HKGi

We are looking to add to our team! Openings for a Senior Landscape Architect (6-10+ yrs experience) and a Landscape Designer (0-5 years experience). HKGi is seeking creative, energetic, and communicative candidates to join the group. Hybrid work style, with some local and regional travel to client/project engagements. To find out more about role requirements visit www.hkgi.com/contact or email your cover letter, resume, references and work samples to Gabrielle Grinde at [email protected] Know someone looking to join a group of talented and kind individuals in the LA industry? Feel free to share these job postings in your network. Thanks! #designjobs #landscapearchitecture #minneapolisjobs

Last week we hit the ground rolling as we started working with Washington County on a long range plan for a new regional trail. The trail will connect Battle Creek Regional Park to the St Croix River, through Woodbury and Afton. We toured the area to identify potential route segments, and explored important destinations within the search corridor, including an important stop at Selma's Ice Cream Parlor (the oldest operating ice cream parlor in Minnesota, established in 1913!) to fuel up and brainstorm ideas. #projectkickoff #planning #urbandesign #trailplanning

Our staff is collaborating with?New History Consultants, Windsor Consulting Group, and Braun Intertec on an Adaptive Reuse Study for the City of South St. Paul’s former library on 3rd Ave N and Marie Ave. We attended the community festival On the Road Again last month to brainstorm reuse ideas and gauge public support. Additionally, we hosted a neighborhood walking tour with City staff to understand the local zoning, land use, ownership, and streetscape context within 1.5 miles of the project site (last image). We’re excited to begin exploring feasible adaptive reuse options that will maintain the building’s historic architecture and charm and enable this building to continue to be an important part of the life of the community. Stay tuned for more updates as the project progresses! #southstpaul?#adaptivereuse?#urbandesign?#zoning?#library?#historicpreservation

November's featured mural brings us to the heart of a city HKGi has a long standing client relationship with. This piece was apart of the 2024 Mural Project in Hutchinson, Minnesota. A community effort to showcase local artist's work and bring people to the area. HKGi-ers have spent time in Hutchinson over the past year assisting with updating the Downtown Plan. The plan update aims to refresh implementation initiatives for the next 10-20 year future, from the evaluation of the previous 2013 Downtown Vision and Action Plan - which established a unified and strategic framework for the downtown. The plan update is slated to go to City Council for approval and adoption next month. Stay tuned for more! #muralmonday?#publicart?#downtownplanning?#muchinhutch

November is the workiversary month for Gabrielle Grinde, with this year marking her 15th year with HKGi! Currently a Vice President of the firm, Gabrielle joined the team after graduating from the University of Minnesota’s graduate landscape architecture program. Some of her earliest project work included the Minnehaha-Hiawatha Corridor Vision Plan, park planning for the City of Chanhassen, and the Great River Park Plan for the City of Saint Paul. Gabrielle has become one of the firm’s most accomplished and experienced park, trail, and open space planners and designers. Over the past 15 years, she has been a key contributor to the development of Dakota County’s innovative greenway network. She has conducted park, trail and open space planning for clients from Duluth, to Moorhead, to Rice County, and has developed park and recreation system plans and bike-ped plans for cities and counties throughout the state of Minnesota. Some of Gabrielle’s recent projects include the design of accessible kayak/canoe launches in Otsego and Stillwater, park planning and project management for Lake Rebecca Park in Hastings, and a variety of park planning and design services for the cities of Maple Grove, Farmington, Apple Valley, Corcoran, Prior Lake, Sherburne County, and Wright County. Join us in congratulating Gabrielle on this milestone! #15years?#2009?#workiversary?#asla?#aslamn?#landscapearchitecture

