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Re: Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) Clinic Expansion

Posted: September 10th, 2017, 1:40 am
by PhilmerPhil
Love that there are zero public doors on the entire Chicago Ave blockface! So cool!

Re: Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) Clinic Expansion

Posted: September 10th, 2017, 5:40 am
by Nathan
Love that there are zero public doors on the entire Chicago Ave blockface! So cool!
because having lots of public access points to a hospital is great for security! Totally love random people entering hospitals from wherever they want!

Re: Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) Clinic Expansion

Posted: September 11th, 2017, 11:48 am
by SkyScraperKid
Love that there are zero public doors on the entire Chicago Ave blockface! So cool!
because having lots of public access points to a hospital is great for security! Totally love random people entering hospitals from wherever they want!
I'd disagree...

more hospitals should be more like receptionists in round desks. You should be able to access them from each and every possible angle. Including from above and underground. :geek:


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Re: Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) Clinic Expansion

Posted: February 14th, 2018, 11:24 am
by mattaudio
Anyone know when HCMC built a new helipad on the main building near the red entrance, and stopped using the top of their big parking ramp across Park?

Re: Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) Clinic Expansion

Posted: February 14th, 2018, 5:29 pm
by pjohnt
Anyone know when HCMC built a new helipad on the main building near the red entrance, and stopped using the top of their big parking ramp across Park?
They finished it right before construction began on the clinic. They still occasionally use the helipad above the parking ramp.

Re: RE: Re: Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) Clinic Expansion

Posted: February 14th, 2018, 5:59 pm
by MinnMonkey
Anyone know when HCMC built a new helipad on the main building near the red entrance, and stopped using the top of their big parking ramp across Park?
It was a couple years ago, before construction started on their new building. They use the old helipad occasionally still.

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Re: Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) Clinic Expansion

Posted: February 15th, 2018, 11:30 am
by nordeast homer
I was acutally up there for the grand opening of it. It was the day the did the groundbreaking for the clinic. They had a HUGE tent on the lot where the clinic is, made a big party of it!

Re: Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) Clinic Expansion

Posted: February 15th, 2018, 4:26 pm
by MinnMonkey
The funny part is that the new helipad opened, and as soon as the crane went up on the new site, they used the old helipad almost exclusively.

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Re: Minneapolis Skyway System

Posted: May 26th, 2022, 11:48 am
by Anondson
Could go in another thread I imagine, but the skyway association seemed the biggest news. Hennepin Healthcare will be expending their parking ramp with new underground ambulance space.

But the expansion will link to the skyway network connecting to the new Thrivent HQ.

https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... -ramp.html

Re: Minneapolis Skyway System

Posted: May 26th, 2022, 12:48 pm
by MinnMonkey
Could go in another thread I imagine, but the skyway association seemed the biggest news. Hennepin Healthcare will be expending their parking ramp with new underground ambulance space.

But the expansion will link to the skyway network connecting to the new Thrivent HQ.

https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... -ramp.html
Full plans:

https://www2.minneapolismn.gov/media/co ... e-Ramp.pdf

Honestly for a parking ramp, this provides a lot:
- Underground ambulance storage
- Active ground floor
- Skyway connections to the rest of downtown
- Expanded patient pickup in the existing ramp
- Possible light re-skinning of existing ramp
- Solar roof





Re: Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) Clinic Expansion

Posted: May 26th, 2022, 12:50 pm
by MNdible
Going to necromancy this thread up, since it seems like a more appropriate location for HCMC's parking ramp announcement.

1,000 parking spaces on the block bound of Portland between 6th and 7th, and it does include connecting to the Thrivent HQ via Skyway.

Of note:

"The [ramp] expansion paves the way for HCMC’s future campus plans. This includes demolishing the parking ramp next to its Parkside Professional Center building on South Eighth Street. The ramp has 1,400 parking stalls and has reached the end of its structural life, according to the environmental review. That ramp – often called the hospital parking ramp – will likely be demolished sometime in the next two to three years."

Re: Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) Clinic Expansion

Posted: May 26th, 2022, 1:04 pm
by alexschief
What a thumb in the eye of the city. Flies in the face of everything that people have been trying to do to improve downtown Minneapolis for years and years. This would be a second Gateway Ramp disaster. The city should reject it, tell HCMC to read a book sometime, and come back with a better idea.

