urbanMSP

Is the skyway connection really that important here? You can still get to 510 by walking through 5th street towers and the Soo Line building and into the parking ramp. There a skyway connects to the Westin and 510. Sure it's a little out of the way, but then again that is the nature of the skyway system, it always brings you out of the way.

Sure it's a little out of the way, but then again that is the nature of the skyway system, it always brings you out of the way.

That's the way it is, sure, but it isn't the way it has to be. As someone who will probably be working in the new Xcel building, I'd be all for a direct connection down alongside Nicollet. It's already one of the longest straight runs in the system, it'd be nice to make it even longer.

That is why they are still going to put in sidewalks for a more direct route They are not going to disrupt the light rail to put in a skyway over the Nicollet station.

Actually, I'd really like to see something like Central station in St. Paul, with a vertical connection to the skyway. They've been pretty cavalier about shutting down the DT section of the LRT this last year, so I can't imagine that they would be sacred to do this. Admittedly, it would get a lot harder to do when (if) the extensions open, so it would probably have to be done before then.

I believe there were talks to add a skyway connection to the Nicollet Mall light rail station back in the day. Kinda for it - kinda not if we're talking about continuing to strengthen street activity and redesign Nicollet.

It'd be nice to kind of force people from the train to get onto the actual mall, and then hopefully the mall could be inviting enough that they stay on the mall to get to their destination, rather than get sucked into the skyway.

Indeed. I'll be curious to see how many Green Line users go right up into the skyway at Central Station rather than walking sidewalks to work. If people want skyway access, they easily have it at Gaviidae, Ren Square, and (soon) Nic on 5th.

One of the original issues with keeping the skyway was that the platform was too narrow to really allow enough room for Stairs and elevators to enter and exit the platform.

On a non-skyway related note, when I walked by this last night, they had the support pillars that connect the base to the ground stripped down to bare steel, which I'm assuming means they're getting a new appearance. It's so strange to watch a project progress without any idea of what the final product will be.

One of the original issues with keeping the skyway was that the platform was too narrow to really allow enough room for Stairs and elevators to enter and exit the platform.

Indeed it's tight. Too bad we aren't removing vehicular traffic from 5th St west of 3rd Ave.

It would be tricky between 3rd and Marquette... The US Bank Plaza dock access is on 5th, as is the Canadian Pacific/One Financial garage/dock (although that could likely be retrofit to connect to 2nd in conjunction with a plaza redo). But those two blocks aren't the pinch point.

West of Marquette, the obstacles are the RBC plaza and the Xcel ramp. It would have been interesting to see if the RBC dock could have been tunneled under 5th St to share access with Nic on 5th/Xcel HQ/4Marq via 4th or Marquette, thereby giving the entire ROW on that block to LRT, platforms, and sidewalks. Then we'd just have to wait for the Xcel ramp to get redeveloped and it could be LRT/ped all the way west to 1st Ave N.

This is getting pretty close to fully leased. From the bottom up:
Floor 1: Dentist, Other storefront I can't remember, empty space
Floors 2-3: Weber Shandwick
Floors 4-6: RedBrick Health
Floors 7-8: Augsburg Fortress (half of 7)
Floor 9: Open?
Floors 10-13: Campbell Mithun

So, what, a floor and a half of office left, and some retail spaces on the ground floor across the street from two new residential towers? Awesome!

This is getting pretty close to fully leased. From the bottom up:
Floor 1: Dentist, Other storefront I can't remember, empty space
Floors 2-3: Weber Shandwick
Floors 4-6: RedBrick Health
Floors 7-8: Augsburg Fortress (half of 7)
Floor 9: Open?
Floors 10-13: Campbell Mithun

So, what, a floor and a half of office left, and some retail spaces on the ground floor across the street from two new residential towers? Awesome!

And amazingly still no idea what it's going to look like. Impressive. I like to pretend they're just improvising as they go.

Floors 7-8: Augsburg Fortress (half of 7)

So your saying there's going to be competing Augies within two blocks of one another!?

No, they're moving over from Fifth Street Towers.

So your saying there's going to be competing Augies within two blocks of one another!?

Nice.

The pillars at street level are now having their cladding removed. Maybe he is going to try and bring back some of the old world charm of the original design...

I wonder if we'll get glass straight down to the street!? that would make way for some retail and a larger lobby...

Just noticed on Friday that they are starting to put in windows into the big openings.

Picture Link

Windows are getting closer to done on the one side. I think this will end up looking nice, especially at night. Still curious about what the plans are for street level.