A year ago we began working with the City of Scandia and Washington County on the Scandia City Center Study to identify ways to make downtown Scandia better connected for pedestrians, cyclists, and people of all ages and abilities. With projects such as the Gateway State Trail extension and the Scandia Water Tower Barn project on the horizon, this is the opportune time to identify strategies to improve connectivity for visitors and residents in the heart of Scandia. The draft study will be presented to the Scandia City Council on Nov 19th. The study has identified a range of ideas to pursue further, such as streetscape and roadway improvements to calm traffic along TH 97, crosswalk improvements at key intersections, improved connections to Scandia Elementary,?Gammelgarden Museum of Scandia, City Hall Park and businesses throughout the area. Wayfinding and future concept exploration for the Gateway State Trailhead are also included in the study. Community and stakeholder input, along with direct agency guidance from MnDOT, MnDNR, Washington County, and the City of Scandia were all key to exploring concepts and ideas that are supported and celebrated. We really enjoyed meeting and discussing the project with so many engaged Scandia residents at a variety of events throughout the last year. The draft study will be presented to the Scandia City Council on Nov 19th; we will share more details on the final document before the end of the year, so stay tuned! #bikepedplans?#walkablecities?#urbanplanning?#connectivity?#minnesota?#scandia

We’re excited to hype next week’s Dirty Laundry event because HKGi’s Sarah Evenson will be one of the featured speakers! Two industry professionals will share some of the best and worst experiences from their careers in the design world, so we’re eager to hear what stories Sarah has to share. Knowing her, we know she’ll share some humorous stories, but we also know that she’ll offer audience members a fair share of thoughtful insights, advice, and wisdom. This event will take place Thursday, November 7 at 7pm in Northrup Auditorium’s Best Buy Theater. Admission is free but requires advance registration. Register here: https://lnkd.in/gK7ytFkq Sponsored by the University of Minnesota College of Design’s Design Student and Alumni Board. Don’t miss it! #dirtylaundry?#aslamn?#asla?#UMNProud?#UMN?#landscapearchitecture?#umndesign

We’re excited to hype next week’s Dirty Laundry event because HKGi’s Sarah Evenson will be one of the featured speakers! Two industry professionals will share some of the best and worst experiences from their careers in the design world, so we’re eager to hear what stories Sarah has to share. Knowing her, we know she’ll share some humorous stories, but we also know that she’ll offer audience members a fair share of thoughtful insights, advice, and wisdom. This event will take place Thursday, November 7 at 7pm in Northrup Auditorium’s Best Buy Theater. Admission is free but requires advance registration. Register here: https://lnkd.in/gK7ytFkq Sponsored by the University of Minnesota College of Design’s Design Student and Alumni Board. Don’t miss it! #dirtylaundry?#aslamn?#asla?#UMNProud?#UMN?#landscapearchitecture?#umndesign

Congratulations to the City of South St. Paul and its citizens and elected officials, who recently adopted a new Park System Plan that will guide the city’s park investments and improvements for the next 10-20 years. The Plan features twelve System Initiatives, which HKGi’s park planners developed in collaboration with city staff based on input from community members. Each initiative includes goals, strategies, and action steps to help achieve those goals. The Plan also features new concept plans and improvement and maintenance priorities for all 15 of the city’s parks. Together, the initiatives and the concept plans form the heart of the action-oriented Plan. As part of the planning process, HKGi also developed an asset management tool that contains an inventory of all the system’s assets. This tool, which staff can update as conditions in the system change, is a critical element in the planning process. It not only provides an in-depth, data-based snapshot of the system in time, but also provides an effective means of planning capital improvements and anticipating future funding needs. With the Plan’s adoption, @sspminnesota has already begun to take steps to explore options for some of the higher priority implementation recommendations! We are excited to see future developments to the city’s parks system! #southstpaul #parkplanning #dakotacountymn #mrpa #nrpa #asla #aslamn #apa #mnapa

In early October a team of HKGi planners spent four days in Ironwood, Michigan, where they conducted a series of planning workshops with staff and stakeholders. The city hired our team to update the successful 2014 Comprehensive Plan, which helped community members establish a shared vision for Ironwood’s future. That vision and plan have helped generate considerable momentum in the past decade, so community leaders are eager to continue building on the passion that residents have for their community and its development direction. As with so many other communities across the Upper Midwest, housing is one of Ironwood’s most pressing issues. In addition to the comprehensive plan, an HKGi-led team is also conducting a housing study to help the city identify strategies that can lead to construction of more housing and a more diverse housing stock for Ironwood residents. We’ve got a great team of consultants providing expertise for the housing study, including?Acosta Development?and Windward Properties, and it was a great opportunity to spend some time discussing housing with city staff and our consultant partners! Follow along for more. #apa?#miapa?#mnapa?#planning?#communityplanning?#housing?#upperpeninsula?#ironwoodmi?#puremichigan