urbanMSP

A couple photos of progress over at SE 26th and Essex:

IMG_20200710_131956 (002).jpg

It’ll be rough if no students show up this fall to fill up these and other places.

I was on the South Uptown neighborhood call last night where the developers presented their plans for this building. It went about as expected with some supporting the height and others saying it doesn't fit the neighborhood. Also concerns about the rooftop party deck and what the exterior would lo...

Wilderness Inquiry, a great non-profit organization, is headquartered in the one-story buildings on the west side of the site. Is there any word on what will happen to them? It looks like they were the main seller so at a minimum, they have a nice cash infusion here. Thanks for the update, HKM. I'm...

Wilderness Inquiry, a great non-profit organization, is headquartered in the one-story buildings on the west side of the site. Is there any word on what will happen to them?

"Brand New Modern Luxury Apartment Homes"

= “New Luxury Apartments”

Yesterday I heard this project will break ground soon, within a few weeks.

What a strange time for this to be going forward.

Do you ‘spose there’s time for one last errand? We are low on milk. Good bye, old buddy!

Both of these buildings are handsome artifacts of their period. We’ve lost the very best from this time, but one or both of these could be worth saving if they are handled well. Perhaps either a park or a slender new building could take over the parking lot. I'm with Luigi on this one. Even if thes...

Ok, since I started this here, any thoughts on how to replace the last-resort-housing-for-homeless-families lost through the Drake Hotel fire?

There is a thread over in the Anything Goes forum. Thanks for directing me there. Maybe I was stuck by the extremely limited reaction to the Drake Hotel fire, which made me wonder how much avowed urbanists really care about the issue. Do we go bonkers over exterior cladding issues and push the huge...

Happy New Year, everyone! It seems that there is no thread devoted solely to affordable housing. Independently of ethical concerns, making sure that there is adequate affordable housing directed toward the bottom end of Minneapolis' workforce is a key element in assuring the economic health of our u...

Would it be too inflammatory to suggest a 900 ft tall freeway lid? That could get two birds with one stone, a lid and a new tallest hahah

Touche

The idea of freeway lids keeps popping up on this forum. I understand the desire for connection, but there are still many acres of underutilized land downtown, and there are gaping infrastructure needs everywhere. Juxtaposing the square footage cost of space on top of a freeway cap to these facts, i...

There was also a mid-century FDA building.

From which the flagpole that long stood on the corner of Washington and Hennepin was left over. It was a fairly nondescript box of a building.

Question: At one time there was a plan for an awful skyway running from the Gateway project to Marquette Plaza. I’m assuming this was replaced by the proposal to run the skyway from the Gateway through the library to 301 Nicollet, then on to 365, etc, etc. Does anyone know if 301 were not to be buil...

I'm puzzled by the frequent assumption that height equals a better building. On this forum, there's plenty of criticism of tall apartment buildings on top of parking podia, and just today there's a good comment about how well the 6-story building at 1500 Nicollet has turned out. Personally, I'm more...

Yes, Nathan, I agree. Enclosing that first floor would make the 21st Century Bank Building a nice part of the city. In general, I sometimes think we're in danger of repeating some of the worst urban planning mistakes of the past, namely tearing down buildings because they look out of date or represe...

And if we enter into a recession, or if lenders merely become increasingly uneasy over concern that one might begin, you can bet that the ranks of pretty buildings that don't exist will grow.

A crew is working on the Finance & Commerce Building today. It looks as though improvements are being made rather than preparations for demolition. Is this structure going to be incorporated into the low-income housing, or is something entirely different going on?

I'm pretty sure the loading zone alley will have to be entirely or mostly plugged on Nicollet because the skyway from the library will cross to 301 at just that spot. I'm assuming that this skyway is needed since the one directly from Gateway Tower to Marquette Plaza appears, thankfully, to have bee...