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Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: December 6th, 2017, 9:47 am
by grant1simons2
As far as the big retail space in Ren Square by the station, the "For Lease" posters came down a few weeks ago, and it's no longer listed on MidAmerica's website. So either something's happening there, or the building owner has given up and is content to let it sit empty forever.
Cushman Wakefield has it now

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: December 6th, 2017, 10:03 am
by Silophant
Ah, that makes sense. My biggest concern for the Dayton's project is that they went to Mid-America for the retail leasing, with their proven record of being totally unable to find tenants for ground-level Nicollet Mall spaces.

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: December 6th, 2017, 11:09 am
by trkaiser
I interviewed Jesseka at Mid-America and was happy with the direction she's taking for the Dayton's project. They are focusing on mixing local, national and new-to-the-market brands, and ensuring retailers include some type of experience beyond just the same version of a store you'd find in the 'burbs. An example she gave were Nike stores that include a basketball court to test out the shoes. It will be interesting to see which local chefs join the food hall component. I asked about specific retailers most/all of us would like to see, but of course they can't share that yet. However, they're going after brands that have been on common downtown wish lists, so hopefully this economic cycle continues long enough for a good initial lease-up. I can post or PM you the link to my story that mentions this project later, part of a story on urban vertical retail centers across the country.

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: December 6th, 2017, 12:55 pm
by Bakken2016
I interviewed Jesseka at Mid-America and was happy with the direction she's taking for the Dayton's project. They are focusing on mixing local, national and new-to-the-market brands, and ensuring retailers include some type of experience beyond just the same version of a store you'd find in the 'burbs. An example she gave were Nike stores that include a basketball court to test out the shoes. It will be interesting to see which local chefs join the food hall component. I asked about specific retailers most/all of us would like to see, but of course they can't share that yet. However, they're going after brands that have been on common downtown wish lists, so hopefully this economic cycle continues long enough for a good initial lease-up. I can post or PM you the link to my story that mentions this project later, part of a story on urban vertical retail centers across the country.
Could you pleast post?

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: December 6th, 2017, 1:04 pm
by trkaiser
I'll do that, Bakken -- publishing at the tail end of this month.

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: December 12th, 2017, 5:59 pm
by Ohiosotan
Not only are the unheated bus stations nice to look at, the signal prioritization for buses is a nice touch too.

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: December 16th, 2017, 11:36 am
by Silophant
The bus shelters have heaters in them.

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: December 18th, 2017, 2:30 pm
by martykoessel
Here's a thought on our monochromatic Mall reconstruction.

From everyone's comments here, it seems that that biggest problem is the vast expanse of grey cement.

Is there a type of paint that would hold up long term on pavement? If so, what if we turned the existing stencils into color stencils? A good designer could select the correct color shade for each area (a nice yellow, red, and green for leaves, for example), and the stencils could be used for application. Cost: paint + a lot of labor. Perhaps something could be set up so an entire stencil's color pattern could be applied with one Pfppt! rather than spraying piece by piece.

I've not the slightest idea whether this is practical or not, but it seemed a fun idea.

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: December 18th, 2017, 3:10 pm
by SurlyLHT
After some quick Googling I found that we have the products out there for this. Perhaps not the colors we would like. But, then Valspar offers some of these products and I'm sure if the City made some calls and offered small plaque describing how the stencils were colored they would find something that would work great for the project. It might be a lot of work to paint all the stencils however.

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: December 18th, 2017, 3:25 pm
by martykoessel
Thanks for checking this, Surly drinker or maker (I presume),

It did occur to me that coloring each leaf, branch and slash individually would be tortuous. That's why I wondered if colors could be loaded in compartments over each stencil so one Pfppt! would take care of the whole thing. Maybe someone at Graco would know if this sort of application is possible. There are some smart folks over there.

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: December 19th, 2017, 3:29 pm
by martykoessel
Well, I talked to a friend at Graco and the idea of a single Pfppt! doesn't fly. No big surprise. New stencils would have to be created for each separate color on each existing stencil type. (Hmm, I wonder how many different versions there are of each basic type, meaning leaves, branches and slashes? Is it just a matter of size, or do the patterns change, too?)

