In 2005, the City of Richfield undertook an extensive effort to define a future vision for the I-494 Corridor area. The planned reconstruction of I-494, which carries 146,000 vehicles per day, combined with an area of aging buildings provided the impetus for action. Working with HKGi, community leaders, business people and residents defined a future vision for the area and put a regulatory framework in place that would help make the vision a reality.

The project involved the preparation of a master plan for the Corridor, an update of the City's Comprehensive Plan and the creation of new zoning classifications and regulations for the project area. Unique to the vision, plan and subsequent zoning provisions was an initiative to totally reshape the form of the corridor's development pattern over the next 10 to 20 years. The largely single-story, suburban development pattern of today will evolve into a multi-story, mixed use area in the future.

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The master plan seeks to establish new urban neighborhoods along the corridor, neighborhoods with housing and commercial diversity; vibrant, pedestrian-friendly street fronts; a dominant linear open space element; and a new "green" edge along I-494 consistent with Richfield's heritage as a garden community. New zoning provisions require multi-story buildings, the mixing of residential and non-residential uses and building placements that are tight to front setback lines.

The evolution of the I-494 Corridor is expected to occur largely through private initiatives. Access changes along I-494 and the extension of West 77th Street under Cedar Avenue will dramatically improve the accessibility of the area. That accessibility along with the location of the area in close proximity to the Mall of America and the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport is already attracting the attention of the private development community and stimulating local investment in redevelopment.

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