Downtown Minneapolis - News & General Topics

[stock345]

Well to be fair I was on 94, looking at that area. But I deliver food downtown and you'd be surprised how many people order food in that little area

[lordmoke]

I added all the major transit proposals that are far enough along to have a route to the map and removed road projects, as there isn't really a great criteria to dictate what road projects should and shouldn't be included. (I also like to try and keep the map down to one page.) If someone wants to start a secondary map exclusively for roads, be my guest.

[min-chi-cbus]

Is the updated version somewhere on this thread or is there a link we need to locate it?

[mister.shoes]

First post in the thread.

[mattaudio]

Anyone have access to see what this is about? This building is definitely an energy suck from all four blockfaces... http://finance-commerce.com/2014/02/dow ... -for-sale/

[MplsTodd]

Anyone have access to see what this is about? This building is definitely an energy suck from all four blockfaces... http://finance-commerce.com/2014/02/dow ... -for-sale/

I don't have any info on the listing, but I'd be curious to know what the lease term is for Ameriprise. Usually, demand and pricing for a single-tenant building such as this will depend on the lease term, with the marketplace generally liking longer lease terms (at least 6 or 7 years and preferably more).
I agree that it doesn't add to any vitality of the area, but in its defense, it was designed and built when few, if any folks anticipated that there would be developments like Grant Park and Skyscape in the vicinity. It's similar to the Wells fargo Data Center at Washington Avenue and 3rd Avenue S. When that building was built in the early '80s (?), it was on the edge of downtown, and no-one seemed to have the vision that downtown could grow beyond that area.
Another thought on the Ameriprise Data Ctr. They have very zealous security guards. About 5 years ago, I took a photo of the Campbell Mithun Building from the sidewalk in front of the Ameriprise building and a security guard came out and demanded to know who I was and what I was doing, even though I was on a public right-of-way.

[mattaudio]

Sounds like this should be a stop on the UrbanMSP photo tour!

[min-chi-cbus]

I wanted to put together a list of projects that would possibly impact the skyline, for those skyline lovers out there (I am one, but I prefer quality to size). So here is a list of the 20 projects I counted that are either planned or approved/under construction that are 10 floors in height or taller (DNI Excel Energy HQ, which is 9 floors, but office is taller than Residential):

20 New Projects that Have POTENTIAL to be 10+ floors (in alphabetical order: project --> floors):

4Marq 30
*700 Washington & Third (Apts/Hotel) 6-10+
*Air Rights Parking Ramp (Mixed-Use) 27
*Curry Park Project (Ph II - Mid-Rise) 8-12
*Curry Park Project (Ph III - Hi-rise) 15-30
*Dock Street Phase II (Apts) 25
*Dock Street Phase III (Office) 20
Eclipse I 16
Eclipse II 20
Latitude 45 13
LPM Apartments 37
*Mpls Convention Hotel 20-50
Nic on Fifth 26
*Opus Ritz Block (Apts) 30
*Opus Ritz Block (Office - 500K SF) 25-35
StoneBridge 12
The Bridges 11
WaHu 11
Wells Fargo Office Bldg I 18
Wells Fargo Office Bldg II 18

*denotes projects that aren't necessarily imminent or whose specs haven't been finalized (e.g. the Currie Park projects)


I had to guess for some of them. For instance, the Currie Park Lofts projects has two potential additional phases: a mid-rise portion and a high-rise portion, and I provided a range of heights that seemed reasonable given that area. For the Opus Office project on the Ritz Block, I assumed between 25-35 floors based on the # of floors for other 500K SF office towers in the city. The Convention Hotel project is a complete wild-card, and could be a stocky 20 floors or a sleek 50 floors, based on other national examples of convention hotels. It's also the most unlikely of the listed projects, and the only one that I think has less than a 50% chance of being approved. Finally, the 700 Washington project is currently planned to be 6 floors, but if the hotel portion is added ON TOP of that portion, then it could be 10 or more floors in height.

[City slicker]

Good stuff- Good post. The long shot convention center hotel would probably be in the 35-50 story range due to the lot size. It's exciting to think about and see all this potential for Minneapolis. I'm hoping for all of it.

[seanrichardryan]

Anyone have access to see what this is about? This building is definitely an energy suck from all four blockfaces... http://finance-commerce.com/2014/02/dow ... -for-sale/

Hereya go, brochure linked.

http://m.bizjournals.com/twincities/blo ... -sale.html

[Minneboy]

That's a lot of building. So even though it's owned by American Express, does not Amerprise use it? If so I wonder where those employees will be going or doing. Is the building outdated? It would be interesting to know how the interior is laid out and if the building could be easily converted into other types of uses. I guess I'm just envisioning some cavernous computer rooms.

[Wedgeguy]

I'm curious where these jobs are moving to. What other building is equipped to handle IT functions of this building?

[mattaudio]

So this building and its functions were not spun off as part of the Amex/Ameriprise deal in 2005?

Regarding data centers: Most are no longer in CBDs... Not sure why they ever were (built in the 70s/80s). Also, modern datacenters don't actually employ many people, since nearly all administration can happen remotely.

Edit:

2004 Sale/Leaseback:
http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/s ... ily67.html

2010 new datacenter in North Carolina:
http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news ... h-carolina

This site makes more sense for redevelopment than Century Plaza.....

[Silophant]

My guess is that, in the 70s/80s, CBDs were where the data infrastructure, such as it was, was located. I'm probably wrong, though.

[seanrichardryan]

Yep, the main fiber hub in the TC is on the eastside of downtown.

[Silophant]

Oh, yeah, behind the Metrodome, right? Isn't the TriTech center a secondary hub?

[kregger22]

I absolutely appreciate the work you put into that post of projects above 10 stories min-chi-cbus! That's quite a bit of leg work, and for those of us who also like tall building additions to the skyline it's a terrific snapshot of what Mpls has potentially going, so... THANK YOU!

[Silophant]

So, architectural/structural question I'm hoping someone can answer. I know that there's a good reason that all of the mid-rise buildings we're seeing go up are ~80' tall: That's as high as they can go with stick construction, by the fire code. Is there a corresponding simple reason that a high percentage of the new towers we're seeing proposed/built are approximately 300' tall? The Nic on Fifth, 4Marq, both Eclipse towers, and now all three of Ryan's Downtown East towers are between 275' and 325'. LPM is a good bit taller (375?) and Latitude 45 and the Bridges and Stonebridge are like 200', iirc, but nothing's 250' or 350'.

[talindsay]

My understanding is that it has a lot to do with the utilities, elevators, and other core services: certain heights hit different thresholds of complexity and cost, so buildings tend to come very close to the limits of a given design for maximum profitability in that scale. I don't know for certain about the ~300' mark specifically though. I know that the Big 3 in Minneapolis are at about the maximum height you can get with a single set of elevator shafts, and while that's not the dominant reason for the height it's a compelling reason not to be, say, 100' taller.

[rcrades]

On the tour of Lime, the developer with Greco told us that the developers tend to get nervous exceeding the $100 million mark... which is right around the cost of The Nic on Fifth and the similar projects in the area.