North Loop Salvation Army

[spearson]

Mod note: Jump ahead for October 2014 update: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1263&start=20#p70961

I didn't really know which forum to post this in, but I think it fits here.

Bizjournal is reporting that the salvation army is planning on vacating it's large facility in the North Loop.

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/b ... k-new.html

I can only imagine the developers licking their chops at that huge swath of real-estate in that bustling area.

[min-chi-cbus]

There was a project that was going in somewhere near this area, and at the time I was wondering why somebody would want to live steps away from this kind of place (unless they needed that service), but now it's all making sense! I agree, too, that developers will be putting together mock-ups and proposals for this location ASAP, and it'll only be a matter of time before we may hear about a new proposal for this space.

[MNdible]

Must be this building, huh? Based on the shape of the building, there must have been a rail spur that peeled off of here at some point.

Seems like a long haul for the residents. A lot of time sitting on the 22 to get back downtown.

[mnmike]

Oh, that is where they are moving...I see. Yeah, that location isn't great, is it?

[MNdible]

I was linking to their new location, not their current location.

[twincitizen]

Salvation Army has been working on relocating and cashing out on this nice piece of real estate for a while. A year ago or so, I remember they were looking at a site in Northeast, but that ended up not going working out. However, this site is right up against the elevated I-94 ramps and ugly surface parking lots underneath, so it's not exactly top dollar real estate. The 710, 720 & 730 condos also face the elevated highway, but they also have better proximity to Target Field and downtown, at least by a couple blocks.

Long-term, I'd love to see the easterly elevated roadway be removed and have the remaining westerly become a reversible facility a la 394. Obviously the ideal endgame would be to remove them entirely, but that doesn't seem very realistic at this point.

[Nathan]

This is a big section of land, and would be crucial in an 8th Ave reconnection at some point. do we think any of the building is historic and will stay or a complete leveling?

True it's not as close to DT or Target Field, but so many great things are moving their way down Washington Ave, all the great restaurants, Brunsfield will have new stores/food, 222 will have groceries close, if they get enough units above the via duct they'll have a nearly unobstructed awesome view of DT.

[woofner]

I, along with my hipster cohort, will miss the retail location. We are way too cool to go all the way to Camden, especially because SA ain't no Unique. If I can indulge for a moment, back when the Ragstock warehouse was on that horrible frontage road off 7th St, this area was a great thrift twofer.

This isn't in a historic district, but it looks like the 4-story building in the middle of the complex is from roughly the same era as the other historic buildings in the North Loop. It and the postwar addition to the northwest are solid and appear to have been well-maintained structurally if not aesthetically, so it would be cool if the north half of the complex could be reused somehow.

The saddest thing about this is that their new complex looks like it will be a low-slung, cementitious turdsmear with all the charm of a strip mall. That fits in all too well with that neighborhood unfortunately.

[Viktor Vaughn]

RIP Secret Target

[Nick]

RIP Secret Target

Just picked up some Merona button downs from there a couple weeks ago...

[alleycat]

I can guarantee this isn't likely to happen in north. People were already coordinating to block this on a very active northside forum hours after this post.

[trkaiser]

What are the objections?

[MNdible]

What are the objections?

Presumably the same objections anybody would have when informed that there are plans to build [a used goods receiving and processing facility / retail outlet / housing facility for the people that the rest of the city doesn't want] across the street from their single family home.

[trkaiser]

IC - didn't realize this was a single family home neighborhood.

[alleycat]

Well, number one is the concentration of supportive housing in north. Number two would be the fact that every housing development in north is workforce or low income housing (income levels in much of north are comparable to NE). Another objection is the proximity to Webber Park and housing. We also have a large concentration of of Level 3 sex offenders that get plopped over here, so that was brought up at least once. At some point someone brought up SA's anti-GLBT stance, which seeing as north has been a gayborhood of the year a few times recently isn't a plus exactly. If you look at the history of previous proposals every single neighborhood said no for a reason. People generally don't want an adult rehabilitation center in their neighborhood. That's exactly why the northwestern chunk of the North Loop has for the longest time been the place for supportive housing and shelters. The industrial neighbors and surface parking lots didn't care, but the new residents do.

I'm personally not opposed to the idea for many of the above reasons. It's the lack of store that kills it for me.

A better location for all involved would be north of Plymouth along either 2nd or Washington. That seems like a better location for this if it lined up with RiverFirst.

[alleycat]

I'm not sure if this link works, but on page three you can see that one side abuts a single-family home district that's primarily made up of craftsman homes. This location is also very close to one of my favorite North Minneapolis restaurants (we don't have many), El Burrito Cubano.

http://www.facebook.com/download/previe ... 7538346966

[twincitizen]

So this proposed new building does not contain a retail Salvation Army store as the current one does? The store seems like the one aspect of this that could be an asset, rather than a further detriment to the Lind-Bohanon neighborhood.

[alleycat]

From some news that came out today a store would be separate, but on Lyndale. I'd presume closer to 42nd.

[sushisimo]

It looks like this North Loop Salvation Army parcel is adjacent to the underground Bassett Creek. I'd like to see some mixed use development here that opens up the creek and connects to it. I'd actually like to see as much of the creek exposed as possible, as this would drastically 'warm' up the 'hood and give it a connecting feature.

[martykoessel]

So much of the flow of Bassett Creek has been diverted upstream of this point that there's no longer much of anything to daylight in the North Loop. Sometimes folks talk about some sort of dry stream bed "feature" where the stream once flowed but, sadly, bringing the creek back alive in the neighborhood is an impossibility. Trickle, trickle, pfft.