urbanMSP

Saw the plans for this posted to the Planning Commission COW. The variance request for the sideyard setback (8' off of the common property line right next to a house, 6 stories tall) seems like the kind of "developer's problem, not the city's problem" that should be denied.

Most of the work through this stretch is flatwork that should go really quickly. But it is surprising how little progress they've made on the tunnel!

I guess the big question with all of these results is whether we expect the election voters will be similar to the endorsement voters. Typically, the assumption would be that the endorsement voters are going to be more progressive than general election voters. I've heard some suggestions that the an...

I don't claim to really understand the reasons behind this, but it was explained to me by a smart somebody who thought deeply about these issues that a center-running LRT (like Central or Bottineau proposed here) is much easier to manage the signals for than a side-running LRT (like Hiawatha).

Looks like they've increased the setback along Aldrich to match the adjacent building -- I'm pretty sure the previous building came up much tighter to the property line.

One last note on this: while the ROW for 42nd is 80' on both sides of Nicollet, the actual built condition throttles down significantly on the west side, and all built evidence suggests it has been like this for a long time (maybe always). This isn't unique to 42nd -- other streets in Kingfield are ...

(That said, the city really does need to go to one-sided parking and probably stripe at least the block of 42nd between Nicollet and Blaisdell.)

I don't know the history, but I wouldn't say that the minor streets are necessarily given priority. I think it technically is still an arterial over to Lyndale, just subject to the standard Minneapolis basket weave pattern of stop signs (interrupted by the 4 Way at Grand). On Lyndale, the signalized...

They are stuffing an astonishing amount of density into those 7 stories. Two fully enclosed courtyards! Great for packing in units.

The massing, scale, and setback of this project really feel good.

Like all things in our divided country, it's certain that both of these perceptions are held by large but separate chunks of the population (to the extent that large chunks of the population are thinking about Minneapolis at all).

It will be very interesting to see some plans for this. By my back of the envelope math, they're going to need to basically fill the entire footprint of the parking lot for the full 20 stories with effectively no set backs to pack in 500 units. Not such a big deal next to the low rise church buildin...

Something we haven't talked about in forever, but that I believe is still on the table: This project was designed to have a cut through across its plaza for the future streetcar routing to jog from Nicollet to Hennepin. Does this jog still make sense if the mode shifts from streetcar to aBRT, or wou...

I would assume that, while there will still be a station in the vicinity here, this station area design will be significantly reworked from the previous vision.

FWIW, the original plan to add 38th Street as a BRT stop also included shifting the freeway ramps from 35th/36th to 38th.

This is a fun discussion, and yes, it's probably technically possible to make this work. But it would add massive costs to the tower, to the point that no developer would ever want to undertake it.

Alluded to in the Hy-Vee article, but there is speculation that Amazon Fresh will be opening multiple stores in the metro area in the not too distant future.

Inconvenience of transferring is another issue, for example 46th St & 35W which never worked as intended because riders preferred the one-seat ride on the 146 instead of transferring. The benefit of these BRT routes within the urban core will usually be for reverse commuters, unless you happen to l...

All of the examples above of grocery stores with structured parking are correct, of course, but they were all dedicated, purpose built on only one or two levels with typically flat-plate parking decks and well designed vertical circulation. The existing Seven Points parking ramp is a completely diff...

Doesn't it seem like the CN deal will be harder to pass through anti-competition scrutiny since they already have a north-south connection through the US?