Wellington buys former store site

The former Rainbow Foods grocery store at 2919 26th Ave. S. has been sold to be redeveloped into possible new retail and office space.

Photo right: file photo of the old rainbow store in October of 2014.

Wellington Management plans to develop the site in the Longfellow neighborhood after it purchased the lot for $5.35 million, according to a certificate of real estate value made public last month. St. Paul-based Wellington bought the 5.8-acre site from Minnehaha/Lake Partners, which is associated with real estate developer Watson Centers.

According to Ward 2 Councilmember Cam Gordon, who has met with the new owner of the site, “Wellington indicated that they hope to reuse some of the property and possibly build a new building. They indicated that they were interested in building a mixed use building on the street in a portion of the parking lot near Minnehaha and seeing the street at 27th reconstructed to look and feel more like a city street as it passed through the property. Wellington has done projects in the area and informed me they intend to engage with community members and neighborhood groups as plans move forward.”