Hampton Inn & Suites - (19 8th Street North)

[minnyapple]

Is there a killer baby clown in the reflection on the glass of the building in front of the wells fargo center in the rendering on page 6? Or do i need to call it a night.

http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/www/gro ... 110193.pdf

[Scott16475]

Is there a killer baby clown in the reflection on the glass of the building in front of the wells fargo center in the rendering on page 6? Or do i need to call it a night.

http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/www/gro ... 110193.pdf

HAHA. Great catch, minnyapple! I think Mortenson has some 'splanin' to do. They grey out the Saloon and now a killer baby clown in a reflection? Hmm...

[mister.shoes]

Hate to break it to ya'll, but Google Earth has the Saloon grayed out by default.

[/missed sarcasm]

[spearson]

Hmm. Spearson's right, I think. The shafts tacked onto the back of the Pence may give it enough room to create a light well of sorts for those existing windows and they may not need to be bricked in. They won't have any views, that's for sure...

Those are the elevator shafts for the building, and to be fair that end of the building is really the lobby area of each floor. Might suck for those tenants that lease the entire floor (we don't), but I know some floors have reception desks near that end. Being that I work in the Pence, I'm not excited about losing the skyway connection (first world problem I know), but I'm excited to see something new spring up.

[mattaudio]

Well that front office space can be converted into micro-storefronts down the road if we decide to make this corner less of a crap hole with parking ramps and district heating facilities. For now, I'll take this decent hotel over a parking lot. Didn't mean to imply it wasn't good infill.

[Avian]

... Being that I work in the Pence, I'm not excited about losing the skyway connection (first world problem I know), but I'm excited to see something new spring up.

Do you mean just temporarily? The skyway does reconnect to the Pence according to the 2nd floor plan.

[spearson]

Yeah, I meant just temporarily.

[swmpls]

They've got some updated plans. The only changes that I've really noticed are that they've moved the breakfast area to the front corner, and they've gotten rid of those window graphics. Nice changes.


http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/www/gro ... 111135.pdf

[mattaudio]

meeting room also moved to the back patio.... what was facing the patio before?

[John]

The updated plans significantly improve the street level , especially at the corner. So much better!

[spearson]

Looks like the back courtyard is now a quarter of the size. Not a huge loss though.

[oregonarch]

I think the actual massing looks good, the exterior elevations however are banal and cheap looking.

[John]

I think the actual massing looks good, the exterior elevations however are banal and cheap looking.

Well, I doubt anyone is under the impression Hampton Inn is going to build something way above average here! But I do think the architects are attempting to make it fit decently within the context of the site and surrounding buildings. The exterior materials are not great, but again the architects appear to be making a sincere effort to make it look as good as possible given the likely shoestring budget. It does fill a vacant lot. The addition of windows on the street level will help. It's not great but not horrible. It will become a inoffensive backdrop building.

[twincitizen]

Certainly less offensive than everything else at that intersection. It will immediately become the best looking structure fronting that corner. And the only one inhabited by humans. http://goo.gl/maps/aD33B

[John]

Certainly less offensive than everything else at that intersection. It will immediately become the best looking structure fronting that corner. And the only one inhabited by humans. http://goo.gl/maps/aD33B

Yes, the building should work out just fine at it's location.

[MNdible]

Certainly less offensive than everything else at that intersection. It will immediately become the best looking structure fronting that corner. And the only one inhabited by humans. http://goo.gl/maps/aD33B

Disagree. Although I'm very supportive of the hotel, I think that both of the parking ramps and the district cooling building are architecturally way more interesting with much better materials.

[mattaudio]

So, if that cooling plant across the street is simply built on stilts above a small surface lot, it could rather easily be built out to have an active first floor use facing First Ave.

[MNdible]

Seems plausible.

[lordmoke]

Final site plans submitted for Planning commission on the 26th, staff recommends approval:
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/www/gro ... 113255.pdf

[Nathan]

Nice, looks like, they added a door, on the corner in the breakfast area, and eliminated the option for cement board on the spec, so that's cool, should be all stucco and metal panel.