Embassy Suites (Plymouth Building) - 12 6th Street S

[mnmike]

I have never heard that term.

[Didier]

I'd never heard the term either, but I guess it makes sense.

[Wedgeguy]

Term maybe new. but the concept is not. IT is true that there are a lot of doctors, or executives from the outstate that have a place in the city to come and stay so they can shop, go to plays or a ball game and not have to get a hotel or worry about packing for a trip each time they want to get away for a long weekend.

While Tyler is looking at getting away from the city, these people are craving and coming to the city for relaxation and enjoyment. Same concept as people going up north, but in reverse.

[MNdible]

Also known as a pied-a-terre, if you're into the whole francophone thing.

[woofner]

Also known as a pied-a-terre, if you're into the whole francophone thing.

You mean Freedom Flat.

[sushisimo]

I've used the term, but didn't think it was an actual thing. I have a small DT condo, and my retired parents are two hours away. They love their lake house, but are starting to gripe about being far away from relatives and things to do down here. So when I thought I was going to move, I mentioned to them that maybe I wouldn't sell or rent, but give them the place for an urban cabin, (the best way I could describe).

Plymouth may attract some urban cabinites, but I'm guessing this place will be really attractive to young Targeteers, especially the talent Target pulls from other cities. Or, maybe it will be an utter failure and the developer will lock himself inside one of the jewelers vaults with a bottle of vodka.

[sushisimo]

Also known as a pied-a-terre, if you're into the whole francophone thing.

You mean Freedom Flat.

[Tyler]

Also known as a pied-a-terre, if you're into the whole francophone thing.

You mean Freedom Flat.

[Le Sueur]

^^^UrbanMSP crew, making the middle of the afternoon 1000x better one joke at a time.

[RailBaronYarr]

Is it possible to build a 3 bedroom apartment in new construction and still have it competitive with single family homes? Even in the city itself you can get quite a lot of house for not a lot of money, if you're willing to go into certain neighborhoods.

The problem is that there's still demand for housing for young single professionals. Until that very profitable demand is met, there's no reason for anybody to be developing significant new multi-family housing for large families.

That's like saying that because there's demand for young singles to buy small cars like Fiat 500s, Chevy Sonics, etc... why build anything else until that very profitable demand is met? Ok, maybe not a 100% perfect corollary, but close enough.

I think the first statement is my point about housing prices regarding strict supply/demand economics. If a developer buys a bunch of SF house parcels and can only be profitable making an apartment building with a bunch of 1-2 BR units, is that 1) really reducing aggregate housing price in the area (define "area"), and 2) good for encouraging a mix of singles, families, young, and old people?

[FISHMANPET]

If I'm a developer, and I can build a tower of apartments for singles that rent for $2+ per square foot, and family housing doesn't command as high a rent, what incentive do I have to do anything but fill the building with smaller apartments?

We can either require a certain percentage of units be 2br+, which could push buildings on the margin into the unprofitable side, or we subsidize construction of those units, and that requires the political will to say that yes, this is a thing we need and it's more important than all these other things we could spend that money on.

[MNdible]

In this case, the unit mix may also be driven by the layout of the existing building. If you look at an aerial, you can see that the building is U shaped and features a very generous lightcourt, making the actual floorplates very shallow. I'm frankly surprised that this building has been able to last as long as it has with such an inefficient layout for offices. Based on this, I could envision that an apartment layout using a double-loaded corridor and small units probably makes a lot of sense.

As for 2 and 3 bedroom units, in order to have more than one decent bedroom (and not one real bedroom and a second bedroom that borrows a little light but is actually buried deep in the unit), the unit layout needs to be quite wide and fairly shallow. Developers of late are very jealous of their building perimeter, preferring narrow units with minimal frontage so that the building can be wide and efficient.

You'll tend to see 2 and 3 bedroom units located at building outside corners, but they're also usually the high-buck units, commanding a real price premium for their much better layouts and access to daylight.

[seanrichardryan]

Hopefully they retain much of the look of the interior spaces. The halls are all lined with marble and I think the doors are mahogany. The building also has a fabulous bronze and glass mail chute next to the elevators. Here is a similar conversion in the heart of Tulsa.

http://blog.preservationnation.org/2013 ... -building/#

http://www.mayo420.com/

[John]

^^^ Boy, do I like that corner unit at Mayo! It's the perfect prototype development for Plymouth to emulate. I'm thinking the developer will try to retain the historic character of the common spaces as much as possible.

[twincitizen]

Just giving this a bump. It's been over 4 months now, is there any hint of this moving forward? Did they ever submit any proposal to CPED?

[Azel]

Also, did this project apply for or receive state historic tax credits?

[woofner]

Looks like it was awarded a $263k Hennepin County Environmental Response Fund grant:

http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups ... 111478.pdf

That doesn't mean work will begin any time soon though.

[lordmoke]

The Plymouth Building is being nominated for the NRHP:
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/www/gro ... 115659.pdf

Hopefully a move to secure historic preservation/ restoration funding for potential repurposing, as we saw with Riverside Plaza.

[min-chi-cbus]

Also, did this project apply for or receive state historic tax credits?

Maybe now that the building will become "historic" it can do this, and move forward with the project?

[twincitizen]

I'm surprised it wasn't posted here, but the apartment conversion is probably dead. Last I read, they were exploring the possibility of a hotel conversion instead.

EDIT: http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/b ... hotel.html