urbanMSP

Just got this in an email regarding two proposals at 3329 Nicollet Ave:

Just wanted to let you all know that the Lyndale Neighborhood Meeting on Monday evening, July 25th is going to start at 6:00pm instead of 6:30pm because we have two developers presenting plans for the vacant lot at 3329 Nicollet Ave. The meeting is at Painter Park.

1. Wells & Company Architects in collaboration with Pocket Properties proposes a new 8 Unit Live-Work Artist Townhouse Development at 3329 Nicollet Ave. Each Townhouse will contain 3 Bedrooms, 2 Bathrooms, and a 2-Car Garage. The project proposes a shared center courtyard and a sculpture garden in the front yard. The project requests a front yard and side yard setback variance.

2. Randy Hobbs is proposing an Urban designed apartment building with 34 units, bicycle amenities, smoke free, pet friendly with pet wash station. 1 and 2 bedrooms with locally designed cabinets. The project requests a zoning change from the current zoning of R4 to R5 to accommodate the addition units.

Wait, was there ever a formal RFP for this? I thought Minneapolis had an over-the-counter price for this parcel.

I'm just on the edge of my seat waiting to find out which of those the neighborhood will prefer.

I'm frustrated by the project team on 5605, which seems to have used the community pitchforks as a justification for the parking they really wanted. Now I wish I spoke out against their variance requests on Monday.

The architect wrote, "I want to commend you on your creativity with the blue tarps and signs last night."

Ridiculous.

City got played.

As I said above, if this was orchestrated, then respect to the developers for the slickest aikido moves ever.

Same architect.

Project with most parking wins vote in Lyndale neighborhood
http://www.southwestjournal.com/news/de ... ghborhood/

Neighborhood Group Votes for More Parking, Higher Rents
https://streets.mn/2016/07/27/neighborho ... her-rents/

He's active on the Small Developers/ Builders FB.

Ignoring everything else, why would a property with alley access be allowed to create a new curb cut on Nicollet? Would that not violate some established city policy? Rather than getting into the minutiae of how many units, parking stalls, etc, I'd rally around stopping that from happening.

The woonerf would be alley access only. No new curb cut. There would be seating and sculptures along the sidewalk.

So it's not a woonerf then. It's a gated driveway/parking court.

Language Matters, Mr. B.G. This is a woonerf to access ground-floor studio spaces with overhead garages, not a driveway to access garages.

Minneapolis quietly installed bollard "bulbs" at 43rd and Nicollet.

All it takes to get plastic bollards is for someone to lose a life!

My god, we can/should/must do better than this...

Oh yeah, those were there last week. I meant to mention it here but forgot. But I walked by last Tuesday and they were there. Only on two corners though, at least as of then.

Meanwhile Hennepin County removed all of their plastic bollards for the winter, on *their* city streets like Cedar and 42nd St.

Maybe if TWO people had been run down and killed, the city could have put plastic, removable bollards at all four corners. Jeezus...

The city is currently deciding on safety improvements for the 43rd and Nicollet corner, and it appears a median or permanent bumpouts are options. One concern about the median is the loss of a few parking spaces due to the tapers necessary for traffic to move around the median. That said, a full refuge median seems like such a better idea than simply some curb extensions. Please let CM Glidden know if you have thoughts about this corner.

Regarding the proposed development at 3329 Nicollet, there's a public meeting in Lyndale on May 22. The developer is seeking setback variances. I'll be attending and hopefully they will have more renderings.

Regarding the proposed development at 3329 Nicollet, there's a public meeting in Lyndale on May 22. The developer is seeking setback variances. I'll be attending and hopefully they will have more renderings.

The developer has updated their proposal. They are replacing 2 town homes (the ones fronting Nicollet) with apartments (a total of 6 apartments; 2 1 bedroom,1 bath ADA units, and 4 2 bedroom, 1 bath units). This requires a parking variance (reduction from 1 to .5) and also rezoning from R4 to R5. The neighborhood approved, although we had to vote separately on the parking variance because it was "controversial". It passed overwhelmingly.

Weren't those two live/work townhomes? Wasn't live/work, especially facing Nicollet (let's face it, the rest of the "live worK" interior is really garages) the reason why this proposal was chosen over one that would have housed significantly more people on the parcel? https://streets.mn/2016/07/27/neighborh ... her-rents/

That said, I'm encouraged the neighborhood has moved in the direction of more housing for people even if it means less housing for cars. Eager to see the new site plan.

Weren't those two live/work townhomes? Wasn't live/work, especially facing Nicollet (let's face it, the rest of the "live worK" interior is really garages) the reason why this proposal was chosen over one that would have housed significantly more people on the parcel? https://streets.mn/2016/07/27/neighborh ... her-rents/

That said, I'm encouraged the neighborhood has moved in the direction of more housing for people even if it means less housing for cars. Eager to see the new site plan.

All the town homes were pitched as work/live, but I think that concept works best if they are street facing (in particular if you are going to have clients showing up). I am skeptical that people will actually use any of the townhomes as a work/live space - the developer even said they designed them with young families in mind. I also think it is great there will be slightly more density, without additional parking. Per the developer, units will be about 20% cheaper than other new construction because of that.