep an eye on upcoming planning commission and council agendas for plat submissions, TIF proposals and final permit packages. Those items will reveal whether Enclave is gearing up for a fast, all-at-once build or a phased approach over several years, per the city's project pages.
If it lands as mapped out, the redevelopment would bring hundreds of new homes and fresh office space to the Southdale area and dramatically reshape a stretch of France Avenue that locals have long described as a "bunker." Enclave's purchase nudges that future closer to reality, but a string of filings, hearings and financing decisions still stands between this deal and a construction start.
