City Council Okays Golf Dome Construction

Construction of a new golf dome to replace the longstanding Braemar Golf Dome, last February, was approved by the Edina City Council last night during a meeting which also killed the possibility that an anticipated youth sports dome might be built on adjacent land. Due to overwhelming cleanup and site construction costs, the Council agreed with city staff that the youth sports dome needed to be built elsewhere.

A city working group will continue to explore alternative properties for the youth sports dome, including a soccer field located just north of the . Concerns remain that the proposed facility not impact neighborhoods or schools, effectively limiting its construction to industrial areas and land already operated by the Parks and Recreation Board, which includes Braemar.

“That will be the challenge for the Parks Board working group going forward,” said Parks and Recreation Director John Keprios afterward.

In order to locate a youth sports dome on land adjacent to the golf dome, the city would have needed to spend in excess of $1 million in site correction and cleanup costs alone. Such expenditures, which do not include the estimated $3 to $4 million in construction costs for the 94,000 square foot sports dome, were deemed unreasonable.

The new golf dome will use the original Braemar Golf Dome’s concrete foundation, resulting in a significant cost savings. Approximately $668,000 has already been received as part of an insurance payout from the February fire; City Manager Scott Neal confirmed that the city remains in negotiations with its insurer and expects to receive more, possibly enough to cover all construction costs for the new building. 

While it’s hoped that the new golf dome will be up and running by the beginning of December, that timeline may be tough to meet.

“It’s an aggressive schedule,” Keprios said following the meeting. “I would love to be proved wrong, but my experience in public life tells me that we’ll be very fortunate to have it up and operational by Dec. 1.”

In other news representatives of Stuart Company presented sketches for a proposed development of two luxury apartment buildings and a three-story townhouse building at the northwest corner of West 69th street and York Avenue South.

The company emphasized that none of the buildings had actually been designed yet, although certain Council members already expressed concerns over public access to the complex, which would be built on land that is currently part of Southdale Center’s parking lot.

The Council also approved $21,000 in consultancy fees, aimed at studying the operational strengths and weaknesses of the .