Re: Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) Clinic Expansion

Posted: May 26th, 2022, 1:21 pm
by Anondson
They could have a clearer public way between street and skyway.

I don’t like how the skyway level of the extension building is camouflaged with almost similar design that the parking levels use.

Re: Minneapolis Skyway System

Posted: May 26th, 2022, 1:22 pm
by Trademark
Could go in another thread I imagine, but the skyway association seemed the biggest news. Hennepin Healthcare will be expending their parking ramp with new underground ambulance space.

But the expansion will link to the skyway network connecting to the new Thrivent HQ.

https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... -ramp.html
Full plans:

https://www2.minneapolismn.gov/media/co ... e-Ramp.pdf

Honestly for a parking ramp, this provides a lot:
- Underground ambulance storage
- Active ground floor
- Skyway connections to the rest of downtown
- Expanded patient pickup in the existing ramp
- Possible light re-skinning of existing ramp
- Solar roof
Will the Thrivent HQ building include a skyway that crosses 5th Avenue to connect HHC to the rest of the network? If so that will be huge for downtown winter walking!

Re: Minneapolis Skyway System

Posted: May 26th, 2022, 1:31 pm
by Anondson
Looks like it. Image
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Re: Minneapolis Skyway System

Posted: May 26th, 2022, 3:09 pm
by samuelmcchesney
Isn't this explicitly not allowed to be built according to zoning, or is the city just allowing pretty much anything now? A block away the massive parking structure was wrapped with housing for a reason, this would be horrendous for the already cut-off area due to hostility of the hospital dominating the streetscape for multiple blocks. A skyway connection won't help with street use that is needed. Also, are we in 2022 seriously placing a solar array on a multi-story private car park built with concrete and not calling out the greenwashing...? If this gets the okay, it gives the green light for more hostile car-centric design in an already hostile downtown. This block should be anything but a parking structure. Who are we building downtown for, because it certainly isn't for humans.

Re: Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) Clinic Expansion

Posted: May 26th, 2022, 3:29 pm
by VacantLuxuries
I thought trading a 1,400 stall ramp for a 1,000 stall one was a decent deal but relocating all that parking to 6th and Portland is gross.

A far better way to get the skyway connection would be to build whatever office expansion they're considering at this site, and keep the parking further from active areas.

But I'm sure their thought process has more to do with "We don't want to be without the parking when we tear down the old ramp" and everything we see here is a result of that decision.

Re: Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) Clinic Expansion

Posted: May 26th, 2022, 5:10 pm
by martykoessel
Ugly. Oppressive. It would help if HCMC would take a cue from the old Thrivent block and wrap the ramp in housing, perhaps adding a level or two to the ramp itself. Is it not possible to make enough from the housing to cover that added expense?

Re: Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) Clinic Expansion

Posted: May 26th, 2022, 5:17 pm
by Silophant
Yeah, the zoning code requirements for parking ramps in the downtown districts are:
1) The ground floor of principal and accessory parking garages shall have commercial, residential, office, or hotel uses located between the parking garage and any public sidewalk except where frontage is needed to provide vehicular and pedestrian access to the facility. (Which this meets, the ground floor is all commercial.)
2) Above the ground floor, in any structure that includes a principal or accessory parking garage, parking and loading shall be limited to no more than thirty (30) percent of the linear frontage of each floor facing a public street, public sidewalk, or public pathway. (This proposal:100%)
3) The combined, above-grade floor area of principal and accessory parking garages in the downtown districts shall not exceed the gross floor area of all other uses located on the same zoning lot. (lol).

Additionally, this is in the Core 50 district, requiring a minimum of ten floors, which was notably enforced on the apartments getting finished up across the street. Idk if I'd want to push that, though, they'd probably just add another floor of parking.

So, this proposal explicitly does not comply with the zoning code in at least two ways.

Re: Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) Clinic Expansion

Posted: May 27th, 2022, 5:33 am
by MinnMonkey
As much as I would like to see something more active than a parking ramp, I don't really see many alternatives for this site.

As much as we want less parking downtown, the hospital needs parking, they need a place to store their ambulances, and a skyway connection to the burn victims housing is very important.

Also the old helicopter pad is still occasionally used so the ramp really cannot be any taller. I would also think fumes from the helicopters would make housing less desirable for this location.

I am curious about the ground floor though. In the plans it shows tenant space, and in the packet it says retail.