By Anne Holzman

Perhaps feeling “pressed” by a lack of activity at the former Get Pressed dry-cleaning shop, Falcon Heights city leaders have listed 1407 Larpenteur Ave. in their recent goals statement as a site to “explore” for possible purchase.

The site, at the corner of Albert Street, was originally a gas station, then converted to a dry-cleaning store in 1969.

Get Pressed left the site in 2017, and the property (which consists of two lots) was purchased the following year by Sarin Homes LLC of Roseville.

In June 2023, the Falcon Heights Planning Commission considered a proposal to build two sets of townhomes at the site, each with six units. The commission sent a few concerns to the developer (who is not named in the minutes) and noted that it would require rezoning from business to residential or mixed use. The city’s development coordinator told the Bugle then that housing appeared to be “a good transition” use at that site.

However, the developer dropped that housing proposal.

Last year, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency studied the cleanup needs on the site.

In a letter to Leang Sarin of Sarin Homes last November, the state agency recounted testing the dry-cleaning site for harmful chemicals and described a previously unknown storage tank that it excavated. The cleanup needed to enable building homes there was estimated at $370,000 by Bay West LLC environmental consultants.

Meanwhile, the city council and staff set goals for 2025 that included exploring the potential to purchase the property to “clean up … [and] evaluate future redevelopment.”

City Administrator Jack Linehan, in an email, emphasized that the goal is to “explore,” but that moving to a purchase offer “really depends on cost and viability.” 

Anne Holzman is a freelance writer who covers Falcon Heights government news for the Bugle.

Photo credit: By one estimate, the bill for environmental clean-up of the long-vacant dry cleaners at Larpenteur Avenue and Albert Street could exceed $350,000. Photo by Bill Brady