urbanMSP

The Minnesota limestone on the 4th Street side is fine. Handsome, even. The precast concrete that will cover the vast majority of those two towers is pretty dreadful. The city deserves better.

The jackhammers in the former Saks store were removing the street level's tile floor. What is to become of the store's third and fourth floors? Office space, like the rest of Gaviidae?

I walked through this morning, and meh. The way-too-patterned floors and some of the decorative elements from the original early-90s buildout remain, and they don't look good. (I love that sculpture, too; it was originally in the RBC Tower lobby).

Thanks for posting these pictures. It's a very exciting development.

My guess is that the two "circles" shown in the images above are not placeholders for the six Strib medallions but rather are additional medallion-like decorative elements for the facade. According to the Strib story linked above: "On Tuesday, Ryan announced that the medallions will b...

I wonder if the medallions from the Star Tribune building are going to find a home in those circles. And agreed: this limestone or stone-like material is a vast improvement on the City Center-like precast concrete on the building's opposite side.

What is it with the snark on this board? I was under the impression that this was a place for reasonable dialogue and idea-sharing, and not the Strib's toxic comments section. I guess I was wrong. (As for property taxes, the smart cities recognize the qualities that make them attractive as cities an...

I should clarify. You might be talking about 50 years, but I am not (besides,the Andrews was demolished 30 years ago, not 50). But imagine if the Andrews had been closed and stabilized, waiting for a new owner and purpose. Who is to say that that wouldn't have happened five years later? The Andrews ...

Better that they sit empty or underused than be demolished and replaced with a parking lot, which removes all options for the future.

Mullen, I have to disagree. Teardownapolis is a worthy name for this city. Consider the site discussed in this thread. Were the Andrews Hotel still standing -- it was demolished 30 years ago -- the building would have been renovated and either converted to condos or apartments, or remained as a hote...

Oh boy, more precast concrete. And now in a second earth tone. What a clunky, one-dimensional, cheap-looking facade. They're certainly doing their best to replicate City Center. Such a disappointment.

http://s1380.photobucket.com/user/sangu ... sort=3&o=0

More disappointing precast concrete facade materials going up on one of the Wells Fargo towers, on the 5th Avenue side of the north tower.

http://s1380.photobucket.com/user/sangu ... 7.jpg.html

Third Avenue facade is getting (orange-tan) brick, starting at the street level.

Ryan says that the two towers are 17 stories:

http://www.ryancompanies.com/projects/downtown-east/

Apartments are going on both sides of the towers. On the 4th St. side, they are the small four-story buildings wedged between 4th St. and the towers, and they will overlook the park. The west tower's 4th St. apartment building can clearly be seen at :55 on this video and the east tower's 4th St. apa...

Yes, the concrete panels that you refer to, on the 4th Street side of the building, will be covered by apartments. I'm referring to the precast concrete panels -- they're tinted a dark mud -- on the 5th Av. side of the building, on the first level of the building; they abut the much taller concrete ...

Some really unfortunate precast concrete facade panels just appeared on the 5th Av. side of Wells Fargo tower, framing what appears to be a doorway, window or other opening. If the two WF towers are going to be clad in that flat, monochromatic material, they're going to be the Multifoods Towers of 2...

They're applying brick to the Fourth Avenue facade. It's not bad. I tried posting a picture, but this user-unfriendly site doesn't seem to want to allow that.

The Forum's facade was carefully catalogued and stored when the interior was dismantled, but the lawsuits didn't require that it be re-installed in City Center, and the ownership didn't. It was later destroyed in a warehouse fire.