urbanMSP

I'm generally anti-vacancy tax, however maybe it could work on Nicollet Mall if the proceeds of such a tax could be directly returned to activating and improving Nicollet Mall or even granting money back to the property owners to meet certain objectives. Make the fees of the stick tie to the grants ...

I had some major disagreements with how they engineered and presented the 3C options.
I also think it would have been worth exploring putting the rails in/under the 35W corridor when it was torn up between Lake and downtown. Could have had a stops at Nicollet/Greenway, Franklin/35W, and maybe even ...

Ah I was looking at the wrong segment on a list of rail dates. Yes, the thing that severed the through-routing of SOO/TCW trains was MnDOT's project to build a SPUI interchange at Hiawatha and Lake, right? That would have been in the late 90s.

Did the original uptown routing plan to use the midtown greenway trench?
And if so when did the trench get converted from a rail spur to the trail we have today?

Rails were removed in the late 80s, Hennepin bought the corridor in the early 90s, and the trail was built in segments during the ...

Seems like it could almost be better to extend the 2 south on Hennepin then west on Lake to the Green Line. Still would provide connectivity to the Green Line on the west end, but would also probably serve one seat rides that are more in demand (e.g. Uptown to West Bank) and increase frequency on ...

IDK, Owami vs Culvers is a compelling flip of the coin.

Green Line will have a fairly transit-accessible Culvers across the Hwy 5 interchange from SouthWest Station, and already has one at University/Snelling. And Sun-Ray has a Culvers at the footsteps of the Gold Line station, and the future is ...

That's ridiculous - the 98th St bridge is very hostile for people crossing outside of cars, and some sort of ped bridge or even a full traffic bridge somewhere between 99th and 100th could be useful.
Stretch idea - to what extent could a P&R also serve as district parking, usable by the Catholic ...

It's easy to dislike progressives when they're all about "here's what we're going to do" and completely divorced from reality around "here's how we're going to pay for it."

The best spot for an observation tower would be at Fort Snelling or atop Pilot Knob (and yes I realize it's a non-starter). Great views of rivers in three directions, airplane spotting, both downtowns, and more.

Echoes of the vaporware Bloom Capital riverfront towers further south?

It feels like an issue where all these problems were foreseeable, and technology existed to mitigate them
Not sure about that. From the start of the HOV lanes in the early 1990s to the USDOT Urban Partnership Agreement project in 2009, there was no technology for managing these lanes - just law ...

No thread about the dog park closure? That seems notable. Sounds like lawsuits are on the way.

Unfortunately, the carpool exemption makes it nearly impossible to do pay by plate in Minnesota.

Other states require a switchable transponder to do carpooling, and we could do that here. No transponder = pay by plate by default. https://www.codot.gov/programs/expresslanes/get-a-pass
https://www ...

For those more familiar with how these projects are financially structured on the contracts side... How are people from planning to engineering to construction incentivized to avoid using up the contingency?

IDK, seems like we should get our house in order with the existing rail lines that have seen a ridership, safety, and public perception slump before we spend $3.6 billion on a new one.

Bellecour opening on the ground floor of the Wells Fargo Center. This appears to be the space between Marquette and the elevator lobby which was previously a leasing office - not sure if this also includes the teller/backoffice space closer to 6th Street. Given the teller space on both sides of the ...

Har Mar Mall could be headed for the wrecking ball
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/har-mar-mall-could-be-headed-for-the-wrecking-ball/ar-AA25hkWo

A marketing brochure from mall manager and leasing agency JLL calls for "a full scrape and rebuild of the existing shopping center" with tenants able ...

Looks great. A few additions:
* Connect Currie across the trench and build infrastructure for air rights development over the trench.
* Reopen Lee's Liquor Lounge

How has it been over a decade with no movement on this prime riverfront parcel....
Though it's not the worst, since it could still work well to connect the Fort Road bridge to Shepard Rd and end West 7th at Davern, which would make use of some of this site.

Well Venn Brewing started doing coffee at 46th St and Hiawatha, right? However I don't think they opened early enough for many commuters. Maybe it could work as a part of a broader business plan at the same location for this station.