Plymouth's civic campus has always been four buildings on one map. The Plymouth Community Center sits at 14800 34th Ave. N. The Hilde Performance Center, Plymouth City Hall and the Plymouth Ice Center line up along Plymouth Boulevard at 3500, 3400 and 3650. You can see them all from almost anywhere on the campus. For years, though, there has been no accessible off-street path from the Community Center to the other three, and the city's own project page calls that "one critical link that is missing."
That link is close to finished. The same season, the city chose a developer to build housing and street-level commercial space on the parking lot most people use to reach the rink. Both projects come from the same intent. City Center is being rebuilt so people walk from building to building instead of driving and re-parking, and this winter's calendar is the first one that shows it.
The boardwalk closes a gap of a few hundred feet
The Plymouth Creek Trail project is small in length and large in effect. It adds a 500-foot boardwalk, about a tenth of a mile of new asphalt trail, lighting, trail counters and wayfinding signs, connecting the Community Center to the Hilde, the Ice Center and City Hall.
The work started in spring. Tree removal was underway in March, crews cut out poor soils in August, and helical piles for the boardwalk were going in through early September. The city's latest update, dated Oct. 19, said the boardwalk was substantially complete except for wire mesh panels still on order. An electrician was installing the trail lights, and paving was expected "within the next few weeks." Paving and the mesh panels were still ahead as of that update, so check the project page before planning a walk around the trail.
The design drawing explains why the route counts for more than a shortcut. The city's preferred concept, dated September 2025, shows the boardwalk crossing a wetland and channel. It includes a resting node, lighting built into the railing, and a metal railing designed to echo the Hilde. Lights built into a railing are a choice made for December evenings, when it is dark by late afternoon and the campus is busiest with indoor activity.
One winter calendar, spread across four buildings
The city's November/December 2026 newsletter does not schedule the season in one building. It spreads events across the whole campus. Santa's Mailbox makes this clearest. From Saturday, Nov. 28 through Sunday, Dec. 13, children can drop off letters at all four buildings, including the igloo with Santa's chair at the Hilde. Letters need a self-addressed, stamped envelope to get a reply.
| Building | Address | On the calendar, November–December 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Plymouth Community Center | 14800 34th Ave. N. | Fieldhouse dome season, Plymouth Artisan Market on Nov. 14, gallery exhibit Nov. 6–Dec. 27, Santa scavenger hunt from Dec. 4, Santa's Mailbox |
| Hilde Performance Center | 3500 Plymouth Blvd. | Holiday Lights from early December, on at dusk; Santa's Mailbox in the igloo |
| Plymouth Ice Center | 3650 Plymouth Blvd. | Public Open Skate, including Dec. 1 from noon to 1:30 p.m.; Santa's Mailbox |
| Plymouth City Hall | 3400 Plymouth Blvd. | Santa's Mailbox, Nov. 28–Dec. 13 |
The Community Center carries the most. The Fieldhouse dome was scheduled to inflate Sunday, Nov. 1, weather permitting, for sports, open play and indoor walking and running. The dome usually stays up through mid-April, and the Community Center also has an indoor walking track. The free Plymouth Artisan Market runs 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, with handmade soaps, pottery, woodwork, jewelry, candles, apparel and fine art. From Nov. 6 through Dec. 27, the building's gallery shows work by the Plymouth Woodcarvers and the Open Art Studio group. Both are senior groups that meet weekly at the Community Center and are open to new members. The gallery is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
The smaller listings fill in the weeks between. Free Movie Matinees with registration play at 1 p.m. on Tuesdays, Nov. 17 and Dec. 15, in the Black Box Theater. Low-Stim Sunday at the K.U.B.E. indoor playground runs 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 29, with dimmed lights and no overhead music. Starting Friday, Dec. 4, twelve tiny wooden Santas will be hidden around the Community Center. Anyone who finds all twelve can enter a drawing for a $100 Parks and Recreation gift card.
Across the campus, Holiday Lights at the Hilde go up in early December and come on at dusk for the rest of the season. The city describes the display as a way to encourage outdoor activity in winter. At the Ice Center, public Open Skate costs $5 per person, plus $5 for skate rental.
