urbanMSP

Seems the Metropolitan building site sat vacant for a few decades after we tore it down too because most people at the time thought the architectural style was ugly and not worth of preservation and anyone that wanted to save it was kind of looked at crazy obstructionists like the people that wanted ...

Seems there's actually a shortage of retail in this market, at least certain kinds of retail in certain location. Vacancy in the Southwest suburbs is down to around 3% even as it stays at 13% downtown.

https://www.startribune.com/not-enough-retail-real-estate-in-twin-cities-rents-higher-new ...

Are there particular examples of mid-century buildings in the area that are worth spending money to save?

So then is it reasonable to think that if Har Mar is really so lucrative for apartment buildings, maybe an apartment developer would make a "make me move" offer to Fidelis.

Are Roseville residents, Roseville government, and random internet commentors suggesting they know better than Fidelis what the market will support and how much parking is needed, and that it would actually be viable to pack the site with mixed use 5 over 2s or something?

As for Cub, they could be ...

About 25 years after we build something we stop appreciating that particular architectural style and it takes until about 75 years until just about everyone fully appreciates it again. Notable the Metropolitan Building was demolished at 71 years, feelings were very mixed at the time right at the ...

So, typical suburban mall stores in downtowns work out just fine in other cities but inevitably lead to disaster here?

Questions-

Are people living in downtown or a couple of miles aways shopping at cute local expensive stores downtown, or are they driving out to the Home Depots and Walmarts in the suburbs to get free parking and cheaper prices? There's a huge amount of big box stores at the Quarry and ...

Worth noting the 610 bridge was built before the oil fracking boom.

Kind of wonder if they want Big Lake as a place to park and refuel Borealis trains after a stop in Minneapolis and possibly Anoka? Wasn't the original hang-up about ending in Minneapolis that there that there's no fueling / layover infrastructure at the station?

Worth noting that Eden Prairie is tying to get funding to design what presumably will be an interchange at CSAH 4 and TH 5, which has similar traffic volumes.

That article is also missing a "zero", I count 48,295 vehicles a day using the MnDOT traffic mapping numbers and the article says "4700". That's getting very close to the theoretical 50,000 perfect capacity of 2 lane roundabout, but we have to knock off some capacity since the approaches aren't ...

Are we sure Occam's Razor isn't correct, that there's no retail and Lyndale and Lake because there isn't a demand for retail at Lyndale and Lake?

I'm sure the threat of a vacancy tax will in no way discourage the building of new housing if developers are afraid it will expand to include the ground floor retail that the city requires them to build as a condition of getting their housing built, but there's no actual market for at lease rates ...

Or we could go back even farther in time and run light rail down the 35W median to Burnsville like we planned to in the 80s.

If the train went through Uptown there'd be StarTribune commentors saying no one from the suburbs is going to ride it to their jobs downtown because of the long, slow detour through Uptown instead of a fast direct route. Or to the university because of the transfer.

NickP wrote: July 15th, 2026, 11:54 am All things named Northstar in MN seem to end up in Texas. hahah

Guess my North Star Highways web site is going to go to Texas next.

How many people in the suburbs really think specifically "I want to eat at Owammi tonight."

It's "I want eat somewhere tonight. Owammi I'd have to take the train or pay to park but Culver's has free parking and is by a freeway exit, so I'll go to Culver's instead to eat".

They're probably not thinking about "the politics of city borders" so much as there's a freeway exit right next to Southdale so it's easy to drive to and park right in front of for free without having a difficult drive, paying for parking, or having to ride transit.

So have the businesses specifically said their customers coming in and parking in front are from Eden Prairie as opposed to Minneapolis?