urbanMSP

Well, Who wants to bet that this becomes another somewhat interesting possibly semi historic building that gets torn down and then ends up sitting an empty lot for a long time😬. I mean I would think if not the planned building some thing will come along pretty quick but who knows. I just hate when ...

What a shocking and unpredictable outcome. I look forward to everyone here learning absolutely nothing from this experience.

Scroll down to page 72 of the staff report to see cost breakdowns. $450,000 per housing unit for a rehab is not going to happen without significant subsidy.

The email just before that (pages 70-71) clarifies that the overall cost if the existing building were retained would be $342,272/unit, vs ...

Work is being done to reconfigure the parking lot at the Maplewood Mall Transit Center. When I search for details it only pulls up information about the Bronze Line. Where else could I find a summary of these changes?

I am still surprised that they have not reopened the building at this location ...

Well it seems you have this all figured out and should secure financing to save the building...
I honestly do not understand arm chair conversations with regard to so many items on this forum. I would think if rehabilitating the building was economically viable, they'd chose that. Just because it ...

“We concluded that the rehabilitation option was not really feasible due to the condition of the building," Dickerson said. Some of the building issues include window damage, HVAC damage, asbestos, rotted interior pipes, leaking roof and the lack of a sprinkler system.

Translation: "It's a ...

Anyone know how/if Gold Line will continue serving the Smith Ave Ramp station? It's shown on the route maps as a little detour.

StandishGuy wrote: August 2nd, 2026, 10:53 amI cannot think of another major City that doesn't have a museum located within the center of the City.

Philadelphia? Their museum is a long walk from the center city.

mattaudio wrote: July 31st, 2026, 9:52 amFor designs like this, I wonder if there's ever a cost-effective way to tunnel the most high volume through movement underneath a roundabout.

Plenty of those in DC (Dupont Circle etc.), but at the point where you're spending the money on grade separation, why not just design an interchange?

The piece of most interest to us "urbanists" is this building review covering every facility MPS operates: https://www.mpschools.org/about-mps/school-transformation/building-reports

This report just makes clear how dire a problem MPS is facing. Getting the system to 70 percent average ...

Or, even more likely: that we have long since passed "peak retail' with the increasing centrality of online commerce, and what we are seeing now are the first hints of another long-term secular decline in the viability of neighborhood commercial districts.

One under-acknowledged impact of 3C options was that the transition from the railroad trench into the cut-and-cover tunnel under Nicollet would have required bringing the trail up to surface level through the area, and possibly also rerouting it entirely up to 29th/Newman.

The ABRT concept studied for Franklin/Grand/E 3rd terminated at Franklin/Hennepin on the west end.

The Washington Ave bridge over 35W bridge dates back to 1967 and is in middling condition according to its inspection reports, so it should be due for replacement soon anyway.

Here's the regional solicitation application for the project from 2024, including concept plans: https://metrocouncil.org ...

It's inevitable that fixing MPS will require some new buildings, and it's not unreasonable in itself to say that the new Anishinaabe Academy should be one of them. But the structural problem in the MPS budget is caused by the huge number of half-empty schools that still have nearly as many staff ...

Is it too late to label this as a color line (Purple?) instead of an arterial BRT/letter? Considering the amount of transit advantage to be added on the corridor and the fact that the remainder runs on high-speed expressways, it's a lot more like Bronze Line or Red Line than most of the other ABRT.

Hate to say this, but over-expansion into St. Paul (and outlying Minneapolis) was part of Nice Ride's downfall. The ridership was never there and didn't support having that station infrastructure distributed so widely. A mostly-docked system needs stations packed closely together for short trips ...

The dockless Lime scooter system in St. Paul today is immensely more useful than Nice Ride ever was. They were too much a Minneapolis organization to have a chance getting regional funding.

The Washington Ave bridge over 35W bridge dates back to 1967 and is in middling condition according to its inspection reports, so it should be due for replacement soon anyway.

Here's the regional solicitation application for the project from 2024, including concept plans: https://metrocouncil.org ...

Many sweeteners in the package of local road improvements for 94 in north:

• curb protection for the bike lanes on Plymouth, 26th, Lowry, Washington/41st, 53rd
• much wider sidewalks on Broadway
• a new ped/bike bridge at 34th
• redecking the Camden bridge to improve the Grand Rounds connection