urbanMSP

Burger King should absolutely be denied. It has been closed for 18 months. As the rules state, this should not be allowed to open as a Burger King again.

Zoning Board of Adjustment denied the request. It was a unanimous vote. I think they have 10 days to appeal ...

Burger King restaurants will reopen with drive-thru lanes, despite Minneapolis ban

Guess they're having it their way.

Burger King should absolutely be denied. It has been closed for 18 months. As the rules state, this should not be allowed to open as a Burger King again.

Zoning Board of Adjustment denied the request. It was a unanimous vote. I think they have 10 days to appeal ...

Burger King restaurants will reopen with drive-thru lanes, despite Minneapolis ban

Guess they're having it their way.

BOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

I live around the corner from the Nicollet one. I honestly dislike the barely-used parking lot more than I dislike the drive-thru.

The drive through is awful. People are always driving on the sidewalk and darting in and out of Nicollet. That bus stop is essentially on a curb cut for the restaurant. You can smell the cars more than the hamburgers.

Since BK closed it's basically become an overflow lot for the Y next door. Wonder if that will continue?

It's too bad we couldn't at least get Taco Bells instead.

Zoning Board of Adjustment denied the request. It was a unanimous vote. I think they have 10 days to appeal ...

Burger King restaurants will reopen with drive-thru lanes, despite Minneapolis ban

Guess they're having it their way.

BOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

I live around the corner from the Nicollet one. I honestly dislike the barely-used parking lot more than I dislike the drive-thru.

It's not final until the full Council votes this Friday. If you don't want this to go forward, please write your council person or the entire city council.

I don't think the Zoning & Planning Committee acted properly.

I went to the Board of Zoning & Adjustment hearing. They spent a lot of time on the issue and before making a decision, one member made a lengthy comment faulting BK for not even knowing that these properties became lawful nonconforming uses.

The Zoning & Planning Committee only had the power to reverse if the Board of Zoning & Adjustment acted arbitrarily and capriciously. During the Zoning & Planning hearing, the only rationale for reversing the unanimous decision came from CM Ellison when he said that the City Attorney told them that BK had a good case. However, that has no relationship to how the the Board of Zoning & Adjustment decided. From a procedural and legal standpoint, this doesn't seem to be right. I'd love to know how this all went down internally, because it makes no sense to me. The City seems to be rolling over on threat of legal action, and now the community gets to live with these bad land uses for what will likely be several more decades.

My guess is that the City Attorney has been heavily involved in this decision. The articles I've read have alluded to the city likely losing this battle in court. I'm not sure they want to spend the money fighting this - and I can't blame them.

My guess is that the City Attorney has been heavily involved in this decision. The articles I've read have alluded to the city likely losing this battle in court. I'm not sure they want to spend the money fighting this - and I can't blame them.

I did notice letterhead from a prominent firm in their application. Those who have money have power.

My guess is that the City Attorney has been heavily involved in this decision. The articles I've read have alluded to the city likely losing this battle in court. I'm not sure they want to spend the money fighting this - and I can't blame them.

That could be the case, but it is odd that the staff report never mentions advice it received from the City Attorney's office. Staff also never mentioned discussions with the City Attorney's office in their presentation.

I don't know all the rules, but is the City Attorney's office allowed to provide guidance to quasi judicial bodies like the Zoning Board of Adjustment and Zoning & Planning Committee? I thought they had independence and indeed have enumerated powers under the City Charter. So even if they can receive guidance, they don't have to follow it because they are supposed to make their own determination.

As far as fighting it in court, right is right and wrong is wrong. I've looked at the case law myself, and Burger King does not have a great argument. It is mediocre, at best. For the City to not want to fight to defend a unanimous decision of one body, as well as the findings of City Staff, is really pathetic from my vantage point.

If the part about BK not being able to touch the buildings due to the issue with the franchisee is true (as opposed to not trying to do anything), then that would seem to tilt the balance in their favor.

The city is making the right call by letting this one go. These wouldn't have even been affected by the ban had it not been for a specific sequence of events and timing. We're not talking about buildings that have been abandoned for years and years.

Simpson Housing planning to demo current facility in favor of new purpose-built 5 story structure: https://www.simpsonhousing.org/announci ... er-project

You could probably relocate the post over to the whole Eat Street thread, since this is basically a half-block from Nicollet.

This will be fine.

Very cool apartment building for the former Perkins site in Seward- six stories with a greenhouse/ hydroponic farm on the roof: https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/download ... Apartments

Nice! Feels overdue to see something new on this stretch of Franklin.

Interesting project. A greenhouse presents all kinds of moisture intrusion possibilities to a wood-frame building.

The new housing units will have rent levels targeted towards households earning at or below 60%
Area Median Income (AMI). Furthermore, AGRA will set aside 35 units (20%) with rents targeted to
households earning at or below 50% AMI and an additional eight (8) units set aside for rents
targeted to households earning at or below 30% AMI. Finally, Newport Midwest is seeking to
leverage a partnership with Hennepin County, which was first established during the structuring of
the set aside mix at Hook & Ladder Apartments (Northeast Minneapolis), to set aside 17 housing
units for Hennepin County Human Services and Public Health Department (HSPHD) clients. Newport
Midwest will seek Project Based Section 8 from the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority for these
units

Cool project, but... 171 units and not a single one is market rate? That's not exactly...inclusionary. While most of the units will be available to folks earning up to 60% AMI (not necessarily deep poverty), aren't there reams of studies/history showing that concentration of poverty is bad and we should not further exacerbate that concentration? The narrow band between I-94 and Franklin is basically textbook concentration of poverty housing. I'm sure the single family residential areas of Seward are rapidly gentrifying, but there's basically no market-rate rental housing in the neighborhood. Except for the area near the river (say, east of Seward Co-op), I'm not sure market-rate developers are coming for this area anytime soon...

Following on the heels of Blackbird closing, The City Market suddenly closed and Dragon Wok posted on Facebook that they're moving to another location. That's a lot of change on that side of 38th & Nicollet going on now. I just hope there aren't plans to empty out and tear down this perfectly good and nearly 100% local commercial block for apartments.

It's possible something is happening, but those seem unrelated. Dragon Wok had no seating, and really wanted to have a sit-down portion of their space. So they upgraded to a much bigger facility.
City Market had been struggling and the last time I was in their the clerk told me it was only a matter of time until they closed up shop.
And Blackbird is on the other side of the street, so would not be included in any redevelopment anyway.

There’s already a new sign above the Dragon Wok space: “Young Man It Was All Just A Dream”. I’m guessing a barber shop? Or possibly a head shop?

Also heard a rumor that their rents were recently increased.

There’s already a new sign above the Dragon Wok space: “Young Man It Was All Just A Dream”. I’m guessing a barber shop? Or possibly a head shop?

There’s now a help wanted sign in the window for a line cook!

30 units proposed for the vacant lot behind Chris and Rob's at 42nd St and 32nd Ave.
3115 E 42nd St

Site is fenced off and a trackhoe is parked inside.