urbanMSP

Sounds like this will be on tomorrow's DMNA agenda. So if someone is going we should hopefully have more information.

well it could be 8 stories. Very difficult to tell as it's just a picture of the exterior. Be interested to learn more about what is going to be communicated tonight.

If it's only going to be 8 stories Thrivent might as well move into either the Gateway or Ryan parking ramp project.

I'm planning on going to the DMNA meeting tonight.

Picture or it didn't happen.

Plans unveiled today at work. 5 stories it is.

Do you know how many square feet?

I just read that it is 350,000 sq ft and it will be 8 stories.

That pencils out to roughly an eight story box occupying the full city block.

That pencils out to roughly an eight story box occupying the full city block.

Called it. Sort of.

That pencils out to roughly an eight story box occupying the full city block.

Box-500x281.jpg

Called it. Sort of.

Looks like Ikea!

Eight stories, on the north half of the block, pretty much the same as the layout presented last time (first post of this thread). Still planning on a pocket park for the 6th/Portland corner, surrounded by a publicly accessible skyway access, coffee shop, credit union, art gallery, and chapel. The underground garage will be publicly accessible, and is intended to act as district parking for the ELP area, which is great, both to hopefully lessen parking demand for future parking and to make sure the skyway is actually accessible outside of business hours, unlike certain other office buildings I could name.

Overall, I'm excited. Sure, it's shorter than many people (including me) were hoping, but they've put a lot of thought into the architecture and street level use. It'll be an asset to the neighborhood. Hoping to break ground this summer.

I'll add some pictures later when I get home.

Agreed, that all sounds pretty good. If anyone is disappointed that it isn't taller, remember that the new KA office is only 4 stories, but the development of that full block is looking pretty great overall. Hopefully the residential proposals for the remaining half of this block and the 1/4 block they own next to Sexton Lofts will be in the teens or taller.

Holy encore, there's a guy from Sherman here to talk about the very preliminary plans for the south half of the block. Two L shaped buildings - one a 150 room hotel, one a 150 unit apartment building, connected by a two-story daycare/workout facility.

Looks like this will be a KA style full block development after all!

As for a workout facility, the YMCA surveyed a bunch of people including us Thrivent employees about use if they built in vacinity Of downtown east.

Makes sense. The YMCA or YWCA are about the only groups I can think of that would do a combined daycare and workout facility. That would be awesome!

The comparisons to the KA project are too obvious to be accidental. Clear that the KA model was seen and appreciated by Thrivent. These full-block redevelopments present a really exciting opportunity to fill gaping holes in the cityscape in a coherent, designed way. That both blocks will incorporate four unique uses (office, retail, residential, and hotel) is really commendable and exciting.

Picture time!


Facing west on 6th St.


Facing south on Portland.


Facing north on 5th Ave.


The whole block. Note that these are just preliminary massing diagrams, so don't draw any conclusions about height from them. Those windows imply a floor-to-floor height of about 5 feet.

This is a first for me... based on these images - I’d rather it stay a surface lot...

This is a first for me... based on these images - I’d rather it stay a surface lot...

I agree, the new Thrivent Building looks uninspired and doesn't fit in with the surrounding fabric.

I'm excited about the redevelopment of this block but I don't understand why you would build a new headquarters building if it's going to look like this. It's so completely boring.

I hope the other developments on the parcel kick it up a notch.

Any chance this is intended to ape the old Lutheran Brotherhood building? That also could have been deemed boring, but the subtleties made it age well. But then again, maybe this is just a box and I'm just reading into it..