urbanMSP

Having recently chaperoned a few cramped busloads of teens on field trips, I can say with confidence that it'd be next to impossible to make school buses any narrower than they already are. Plus they need mirrors that extend well beyond their body width in order to safely navigate bus stops without ...

Lots of school buses use Washington. Can they safely manuever through 10' lanes? You're not leaving 'em much room for error.

We know from the EIS that the building is likely to have long, sloping, angular facets. This image seems to confirm "angular". There's also an asymmetrical footprint. And the concourse looks much bigger than the Metrodome's.

A few months back MPR documented the fight over baseball field dimensions at the new stadium. In the documents, both the MSFA and the Vikings reference MLS-readiness multiple times. It definitely seems as though the stadium is being designed to satisfy MLS criteria, and so at this point I'd have to ...

I'm pretty sure it'll be 50 ft below grade and 240 ft above. Not positive though.

The general public gets 300 free tickets to the unveiling at the Guthrie's Wurtele Thrust Stage. First-come, first-serve.

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_231 ... ets-design

More details. They haven't ruled out implosion for the Metrodome. And as expected, it looks like demolition is likely for the Star Tribune building.

http://blogs.mprnews.org/stadium-watch/ ... s-stadium/

More interesting tidbits are seeping out. Among other details, it appears that there may be heavy use of ETFE.

http://blogs.mprnews.org/stadium-watch/ ... -olympics/

Cowboys Stadium is 300 ft. Why would our 65,000-seat stadium need to be as tall as an 80,000-seat one? Kelm-Helgen claims they STILL haven't finally decided on a retractable roof. She also says the final design won't look like either the "ribbon" or the "transparent roof" concept...

I'll bet they wanted the event at a location from which one could view the stadium site. Lester Bagley says the building will have "lots of glass and light and a very open feel." Michele Kelm-Helgen says it'll fit in well with the neighborhood and downtown. http://www.startribune.com/local...

The unveiling date is set for May 13. Mark your calendars.

http://www.vikings.com/news/article-1/V ... 5617e80974

Well, for whatever it's worth, at least one informed individual now guesses that the roof won't retract. But his opinion doesn't seem to have come from possession of any inside information.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/post/_ ... table-roof

This article notes that the city eliminated minimum parking requirements for buildings in the downtown zoning district in 2009.

http://www.startribune.com/local/minnea ... ml?refer=y

I don't think anyone means to suggest that the sole reason for the lack of development is zoning. But I also don't think that there's much question that zoning exacerbated an already difficult situation. The environment is much better now. Parking lots are a bit less profitable due to the lack of Tw...

With respect Viktor, my point is that all this complaining won't undo the deal. So now our only choice is to consider what's next. Why not work to make the building function as well for the state as it possibly can? Also, the bright side of Minneapolis' oversized financial sacrifice is that it puts ...

All 150 of those local college games will be played in February and March. So there's literally no place they can go other than the new stadium. Regarding citations, I'll gladly concede the point about number of games if anyone can name a place with more than 25,000 seats that'll host more contests....

I agree that Minneapolis bears far too much of the financial burden, and that the economics of sports facilities is messed up. But let's not underestimate how useful this building will be. There will be WAY more than 10 games. College baseball alone should account for around 150 games. There will al...

A reminder to those obsessed with parking who may not be aware…in 1999 the city banned new commercial lots. And in 2009 they nixed minimum parking requirements for new development. So for most of the Metrodome's life, policies with regard to parking lots were more favorable than they are now. http:/...

Viktor, I'm afraid I just assumed that the zoning status prior to 2002 had remained constant for at least as long as the dome's existence. I don't know the details. But as MNdible reminds us, the area was called Industry Square, so I s'pose it's not unlikely that it was zoned high-tech prior to 1982...

Not BS. Last year the CEO of the Downtown Council said "it was about 10 years ago that the zoning code around the Metrodome was changed from a high-tech district to a general multipurpose district, allowing anything from residential housing to retail." From 1982 through 2002 it was zoned h...