Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Downtown - North Loop - Mill District - Elliot Park - Loring Park
IllogicalJake
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Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Postby IllogicalJake » January 27th, 2015, 10:54 am

Interesting - that block of restaurants is always the most active part of the building when I walk through. Seems odd to mess with that, but I don't know how these things usually work. Just seems like lunch spots have to be bringing in more traffic than Len.
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Silophant
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Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Postby Silophant » January 27th, 2015, 11:03 am

Hard to say. They are going to have to do a fair bit of remodeling to the space to make it into a 2-level store, though. They'll have to rip out the walls and kitchens on the skyway level, put in an elevator and/or escalators, and probably restrooms, I suppose. That'll take a few months at least.
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xandrex
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Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Postby xandrex » January 27th, 2015, 11:04 am

Hmm, yeah, unless they've got a new space for them, it seems like a bad move. I imagine three individual restaurants bring in a decent mount of traffic.

Really I'm just hoping Sak's move coincides with a major overhaul of the exterior of the building. City Center needs some love.

MNdible
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Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Postby MNdible » January 27th, 2015, 11:08 am

It seems likely that whatever the terms of the leases were, Shorenstein felt that it was worth pulling the trigger on this for the larger benefit it would have for the rest of the spaces in City Center.

Conjecture, but if they could convince the food tenants to relocate deeper into the space (and no doubt the relocation costs -- significant because of the requirements of commercial kitchens -- would have to be borne by Shorenstein), it would be a double win, because they would pull more customers past the other retail.

Wedgeguy
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Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Postby Wedgeguy » January 27th, 2015, 11:14 am

Hmm, yeah, unless they've got a new space for them, it seems like a bad move. I imagine three individual restaurants bring in a decent mount of traffic.

Really I'm just hoping Sak's move coincides with a major overhaul of the exterior of the building. City Center needs some love.
I honestly doubt that those restaurants bring in any real traffic. But for them to find space that has the crossroads foot traffic will be a little more difficult. There is some dead space on the opposite side of the skyway near the old Multifoods tower that at this point are just blank walls. There is space on the skyway, but it is not as highly visible as their current locations. But maybe with Mayo Square there will be increased foot traffic that will make those store fronts better for restaurants to survive.

xandrex
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Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Postby xandrex » January 27th, 2015, 11:18 am

I really can't say about Leann Chin's (though they do advertise that sometimes their lines hit the door), but Au Bon Pain has a pretty healthy lunch hour and there are usually still people milling about when I leave for the day.

Maybe it's just me and my demographic (read: Not who Saks is aiming for), but I just see more utility and day-to-day visits for those stores. But I'm quite obviously not the person who has the actual financials. And Saks staying downtown in a new space is definitely a boon.

Silophant
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Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Postby Silophant » January 27th, 2015, 11:23 am

Anecdotal, of course, but three of my coworkers just left to go to Baja Sol, which from Marquette Plaza via the skyway requires walking past about half a dozen other Mexican-style restaurants of varying quality. Leann Chin gets similar traffic, from this department at least. Their customer bases aren't going to give up on them just because they have to walk an extra couple hundred feet.


Also, I thought Shorenstein sold City Center a few months ago. Did that fall through?
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acs
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Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Postby acs » January 27th, 2015, 11:44 am

With the demise of the Gaviidae commons food court, those three restaurants are go-to lunch spots for anyone in Wells Fargo tower (including myself).

MNdible
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Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Postby MNdible » January 27th, 2015, 11:47 am

Does anybody have any sense as to why all of the food courts are disappearing from downtown?

It seems like there's some logic to co-workers being able to get food from different restaurants but still being able to eat together. Is it just a pain for management? More common space that needs to be maintained?

David Greene
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Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Postby David Greene » January 27th, 2015, 12:18 pm

Anecdotal, of course, but three of my coworkers just left to go to Baja Sol
I won't eat at Taco Tony's establishments.

acs
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Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Postby acs » January 27th, 2015, 12:23 pm

Does anybody have any sense as to why all of the food courts are disappearing from downtown?