Advantages: Each stencil could be made of a sturdy, light material that would be easy to move to the next section to be colored. Pretty simple labor, though lots of it.

Disadvantages: Making all those new stencils. All that labor, which I presume would have to be union. (No corralling Minneapolis high school students for an interesting summer job?) Keeping the whole project (sandblasting already done + coloring) much cheaper than laying pavers in the first place would have been.

Biggest disadvantage: Transforming rambling complaints about how monochromatic the Mall has become into an actual plan for improvement. Still, it's sort of fun to think about.

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: December 19th, 2017, 3:49 pm
by SurlyLHT
Well, I talked to a friend at Graco and the idea of a single Pfppt! doesn't fly. No big surprise. New stencils would have to be created for each separate color on each existing stencil type. (Hmm, I wonder how many different versions there are of each basic type, meaning leaves, branches and slashes? Is it just a matter of size, or do the patterns change, too?)

Advantages: Each stencil could be made of a sturdy, light material that would be easy to move to the next section to be colored. Pretty simple labor, though lots of it.

Disadvantages: Making all those new stencils. All that labor, which I presume would have to be union. (No corralling Minneapolis high school students for an interesting summer job?) Keeping the whole project (sandblasting already done + coloring) much cheaper than laying pavers in the first place would have been.

Biggest disadvantage: Transforming rambling complaints about how monochromatic the Mall has become into an actual plan for improvement. Still, it's sort of fun to think about.
Couldn't we just bring back the stencils that were used to create the etchings and then apply the paint/coating using them? You'll have to line them up carefully, but it's a thought.

PS My nickname on here refers to a local bicycle brand which is separate, but similar to the beer brand.

Re: Nicollet Mall

Posted: December 19th, 2017, 8:59 pm
by Homewood2009
Some pics I took about three weeks ago.

Re: Nicollet Mall

Posted: December 20th, 2017, 9:11 am
by BBMplsMN
I think my issues with Nicollet Mall right now is less that the concrete is grey, and more that EVERYTHING is grey. The benches, the trashcans, the sculptures/artwork, the bus shelters, the rocks at the base of the trees. They decorated a monotone room with monotone accessories (except for a few colorful chairs). I'll wait until summer to see how it looks when everything is installed, the trees are green and restaurants have their patios setup, but right now it fails the winter test.

Re: Nicollet Mall

Posted: December 20th, 2017, 10:56 am
by relux
I think my issues with Nicollet Mall right now is less that the concrete is grey, and more that EVERYTHING is grey. The benches, the trashcans, the sculptures/artwork, the bus shelters, the rocks at the base of the trees. They decorated a monotone room with monotone accessories (except for a few colorful chairs). I'll wait until summer to see how it looks when everything is installed, the trees are green and restaurants have their patios setup, but right now it fails the winter test.
I agree with this. The grey is overwhelming. To me, it almost looks unfinished because of the amount of grey. The grey light poles were what put me over the edge..

Re: Nicollet Mall

Posted: December 20th, 2017, 11:19 am
by SurlyLHT
I'm really surprised they didn't put up any Christmas lights on the trees or etc.

Re: Nicollet Mall

Posted: December 20th, 2017, 6:12 pm
by uptown067
Its very underwhelming and a downgrade from what we previously had (imho).

Re: Nicollet Mall

Posted: December 20th, 2017, 6:56 pm
by grant1simons2
You guys are such a hoot

Re: Nicollet Mall

Posted: December 21st, 2017, 8:23 am
by 5th Ave Guy
I'm really surprised they didn't put up any Christmas lights on the trees or etc.
I was there last weekend and thought the same. I get that they're still doing some work, but it's not that hard throw some lights up or something to brighten it up a little bit for the holidays.

Re: Nicollet Mall

Posted: December 21st, 2017, 10:42 am
by xandrex
Yeah, there's a lot of gray, but I think the real problem is that the "grand opening" of the new Nicollet took place during an incredibly dull, gray month. Come summer, trees will be green and more people will be out and about.

I think people forget how terrible and desolate the old Nicollet looked in the winter.