Author: Stuart Sudak

Tavern 4 & 5 Bar & Grill in Eden Prairie will temporarily close for renovations, halting operations starting at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 5. The restaurant plans to reopen on Monday, Feb. 13, after making updates to its kitchen and dining room facilities. Dave Guistolise, director of operations for Nova Restaurants, which owns Tavern 4 & 5, confirmed in an email the renovations will consist of cosmetic updates, such as a fresh coat of paint, replacing wooden floors, and some new chairs. The restaurant’s Facebook page noted that the reopening is “just in time for Valentine’s Day.” Tavern 4…

The new SouthWest Station passenger waiting area on Technology Drive in Eden Prairie is in its final stages of construction. According to Friday’s Metro Green Line Extension weekly construction update, crews are performing the final checks on the building’s interior elements, such as lighting, HVAC, and safety and security systems. By spring of this year, SouthWest Transit will occupy the new building. Commuters will be able to connect to SouthWest buses and, ultimately, the Metro Green Line Extension once it has been finished. The $2.7 billion Metro Green Line Extension, also known as the Southwest light rail line, which adds…

Chick-fil-A in Eden Prairie is now open for business. The fast-food restaurant, located on the southwest corner of Flying Cloud Drive and Prairie Center Drive, began serving customers on Thursday. It is owned and operated by Andrew Armstrong, who also owns the Chick-fil-A restaurant in Chanhassen. Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A has more than 20 locations in the Twin Cities. In 2020, it was ranked as the fourth-largest restaurant chain in America by sales. Operating hours for the Eden Prairie Chick-fil-A location are from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The restaurant boasts two drive-through lanes, with one exclusively for mobile…

Ron Case says serving as Eden Prairie’s mayor is the highlight of his professional career. “I enjoy helping people and solving problems and connecting people to solutions,” he said. Photo by Stuart Sudak Eden Prairie Mayor Ron Case sat down last month to discuss what he deems are the city’s successes in 2022 and what’s in store for 2023. Case thinks the city is in a positive place, noting the progress of several key initiatives, including the adoption of the Eden Prairie Race Equity Report in January 2022. He also shared his goals for 2023, which include keeping close tabs…

C.H. Robinson Worldwide, the Eden Prairie-based freight and cargo logistics provider, has confirmed that Bob Biesterfeld, the CEO and president, has stepped down effective Dec. 31. He also resigned from the company’s board. Bob Biesterfeld C.H. Robinson offered no explanation for the transition in its Tuesday public announcement on the leadership change. Biesterfeld’s departure was described as “abrupt” by several media outlets, including the Star Tribune. FreightWaves added that it had been in the works for months. According to a Tuesday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Biesterfeld’s departure from the company was an involuntary termination without cause.…

For the fifth year in a row, an Eden Prairie couple has stepped up to help families in danger of losing their homes. The couple, who prefers to remain anonymous, is providing an annual $25,000 matching gift to PROP Food Shelf to support the organization’s housing services in a campaign called “Keeping Families in Their Homes for the Holidays and Beyond.” The gift will match any donation until midnight on Dec. 31. PROP’s homelessness prevention program works to help families in Eden Prairie from losing their homes by providing temporary financial assistance to cover a month or more of rent. That gives…

Hugh Burke and Kylie Donohue recently co-wrote a children’s book called “The Way We Play.” The 30-page book follows a group of students on a normal afternoon during school playtime as they learn to work together and appreciate their own strengths and differences. Submitted photos Eden Prairie native Hugh Burke and his girlfriend Kylie Donohue teamed up to write a children’s book that teaches kids about diversity. Burke, a second-year medical student training to be a pediatric psychiatrist at the University of Minnesota, and Donohue, a second-year student at the Illinois College of Optometry in Chicago, aimed to create a…

Standing just a few steps from the Eden Prairie Community Center ice arena, Jennifer Britton and Julie Jacobson talk about goals. For these goals, though, the action is happening off the ice. Several hockey groups have teamed up on the Eden Prairie Hockey Legacy Campaign to improve rink facilities and honor the sport’s local tradition at the Community Center. Britton and Jacobson are two of the many parent volunteers working on the Legacy Campaign, which aims to raise $500,000 in donations for the project. It has another $150,000 to go to meet that goal, after raising $350,000 in six months.…

Talia Schmidt of Hampton, Iowa, and Aaron Aldridge of Eden Prairie snap photos with their phones of baby Ava Aldridge with Santa Claus at the Cummins-Phipps-Grill House in Eden Prairie on Saturday. Talia, her husband Jon and daughter Gemmaline were visiting Aaron and his wife Liz last weekend. Photos by Stuart Sudak Santa Claus is finally back in town. After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Santa’s North Pole Experience has set up shop again in the Cummins-Phipps-Grill House in Eden Prairie. In Santa’s festively decorated parlor sat Arlyn Grussing in a comfy chair, certainly looking the part of jolly…

Asia Mall bustled with customers during its first weekend open to the public. Apparently, as one city official quipped, too many people were excited about it. The long awaited opening of the mall caused weekend traffic jams in and out of its parking lot along Technology Drive. The 100,000-square-foot project, an Asian-themed mix of grocery, restaurant, retail, and office uses in the former Gander Mountain building at 12160 Technology Drive, east of Costco, opened its doors on Nov. 10. With 75% of the space leased, owners described Nov. 10-19 as a “soft opening” for the mall, which limits occupancy. “It’s been…