urbanMSP

Is this project moving along in the approval process? If so, where does it stand and is there a target for construction to begin?

In principle, this is good news, but it will take some doing to fill the retail/commercial space. The partial remake of City Center and the Dayton’s project could stall filling the retail space here for a very long time. I hope they can do it. The building is a gem - especially above the ground floor.

I’m not sure there is anything unfortunate about the Old Spaghetti Factory leaving this space. With the rest of the black already made new or renewed, this place suddenly came to look very tired and worn out. Judging from recent comments, it seems as though the concept of the restaurant was getting ...

This is going to be a good addition to the governmental zone of downtown. It is good to see all of these functions in relatively close proximity to each other and the plazas on either side of the Hennepin County towers should be more animated by the increased foot traffic this building will probably...

I will give Thrivent credit for a crisp and sleek office structure, though I’d like to hear why the architects opted to band he structure in a way that makes it seem like a bloated four story building rather than the eight story structure it actually is. It’s also good to see the new ramp almost com...

Larking promises to be a decent addition to the cityscape on Portland and on Eighth. This design isn’t flashy but it does reference the KA block and the other taller structures nearby and to some extent, improves on them. Now if we could just convince the folks at Portland Tower to do something with...

Perhaps what needs to happen with Calhoun Square is that the owners end up having to sell the place at a significant loss and a new owner could come in, lower rents and work to draw in more food and entertainment and services useful to the neighborhood. Urban malls like this just don’t have the draw...

It looks like Dunn Brothers closed at least one other shop abruptly. Are they in trouble?

This is a bad time for retailers. Amazon and all of the other online sellers have revolutionized the way people shop and buy. It is not completely a one sided shift. Some exclusively online sellers have started to build stores because their market research shows that to be viable. Most retailers how...

The tower component of Expo looks like a repeat of the towers of Riverplace. It’s either overdone contectualism, or a lack of creativity. One thing that it does better than the nearby Riverplace towers is that it does not turn a blank street presence or tower face to it’s neighborhood. I suppose at ...

It seems as though the possibility of a “groundbreaking yet this summer” is rapidly slipping away for the Alia Tower. Are they having that much trouble finding a workable financial package or are they in trouble overall with three big projects all in limbo - Alia, the tower by the Convention Center,...

This looks like poorly designed public housing out of the fifties and sixties. Actually there was a good deal of public housing in that era that was better designed than this. This is another featureless box that adds little or nothing to the streetscape or it’s limited slice of the skyline. For all...

Has there been any announcement of an official ground breaking date? I thought there had been some talk of construction getting underway mid-August, but am surprised there hasn’t been more hooplas given the scale and cost of this project.

Does anyone know how this is leasing up?

Thanks Troy. The MPR story is very helpful and overall quite positive. High speed transportation between the Twin Cities and Rochester seems to make more sense than ever.

Does anyone have any updates on where the whole redevelopment project for Rochester stands? It seems that they have had some setbacks on the biggest proposals, but others have kept on moving. What projects are actually approved and moving ahead? What projects have stalled, or been cancelled. How clo...

Where do things stand with this project? Are there any indications of when construction will actually begin.

Any rumors out there on this or Alia?

Whenever the discussion goes to ground floor retail this far from the core of downtown, I always wonder what kind of commercial uses people are imagining would even be attracted to such spaces. Undoubtedly the Elliot Park area could use a decent grocery store and some small service oriented operatio...

I won’t hold my breath on this one. The budget is small - given the scope of what really would need to be done to transform the dismal Mall frontage of City Center. It’s not only lipstick, but cheap lipstick at that.