Plan to turn Office Depot into Planet Fitness, build a Starbucks OK’d by council – Eden Prairie Local News

A TOLD Development Co. plan to turn a vacant Office Depot store into a Planet Fitness and build a Starbucks coffee shop in the parking lot was approved Tuesday, Sept. 17, by the Eden Prairie City Council.

It won a 5-0 council vote, but the redevelopment plan is complicated and carries some uncertainty.

The Planet Fitness portion is the most straightforward. TOLD Development is demolishing part of the roughly 33,000-square-foot Office Depot building, leaving about 18,500 square feet for the new tenant.

As a second phase, TOLD would build a 2,450-square-foot, drive-through Starbucks coffee shop across the parking lot, next to the intersection of Flying Cloud Drive and Leona Road. It would be just a stone’s throw from a Caribou Coffee that has operated next to Office Depot for years.

Finally, another corner of the Office Depot property – the northeast corner, nearest Cub Foods – is being reserved for a future retail use that would require city review once a user is identified. The future business’s size and parking will be limited because of its proximity to Planet Fitness.

The Office Depot site, acquired by TOLD 2 1/2 years ago, has also been known for a parking lot difficult to navigate and landscaping that has suffered in recent years.

TOLD President Gary Dreher said his company would remedy both concerns.

“The maintenance, including the landscaping, was done by Office Depot, not us,” he said, adding that TOLD is working to get it in shipshape.

The current parking layout frustrates motorists, said Council Member Lisa Toomey.

“If you can have a pet peeve be a parking lot, that would be mine,” she said. “In an ideal world, Starbucks would be on the other side of the parking lot, for traffic (reasons).”

Dreher and city staff say the parking lot will be more navigable after the redevelopment, and the proposed Starbucks should have plenty of room for cars waiting in the drive-through, with no traffic conflicts with Caribou.

That’s been confirmed by a traffic study performed by city staff.

“There were a lot of things in the (old) layout that just didn’t work,” said Dreher. “It’ll be much better. Trust me.”

The council approved the issuance of demolition and land-alteration permits to the developer before the project’s final approval.