Once the trail is paved, a family could mail a letter at the Hilde igloo, walk the lit boardwalk to the Community Center for the scavenger hunt, and finish at the rink without moving the car. The trail's lighting, the light display and the four-site mailbox were each planned separately, and they still point the same way.
One holiday stop is off the campus. The Plymouth History Center holds its Merry Market from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5, at 3605 Fernbrook Lane, with local vendors, hot chocolate and another Santa's Mailbox.
The parking lot is the next piece
The trail connects the buildings. The plan for the parking lot is meant to bring people who walk there.
On Oct. 9, CCX Media reported that Plymouth had chosen Minneapolis-based Sherman Associates to redevelop the city-owned lot along Plymouth Boulevard, next to Life Time and the Plymouth Ice Center. The concept has two mixed-use buildings. The south building would have 205 market-rate apartments and more than 230 parking stalls. The north building would have 128 units for households with incomes up to $71,000 and more than 280 stalls. The site is about 2.5 acres, and an earlier CCX report said Sherman's plan puts ground-floor commercial space along Plymouth Boulevard. That report also quoted city documents saying land for this kind of project is hard to find in City Center because of "low vacancy rates, high land prices and reluctant sellers." So the city offered land it already owns.
Mayor Jeff Wosje explained the reasoning in his comments to CCX Media. "The big thing there is that 50 percent of the people that are going to come to our concerts, come to the restaurants, are going to be people that drive there," he said. "The other 50 percent are going to be people that can walk there. And so we'll be able to do more concerts in the park, we'll be able to attract restaurants that people are looking for because there'll be a built-in density of customers that will be there."
That follows the City Center 2.0 plan, which the city adopted in 2021. The plan calls for a central gathering place, a plaza, and a restaurant cluster with outdoor dining. The groundwork has been piling up for years. The city changed its zoning in September 2023 to allow apartments, townhomes and mixed-use buildings in City Center. In 2024 it redesigned Plymouth Boulevard with better pedestrian crossings, roundabouts, trail connections, seating and room for food trucks. The boardwalk is the newest addition to that work.
Restaurants already nearby give a sense of what City Center is meant to grow around. Asian Duck, a family-owned restaurant that CCX described as focused on Lao cuisine, reopened in July 2025 in a former Caribou Coffee space at 3500 Vicksburg Lane N., Suite 700.
What has to happen before construction
The lot plan has a schedule, but the schedule isn't fixed yet. In late September, CCX reported that the city wanted a development agreement approved before the end of the year. CCX's Oct. 9 report said the city now expected to finalize details early next year, with construction possibly starting by fall. If that timing holds, this would be the last winter the lot is used the way it is now.
Parking is the open question. The city plans a comprehensive parking study covering the construction period and after. City documents cited by CCX say Life Time has "expressed reservations about any project that might impact its parking, visibility or overall functioning of the site," and that the company's cooperation "will be critical for any project to advance." Life Time has been a City Center fixture since it opened in 1997 and is renovating its locker rooms and adding pickleball space.
A fourth sheet of ice at the Plymouth Ice Center is also part of the City Center vision, through the city's Play It Forward Plymouth campaign. One route to paying for it closed this year. The city asked the Legislature last spring for permission to hold a local sales tax referendum, and lawmakers did not advance any local sales tax requests.
Dates to keep
- Nov. 6: The Plymouth Woodcarvers and Open Art Studio exhibit opens in the Community Center gallery and runs through Dec. 27.
- Nov. 13: Applications close for city advisory groups, including the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission and the Planning Commission. These are the bodies that advise the City Council on parks and community development. Appointments are for terms starting in 2027.
- Nov. 14: The Plymouth Artisan Market, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Community Center.
- Nov. 28 to Dec. 13: Santa's Mailbox at all four campus buildings.
- Early December: Holiday Lights at the Hilde come on at dusk.
- Dec. 5: The Merry Market at the Plymouth History Center, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The application page for the city's committees, boards and commissions is at plymouthmn.gov/commissions.
The trail, the parking study and the development agreement will each affect how the land around the Hilde and the Ice Center is used. If you own property near City Center and want to know how these changes could affect it, The Steadman Team can walk you through it. Request a private consultation and valuation.
