Whole Foods Breaks Ground on New Edina Store

Whole Foods and Mid-America Real Estate celebrated the start of construction on the new store at the Centennial Lakes Plaza with a lunch at Hughes Pavilion and photos at the site on Wednesday, April 20.

Bruce Carlson, project manager from Mid-America, led the small ceremony as the crowd enjoyed light refreshments provided by—as should be expected—Whole Foods. Standing at a podium emblazoned with the company's logo, he pointed out all the individuals who had been instrumental in finally bringing the retailer to Edina.

According to Carlson, the room was full of "everyone that was involved with the planning and implementation of the Whole Foods building."

Mayor James Hovland spoke briefly about how pleased the city is to welcome the natural and organic retailers, and not just for the quality products they carry.

"It will be the trigger for other development around it, because Whole Foods has such a terrific reputation," Hovland said.

After laudatory words from Whole Foods representatives and others, everyone put on their coats and trekked through the parking garage to the actual building site. The snow had subsided, though it was a bit chilly as the major players donned hard hats and wielded golden shovels.

Demolition of the old Storables and Thomas Furniture was completed one day prior, just in time for the groundbreaking. All that remained at the corner of France and Parklawn Avenues was a wide expanse of brown dirt prepped for the contractors.

Whole Foods expects an October 2011 construction completion, with the 36,000 square foot space to open for business in early 2012. The national grocery chain has long been in St. Paul and Minneapolis, but it's been several years since they've had a new Twin Cities store. A fourth Minnetonka location in the Ridgedale Center is also in the works.

Whole Foods Marketing and Community Relations representative Jen Fingers, from the St. Paul store, said that everyone is excited by the addition of the two stores in the area.

The company has been contemplating an Edina venue for about 10 years, according to Dan Blackburn, the Store Team Leader for Whole Foods in Minnesota and his Chicago colleague, David Schwartz.

"We've actually been looking at Edina for quite a long time," Blackburn said. "Bruce (Carlson) had the right resources and opportunities come up, where we were able to come in here at the right time."