urbanMSP

Pics 5-7 make me incredibly envious and make me want to live in the building! Great marketing work!!

cool thanks for the link. opus finally updated the project's web site. building looks decent in those renderings.

Is it just me but do those cut outs in the pool seem dangerous. Make a mistake walking around those lounges (especially while intoxicated) and trip and then hit your head on one of those other lounge cut outs? Perhaps I'm over analyzing but why make things more dangerous? It looks cool but you wouldn't leave the railings off your balcony (not to mention couldn't) because it looks cool.

A picture from yesterday:


mplsoct201309 by afsmps, on Flickr

The parking portion actually looks well done along Nicollet. It is also bigger than I thought, as in I knew it was going to be about 25 floors, but I felt it was not going to be as prominent. It actually looks very nice.

I count 23 floors, so 3 more, plus the crown.

Here's the Opus rendering of looking down at the tower with the crown lit up (scroll down to the bottom of the page on the thread). Creates a nice signature point for the intersection of 5th and Nicollet.
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthrea ... 62&page=76

I biked 21 miles yesterday to get cool pics, so you out-of-towners better enjoy them! And I finally figured out how to do a Flickr link (after a few hours of screwing around) so Nick will be happy too.

Anyways, I think this view looking south along Nicollet is fantastic to show the wall that will exist when Nic on Fifth (shown) and 4Marq in the empty space just to the left of it, will help create that wall along 5th St.


Nic of Fifth view from north 10-5-13 by bapster2006, on Flickr

It would have been nice if the lit up crown went all the way around the top of the building - interesting that they didn't do that.

It might have something to do with the Mortenson tower going up next to it. If you have a lit up top all the way around, those top floors of that tower would need black out window shades to sleep at night.

I'm guessing there was quite a bit of thought put into the design of the top. The lighted crown picks up the vertical rhythm of the balconies and glass at the corner of Fifth and Nicollet and helps culminate the tower with a step up pattern. Helps calms down the boxiness at the top so it meets the sky more gracefully. The lit top should be quite visible up and down Nicollet Mall which will be fun at night.

Won't the view from the south on Nicollet mostly be blocked by Dain Rauscher Plaza (RBC Plaza now I guess)?

Won't the view from the south on Nicollet mostly be blocked by Dain Rauscher Plaza (RBC Plaza now I guess)?

When I biked down Nicollet yesterday it didn't. That's actually set back pretty far.

I really like how Xcel and Nic on Fifth relate to each other. For obvious reasons. I hope Mortenson's (sp) comes back with a better looking proposal that can tie in better with these other two.

Won't the view from the south on Nicollet mostly be blocked by Dain Rauscher Plaza (RBC Plaza now I guess)?

When I biked down Nicollet yesterday it didn't. That's actually set back pretty far.

Yep, you can see Nic On Fifth all the way down from 12th street. And Minneboy, I agree with your comment. Having Marq4 slightly taller at 34 floors will make all three buildings look better.

The crown simply favors south Minneapolis, just like city hall does.

Funny, I'm on Nicollet almost every day but I realize now that I never look up - it's one of the few places in town where there's plenty to see at street level. I made a point to do so this morning and saw from 11th that the frame of The Nic slips out from behind IDS as you get towards the westerly side of the street. So that should be fun to look at for people who aren't checking out Targetrons.

I updated my google earth model for this building... with changes to the crown, the facade, the pool area, and coloring... if anybody would like to view it in google earth. It may take a few minutes to load... but it will load.

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/ ... 5&result=4

is anyone else confused by/not a fan of the strange awning roofline that basically meets the lrt canopy? is just seems like there will never be sun on the sidewalk over there.

It looks to me like they wanted fewer floors of parking so they bloated it out on either end and played them off as little balconies. Not that the balconies look bad as long as you're the one on top.