urbanMSP

I'm starting to think that the ridership for this just-might-maybe not justify grants from the feds, but I don't know...

I don't necessarily agree with Lancaster's thoughts on the skyways, but I think we are all being incredibly naive if we blame the skyways exclusively for killing retail on downtown's streets...

I'd say that Kmart would sell the land and lease a building built to suit them. I think that they might a a very few urban store. But this would help them be a laboritory for what to do for other areas. What works and what does not. The replacement store will not be a cookie cutter store that is fo...

The bright side of this is that it will make for a more dramatic step-down effect from the 5th Street Towers (5th Street Tower I is only 356'....the original Nicollet Res. proposal would have been pretty close to that). Can only speculate on how this will look now when viewed from Washington Ave. or...

More fun old links:

http://blogs.citypages.com/pdemko/2003/09/

Scroll down to the final blog entry for another of Hosko's failed downtown St. Paul proposals...

Here's a fun link:

http://www.angelfire.com/mn/dragonfire/talk4.html

#s 24 and 37 are most pertinent to our discussion here....but cool to see all of the "ambitious" proposals floating around St. Paul in the good ol' days...

I think I remember the skyride/gondolas....

At this point, Sears Holding Company (which owns K-Mart), is very much a real estate holding company first and a retailer second. The value of the real estate sitting under their stores is what drove their merger. And I don't think anybody's talking about actually getting rid of K-Mart. From their ...

I am interested in that the proposed area for redevelopment includes the wells fargo another block south. If Kmart and WF teams up they could probably work something good out for that space and then work to better devote the area facing the greenway to housing, as values are increasing on the green...

well it can be one of their best performing stores and still allow a major city street to flow freely. How do you figure? Nicollet at its current alignment goes smack dab through the middle of the KMart. If they're serious about reconnecting it with Lake Street, then the time it takes to do that an...

Thanks for the info, folks-- I knew somebody here would know something. Larry Millet's book 'Lost Twin Cities' has a section unbuilt Twin Cities with a rendering of the tower you mention. It would have been near the river center parking ramp. THERAT, I assume this is separate from the more recent (1...

That looks more like it's in Miami than an industrial wasteland. Optimistic for this project though. That could be a neat little node around that station if things work out. I see why you say that....the trees look like palm trees at first, but palm trees don't have branches and those things do. I ...

TraderJoes needs to get into the Downtown game with either a TJ's or the non-yuppie version Aldi's. Yes, east of the Guthrie area would be ideal. Would attract shoppers from both downtown and the U of M. How about south Nicollet at 18th, redo the whole parcel north of Plymouth Church, Aldi & ha...

Retiredbanker, you might be as good as anyone to ask-- wasn't there a 600' "Space Needle" proposed for St. Paul many, many years ago? Like, 1950's or 60's? I remember stumbling upon a rendering of one online or in some Twin Cities history book, but haven't been able to figure out where I s...

Actually, I can't think of one documented case...

Although I'm not a huge fan of "retro" ballparks, I think that that type of design is best for maintaining the aesthetics of Lowertown...

Gut some of the inside. Make Block E an "arcade" with levels of retail surrounding an indoor park. Plop 20 stories of Residential or hospitality on top. Sort of like Edinborough Park...

This plan works for 10 day out of the year. You don't spent Multi-million dollars on 10 days. There is little else around there to attract people. All Restraunts and bars are blocks fron the Armory. Will have to see if the Linear park is anything more than land taken off the tax roles. I think the ...

Just go to startribune.com and scroll down to "latest videos" (beneath the headline stories). It's there. It's only about a minute-and-a-half, though

I want a "third downtown" along the Central Corridor, with mixed use buildings approaching 20 stories/200 feet in height. There are some *great* parking lots by Skyline where we can make it happen...