It seems like there's some logic to co-workers being able to get food from different restaurants but still being able to eat together. Is it just a pain for management? More common space that needs to be maintained?
Food trucks and healthy eating. I for one am glad there's no McDonalds or Burger King downtown as I would never eat there and would much rather eat at something more upscale or unique. Food courts are a quintessentially suburban mall feature.

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Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Postby Silophant » January 27th, 2015, 12:36 pm

Well, sure, but downtown's still full of suburban chains, e.g. the Subway in basically every single building. Healthier, maybe, but not particularly unique.

As far as food courts go, there's still one in 330 2nd Ave that was just renovated, but otherwise, yeah, the trend seems to be dedicated seating.
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MNdible
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Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Postby MNdible » January 27th, 2015, 12:39 pm

I for one am glad there's no McDonalds or Burger King downtown as I would never eat there and would much rather eat at something more upscale or unique. Food courts are a quintessentially suburban mall feature.


Wow, that statement is all kinds of pretentious and judgmental. I don't eat there, therefore they shouldn't exist.

In any case, the disappearance of the food courts mostly predates the food trucks. Also, there's nothing to say that tenants in a food court couldn't be healthy or unique. In fact, the very food trucks you apparently love would seem to be great tenants for a food court.

sushisimo
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Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Postby sushisimo » January 27th, 2015, 12:42 pm

I would like to see more common seating areas. There are quite a few neat little food places with not enough seating. So then I'm traipsing around to sit in the Crystal Court and eat, or Northstar has some seating on main level. I suppose why have general seating areas that aren't collecting rent from vendors.

acs
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Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Postby acs » January 27th, 2015, 12:48 pm

I never thought I would find defenders of food courts on an urbanist forum. If large seating areas are your concern there's the crystal court, peavy plaza, the new downtown commons and all the new areas to be built along nicollet mall. All of which serve a purpose besides just seating for people eating lunch. Think about it, do we really want our skyway levels or (god forbid) our street level buildings taken up by dark, inward facing, single-use food courts?

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Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Postby MNdible » January 27th, 2015, 12:57 pm

People have to sit and eat somewhere. Some people even like to have a table for them to put their food rather than eating off of their laps. I'm not sure why a communal foodcourt (which needn't be dark -- the old City Center foodcourt was very well daylit) is more offensive than a restaurant having dedicated seating.

Your reaction seems a bit... strong.

MNdible
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Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Postby MNdible » January 27th, 2015, 12:58 pm

I'll just add that, besides the Crystal Court, all of the places you're suggesting people sit require the weather to be nice out.

xandrex
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Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Postby xandrex » January 27th, 2015, 12:59 pm

Assuming we're talking skyway retail, I'd think there could be a good argument for food courts, namely that seating takes up space, so pooling that space into one area allows for more leasable space to be available either for more profitable things than seating (essentially a pure cost) or allow more businesses because the ones there don't need as much space.

As for food trucks, they can only explain bad business in the summer. What's the excuse in the winter?

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Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Postby Silophant » January 27th, 2015, 1:04 pm

Think about it, do we really want our skyway levels or (god forbid) our street level buildings taken up by dark, inward facing, single-use food courts?
Not at all. Bright, airy food courts like 330 2nd Ave's, though, are just fine.
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sushisimo
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Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Postby sushisimo » January 27th, 2015, 1:53 pm

Think about it, do we really want our skyway levels or (god forbid) our street level buildings taken up by dark, inward facing, single-use food courts?
Not at all. Bright, airy food courts like 330 2nd Ave's, though, are just fine.
Exactly. I think they can be very pro-urbanist because it's an amenity that, oh I don't know, allows you to utilize and enjoy the urban fabric more. The food trucks are great, but only if you're going to run back up to your office with it. Otherwise, you can try walking to Peavey and have your tacos completely soaked through your tray thing by the time you get there. True story.


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