urbanMSP

I had initially opposed the U of M area site, which is near where I live, but lately I've opened up a bit to the idea. My opposition was largely because the site as is sits way back in an industrial area and requires walking through weird, industrial back roads to get there. However, it physically d...

It's kind of ironic that people in this threat are advocating new parks and open space yet in the nearby Vikings thread the affiliated stadium plaza is being derided as a waste of taxable land.

Let's erroneously link drunk driving deaths to Vikings games some more!

Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic were from Aberdeen, which is two hours away (Dave Grohl from Virginia). Kurt later moved to Seattle and that's where he died, but he hardly ever lived there in his lifetime.

Why in the world would she have lived in Minneapolis? I was pretty sure she was entirely west coast. She was in the band "Babes in Toyland" for a while in the late 80's. Back when Mpls was still huge in the music scene. On an obviously much smaller scale, the Minneapolis music scene was o...

I'm going to take this slightly off-topic, but St. Anthony Main would be the perfect place to have kind of an "artists row" like they do in Europe. Obviously Minneapolis isn't Paris, but if St. Anthony Main was developed from Hennepin Bridge to Stone Arch Bridge, can't you imagine somethin...

The impression I've gotten from the news coverage is that the artist lofts plan is really the only viable option in the near future, as privately developing it would be incredibly expensive, so hoping it goes through!

I'm pretty sure there is some sort of regulation around TCF Bank Stadium that prevents existing buildings from turning into parking. Right after the stadium was built some neighboring businesses complained because nobody came during games and they weren't allowed to rent parking spaces to fans. Some...

Sorry, I don't really understand what you're saying. Can you clarify?

I agree with nickmgray regarding the street-level retail. It might not be totally justified right now, but if the A Mill goes through and eventually something infills that giant parking lot off university it will be a huge increase in people for one of the city's most underrated areas.

To be sure, I don't think anybody is advocating that downtown rid itself of chain retail. The larger point is to grow retail organically rather than trying to create faux shopping malls meant to attract people from the suburbs.

I completely agree with minntransplant. There are tens of thousands of workers downtown each day and something like 30,000 people living downtown, so there is inherently a need for people to buy stuff. Maybe it's not as much stuff as people used to buy, and maybe the new stuff is not (initially) as ...

My problem with these is that they would be two tall glass buildings permanently in a neighborhood of shorter brick buildings, while several modern, tall buildings sit closely together about five blocks east. Almost any development here would be a net positive, and a building of this size would cert...

How will the Target Center renovation enhance retail on Nicollet Mall?

I agree. Minneapolis should focus on teen clothing stores in the heart of downtown!

I guess I'll go out and say it: I think these look awkward and out of place here.

It's not like there's a giant wall up right now stopping U students from going downtown, especially to the area around the Stone Arch Bridge. I think it would be positive to better connect the university to downtown, but I'm just not really understanding your vision. I don't really think there is an...

Is the grocery story going to wrap around the parking lot or what?

Maybe I'm alone, but I don't see the area around the Metrodome becoming a magnet for student-based retail.

Personally I think you have to look at something like this as a park geared toward a slightly different audience. If you base it off a mystical giant skateboarding competition it kind of misses the point. The real value of a skate park would be that it would bring new people to this area on a daily ...