GROVE SQUARE STUDIOS
A Creative Campus Taking Shape
A shared home designed for nonprofit arts, education, and public performance in Maple Grove, Minnesota. Created by Grove Square Collective.
Nonprofit Creativity for Communities
Grove Square Studios is a bold reimagining of a vacant commercial space into a vibrant, multi-tenant arts and cultural campus in Maple Grove, Minnesota. Located in the former JCPenney anchor store at Grove Square Shopping Center, the collective studio will serve as a permanent home for up to 30 nonprofit arts organizations and creative initiatives. By offering shared infrastructure, flexible access, and a deeply collaborative environment, Grove Square Studios is designed to sustain what works, and make room for what’s next.
Programs need permanence
Consistent space strengthens impact
Permanent, dedicated space allows organizations to deepen their projects, try new ideas, and create something lasting. Grove Square Studios offers consistent space, giving groups the freedom to focus on quality and long-term growth.
Who Grove Square Studios Supports
People doing creative work that serves others
Grove Square Studios supports the people who make creative work possible: storytellers, organizers, mentors, producers, and nonprofit leaders. These are the people who bring culture into classrooms, parks, theaters, and communities. This project gives them a place built around their work.
Building Room to Grow
Space built for collaboration and connection
When organizations share a campus, sharing walls can have true benefits. There's room to share ideas, audiences, and momentum, building something larger than any one program alone.
Who This Campus Supports
Grove Square Studios is for organizations and creative leaders doing meaningful work, but are lacking the space to match their purpose.This campus is also being built to support the future leaders who are inspired to help their communities through arts, education, and culture.
The Idea Clicked
They saw themselves here
Within days of sharing the vision, creative leaders began reaching out because they saw a flexible campus that finally reflected how they work.
A common story
Piecing it together for years
From teaching in borrowed classrooms to hosting events in mismatched venues, many groups have been adapting out of necessity. Grove Square Studios answers that reality with purpose-built space.
From all corners of the arts
Interest from every corner
The groups who’ve reached out include large ensembles, solo educators, community arts festivals, and youth-based programs. That variety shows how widely the need is felt.
Built-in community
Unlimited connections
Organizations don't need to work in isolation. A shared campus means shared momentum. Space to collaborate, exchange ideas, and support each other in ways that aren’t possible when everyone’s scattered.
The Bigger Picture
Arts and education nonprofits are often treated like they should be scrappy forever. Constantly shifting, borrowing space, and adjusting to stay afloat. Grove Square Studios pushes back on that idea. It shows what can happen when creative and community-driven work is treated as essential, and given a stable place to grow.
What's Next
In Active Development
We’re working closely with community leaders, creative groups, and potential partners to secure the site and begin buildout. The interest is real, and so is the momentum.
How to Help
Get Involved Early
From funders to future tenants to city partners - this is the moment to be part of shaping Grove Square Studios. If the vision speaks to you, we’d love to hear from you.
A Campus Designed for Performance
Built for Rehearsals, Showcases, and Everything Between
Grove Square Studios is designed to serve both sides of creative work: the behind-the-scenes process and the public experience.That means rehearsal space, classrooms, and film labs, right alongside a venue for live music, theater, community screenings, and student-led events.
What This Makes Possible
With the right groups, Grove Square Studios won’t just sustain growth, it will be expanded through opening it's doors for more programs, deeper partnerships, and events that invite the public in. It’s a step toward a stronger creative network in this region, with a campus that reflects the scale of what’s already happening.
Creative Organizer
Dave Berger
Dave is the founder of the Grove Square Studios initiative and an advocate for community-centered redevelopment. With a background in education, theater, and creative placemaking, he initiated the vision for transforming Grove Square into a permanent home for arts and nonprofit work.
Director of Facilities
Mike Gonzalez
Mike leads Grove Square Collective and brings years of experience working across youth film, nonprofit partnerships, and community arts. He's guiding the vision and structure of Grove Square Studios from the ground up.
The Right Place for Something Like This
Maple Grove is growing fast, with new residents, expanding schools, and a strong civic focus on amenities, parks, and public life. Grove Square Studios adds to that growth with something the region has been missing: a permanent home for arts, education, and culture to thrive side by side.
One of the Fastest Growing Cities in Minnesota
Maple Grove’s population has grown by over 30% since 2000, with continued development across housing, retail, and education. The city’s expansion makes cultural investment more essential, not less.
Lacking a Creative Anchor
From Robbinsdale to Rogers, there is no centralized home for creative organizations in the Northwest suburbs. Grove Square Studios fills a regional gap, offering consistent space for the groups already serving local schools, neighborhoods, and audiences.
Local Investment, Local Impact
Creative campuses strengthen more than just the arts. Grove Square Studios will drive local foot traffic, support nearby businesses, and create new reasons to visit and stay in Maple Grove. It adds lasting value to the city’s economic and cultural life.
Stay Connected
Follow Grove Square Studios for project updates and future announcements.
A Model for What’s Possible
Vacant retail buildings sit empty for years. This project turns one into something entirely new, a permanent campus for creativity, education, and public life. Grove Square Studios shows how underused space can become a long-term asset for the community.
Duluth News Tribune - July 2025
“New fine-arts use found for old Twin Cities store” by Dave BergerArticle Overview:
For more than seven years, the Kmart in West Duluth has stood waiting - spacious, visible, full of untapped potential.In Maple Grove, a former JCPenney is being transformed into a collaborative fine-arts center. What started as one person’s vision is now a shared community project.Could West Duluth imagine something similar? A place reimagined, not for retail, but for creativity, connection, and belonging?“There is no reason the old Kmart in West Duluth cannot follow this same route to rebirth… All that is needed is a little follow-up on a dream.”
—Dave Berger
View the Prospectus
Download the full Grove Square Studios prospectus to learn more about the vision, planning process, and how to get involved.
We're Building This Now
Grove Square Studios is already in motion. If you’re part of this creative community - or want to be - reach out and help shape what comes next.
© 2025 Grove Square Collective. All rights reserved.