50th and France on the Minneapolis and Edina border is already one of the more lavish neighborhood destinations in the Twin Cities.

And it could be about to get even fancier, thanks to a redevelopment proposal that is being discussed by the Edina City Council at a meeting Wednesday evening.

Buhl Investors and Saturday Properties – which was selected by Edina in December to redevelop the city-owned land on 49th 1/2 Street – have offered the first glimpse of their vision for the revamp that will bring more 30,000 square foot of new retail space, 131 new apartments and 155 extra parking spaces to the street.

Illustrations of the proposals have been sent to GoMN by the city, which show a major facelift for a street that is currently dominated by the multi-level parking ramp, which serves the upmarket stores and various eateries found around 50th Street West and France Avenue.

One of these ramps, on the south side of 49th 1/2 Street, would be demolished and replaced by an apartment building with ground-level retail and a public plaza complete with a water feature in the center.

The adjacent surface parking lot outside of Coconut Thai would also be home to a new retail building.

The plan includes a new retail development across the street, on the north side of 49th 1/2 Street, on a currently empty site next to another multi-level parking ramp, which would be expanded to make up for the lost parking spaces on the south side.

The plans are just considered "sketch" proposals at this stage, with Wednesday's meeting of the council described in agenda documents as "the first step" in the planning process.

Nonetheless, the developers have set a timeline of having the two-phase development finished by August 2019. You can read more from the City Council Agenda for Jan 18.