urbanMSP

I’m not convinced the over-55 market is over supplied. My sense that maybe the biggest reason the senior housing apartments are the least likely apartments to be objected to is that the people with the time to make noises at city council or commission meetings are the sort who are most keenly aware...

It's interesting how this area of Minneapolis actually filled out quite a bit later than the grid in present-day Richfield. That’s the way it usually works, whether it’s the outer reaches of a central city meeting suburbs, or the outer reaches of the US meeting Canada: it ends up being the lowest d...

Bear Cave? Isn't that a very niche target demographic?

The EagleBolt was doing fine. Maybe the bears are hibernating in the suburbs now?

Is the Galaxy Drive-in on hold, due to COVID-19?

If Micro Center moved, would they choose a smaller space? Large space, low rent, plenty of parking… seems like a dying breed in well to do first ring suburbs.

So it looks like the north section will go to completion, but the south section is being abandoned?

I’ll put in that a line going along France to the West Lake Station would make transit from Hopkins to Southdale worth considering. Maybe in the future a SWLRT to (whatever transit we get from West Lake to Uptown) to E-Line is faster than the 70-90 minutes a Hopkins to Southdale transit option is t...

Yeah, the stations that are beyond Hopkins certainly don’t seem like they’ll be surrounded by great urban nodes.

Maybe there really is a difference between first- and second-ring suburbs.

So maybe SWLRT isn’t just commuter rail after all, and we’ll be seeing real urban nodes developing around each station? That’d be great.

The ARTery is amazing. It gets everything right, from safety & protection to comfort to efficiency to real placemaking. Bravo, Hopkins.

It's a bit of a complex route, but the rationale does make sense and it hopefully will still be fairly straightforward to navigate with the exception of the segment between France and Hennepin. Hopefully they have a concrete plan to keep the buses moving through that section smoothly, because that'...

That would be a huge loss for the city and the area and the SWLRT.

Unless there’s a for-profit vulture ready to swoop in.

https://www.bolton-menk.com/news/connecting-park

A retrofit rom the engineer’s perspective.

If only we prioritized bikes & pedestrians over cars.

I used to think these were the coolest thing, and a great answer. But the more I learn about land use, transportation, and what we need to do for climate change, I think these will only be used in the very wealthiest areas, where people (1) refuse to bike in the open air, and (2) refuse to allow the...

I finally got a chance to see Cottageville Park, and I gotta say, the city really hit the ball out of the park. What a great urban park.

As for the 35 mph four-lane highway next to it ‍♂️

Notable: "20% of all Twin Cities households without cars are along the Gold Line route"

But I thought BRT to the suburbs was going to destroy the Twin Cities?

https://www.apnews.com/c9c940d4b2544facaf60ea18dc03e0da A fire killed 5 children at a daycare over the weekend. … Now if you want to argue that the design should be different, or it shouldn't take up so much of the street frontage, or the play area should be tucked behind the building, that's fine....

Or it’s fine. Right?! Most buildings are ordinary. That’s fine. Sure, I’m not a fan of most dark patchwork buildings, but it’s a design trend and we mostly have to live with it. What really matters is buildings that, because of their size or location, stand out. Things like skyscrapers, “gateway” b...

Does the city zoning here not have minimums? That they can tear down what’s there, build less, by right? If so I’m LOLing. Yep. Building minimums were pulled out of the Southdale District plan guidelines at the last minute, since they were quite high (8 stories, I believe). But, clearly, there’s a ...

Those are good ideas. The city needs to do more. I just don’t want to build bad infrastructure that will hang around for 50 years. City leaders have done great things (like the Promenade), but it has to be more consistent, more part of a … comprehensive plan. 😉 The first step is throwing out the dou...

Yeah, I agree with all of that.