Eagan council approves Project Alpha plan amendment and subdivision to allow new industrial building

The Eagan City Council on March 17 approved a plan development amendment and a preliminary subdivision for Project Alpha, a redevelopment of the former Thomson Reuters campus that will allow construction of a large industrial building and divide the property into two lots.

City planner Schultz told the council the amendment would allow an approximately 337,000-square-foot industrial building on Lot 1, with Lot 2 reserved for future development. Lot 1 is about 19.67 acres and Lot 2 about 10.89 acres, for roughly 30.6 acres total. The advisory planning commission held a public hearing Feb. 24 and recommended approval; council approval at the March 17 meeting was subject to the conditions listed in the commission minutes.

Schultz said parking on the site would provide 325 stalls under revised standards (the revised requirement was 239 stalls), excluding 118 contractor parking stalls, meaning the project exceeds the required parking by 86 stalls. The applicant expects the facility to operate 24 hours a day with three shifts, initially 30–60 employees per shift and a long-term workforce of about 200; staff estimated about 10 truck deliveries per day, generally occurring between about 3 a.m. and 8 p.m. A traffic memo provided by the applicant found the Nassif Way/Opperman intersection would operate at level-of-service A, and staff recommended signing Nassif Way for no parking to preserve emergency access.

The applicant requested minor deviations to minimum green space (proposing roughly 24.9% on Lot 1 where 25% is the stated minimum), citing shared stormwater facilities as justification. Schultz also described proposed building materials and architecture: the structure would be about 43 feet tall (below the 50-foot allowance) and concentrate higher-quality (Class 1) materials on the public-facing facades. Staff noted tree preservation measures: 14 healthy trees identified for preservation and 28 trees classified as landscaping; tree mitigation or cash dedication will be due with final subdivision.

Eddie Wolf of Ryan Companies thanked city staff for their partnership in streamlining the process. With no public comments on the item, Councilor Espinin moved to approve the plan development amendment and later moved to approve the preliminary subdivision; both motions were seconded and carried by voice vote. Council members approved the actions with the conditions recommended by the advisory planning commission.