urbanMSP

Given unlimited resources, maybe some of these extensions make sense. But if you refer to this map (and take it with a grain of salt), you'll see that not all areas merit beefed up transit. We've talked about the perils of long routes before -- delays rippling through the system, more complicated r...

I've been a bit confused by the truncated nature of some of these routes, which I think would really benefit from through-running. The D-Line is really good because the Minneapolis CBD is just the center of it. But the C-Line terminates downtown. I'd love to see it keep going, perhaps down Bloomingt...

Make this an aBRT project and it can start preliminary engineering today, will cost $200 million less, and will serve a lot more territory a lot better.

Owning the air rights and owning the land are two different things.

Reminiscent of a HOPE VI development. Definitely not the kind of urban infill you frequently see today.

I never look too closely at Minneapolis and St. Paul's respective populations and densities. Both city's boundaries are so small compared to almost every other comparison. Denver and Seattle, for instance, encompass three times the land of Minneapolis. But Seattle's total controlled area is forty pe...

I'd presume incompetence before I presume malice. The city should put its foot down if it happens again with this developer. It can't become a trend. At the same time, development is tough, and occasionally things don't work out cleanly. An occasional small mulligan seems fair. This isn't a small c...

That's sort of like saying we don't really care about the rule of law. Yes, I know the law is flexible, and on and on. But at what point do we put our foot down and say that bad behavior by developers won't be tolerated. Plenty of us have complained in the past about developers radically changing a...

Don't make this personal. As for this project, there doesn't seem to be a way to slap the wrists of this developer for the shoddy way he's presented and adjusted this project. Maybe making the guy sweat like this is the best available way to do it. But I hope the City Council still allows for it to ...

I think the real question I have for Alatus is: what's with the rendering with the guy staring directly at the "camera"? I want to know the story behind that one.

The best way to funnel business to skyway tenants would be to hand them two-week-long permits to open a concession on the street. Laboring to send people up to the skyways and orient them there wouldn't be a good use of anyone's time.

The skyways are incredibly confusing to navigate for infrequent users, let alone newcomers (regular skyway users badly underestimate this). The streets are being programmed to death for the Super Bowl. Nothing surprising that a lot of the activity this week is bypassing the second level.

If the sign goes, we riot.

Huh? How was the greenspace happening without the stadium? Politically they became connected, but there was absolutely nothing preventing that kind of development and investment when the Metrodome was there. If Minnesota had spent $400 million on the new park and on, say direct subsidies to develop...

Embedded in the New York Times' fairly credulous article about downtown east's development: Mr. Sherman has made the leap across Washington Avenue, where he is close to opening 180 apartments and a Trader Joe’s in his East End project, and a 182-room Canopy by Hilton in what is commonly known as the...

Don't take your cars to town son
Leave your cars at home Sven
Don't take your cars to town

- Johnny Cash

Downtown St. Paul still has a surprising number of lots available for contextual, 7-13 story apartment or condo buildings. Hoping this development really succeeds and sparks similar projects, because there's no place in the Twin Cities with more potential to be a truly great urban neighborhood.

Thank goodness the whole proposal has been made twice as wide to accommodate two new back alleys and twenty four surface parking spaces. I'm sure that'll be completely worth the cost.

I can see the E-Line terminating at the West Lake Station when the SWLRT opens, let's say in 2023. Then, when Midtown LRT opens, let's say in 2027, the E-Line route to the West Lake Station is removed, and the route is instead extended from the Uptown Transit Center to the American Boulevard Orange ...

Why is the route of the E Line so small? Surely it should go further south, perhaps all the way to Southdale? Also further north, at the very minimum across the river to serve St. Anthony.