Hotel, Grocery Store, Restaurant, Office Space: Concept Plans for State Farm Campus in Woodbury

The company looking to redevelop the former State Farm campus outlined ambitious plans for the site during Thursday’s Woodbury Business Classic.

A 170-room hotel, grocery store, office/medical buildings, retail pads and a restaurant are part of Miami-based Elion’s concept plans for the 100-acre site at Radio Drive and Interstate 94.

The key, said Elion COO Juan DeAngulo, is to create “a dynamic integration of the different uses.”

Elion last month announced its plans to purchase the campus, which has been vacant since 2004.

Nothing formal has been submitted to Woodbury, but the conceptual drawings shown Thursday fit with the city’s vision for the site, said Dwight Picha, Community Development director.

The plans have “more of an urban-type feel,” Picha said, noting a Main Street concept for a road running north into the site from Hudson Road.

The drawings, displayed before dozens of local business and civic leaders at the 400,000-square-foot building, show a good deal of new landscaping, trails, a reflecting pool and other amenities.

The idea is to have “a very active site for people; very pedestrian friendly,” DeAngulo said, adding that those features are important to major employers.

"The right complimentary uses that are really going to feed off each other," he said.

As for the building itself and potential tenants for the surrounding acreage, DeAngulo said Elion wanted to get support for the plans from Woodbury before contacting companies about the site.

DeAngulo did mention a national grocer is interested in the parcel and added that big-box retail is not in the works.

“We’re ready to get deals done,” he said.

He would not divulge how much it would cost to make the plans a reality. “The right amount,” DeAngulo said.

Work at the site will likely begin sometime in 2014, DeAngulo said.

The city expects to see formal plans for the campus by the end of the year, Picha said.

Check back on Patch for a story with reaction from Woodbury officials.

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