urbanMSP

The design is for the 31st St office. Looks like they're reusing the existing structural walls, but yeah big 1990s USPS vibe.

Oh wow. Even with this commentary, I was not prepared for how utterly disappointing this is. The USPS used to care about design with innovative projects, but this is just a half-assed embarrassment.

Yeah, it's ugly as sin, but until the USPS is adequately funded, we can't expect it to put an extra cent into design. Everything they do nowadays is bare bones. A lot of taxpayers would scream bloody murder if the USPS "wasted" money on a nice building.

Honestly, I'm just glad to see it's getting built. I used to go to the Post Office on Bloomington Ave all the time and I can tell you these neighborhood's depend on these Postal Offices. Sometimes we have to recognize the function and need of building and put aside our differences about it's design. Also this is a small project, so its impact isn't going to be large.

Article about design for a new post office that was destroyed along Minnehaha Ave.

https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-li ... olis-riots

That is sad, especially considering that the nearby Wells Fargo is being redeveloped with housing and a community space. Was hoping for something similar with the post office location.

Yeah, it's ugly as sin, but until the USPS is adequately funded, we can't expect it to put an extra cent into design. Everything they do nowadays is bare bones. A lot of taxpayers would scream bloody murder if the USPS "wasted" money on a nice building.

I'm not suggesting that they need to spend a lot more on the project, and I'm not suggesting it needs to be fancy. I'm stating that a good architect could organize the basic massing, elements, and material scheme into a building that has even an inkling of civic stature and doesn't look like a strip mall mailboxes plus.

White letters on a white building. SMH Good design doesn’t have to be expensive. And function doesn’t have to be basic.

That’s true. Even if starting with the old structure is a big hindrance, just a better color palette would help. OTOH, outside of the main branch downtown, I’m not coming up with a single local PO building that doesn’t range from bland to horrible architecturally. The USPS is to architecture what schlocky B-horror films are to the cinema...but less entertaining.

Off of the top of my head, the University Avenue PO by Prospect Park, the Bloomington Ave and 31st St PO, and the Nicollet and Diamond Lake Rd PO are all modest structures, but at least it looks like somebody spent a little bit of time thinking about them. I'm not looking for a monumental building, but one that looks like it was designed by somebody who cares.

Looks like Hall Sweeney purchased the former O'Reilly and Dollar General lot on Nicollet between 35th/36th that burned down. Proposing a 5 over 1 with the top floor set back. 196 units, 148 car parking spaces, 196 bike parking spaces. Keeping only the south curb cut and adding a vehicle entrance from the alley. No commercial, which I think is probably fine, but there is a coworking space proposed.

I'm a big fan of their work - they're always very thoughtful and understand that details matter.

Hey look, the site is updated on street view

https://goo.gl/maps/mKXy7BWfgHJ29Qze8

Looks like Hall Sweeney purchased the former O'Reilly and Dollar General lot on Nicollet between 35th/36th that burned down. Proposing a 5 over 1 with the top floor set back. 196 units, 148 car parking spaces, 196 bike parking spaces. Keeping only the south curb cut and adding a vehicle entrance from the alley. No commercial, which I think is probably fine, but there is a coworking space proposed.

I'm a big fan of their work - they're always very thoughtful and understand that details matter.

This is super exciting! Any links to the plans also any info on retail space? It feels like a building this big should attract either a large store of some kind or a few smaller spaces.

Great to see some movement at this location! It feels like the north curbcut location would be better -- avoiding some of the congestion that can happen closer to the intersection, but that's a totally minor quibble.

3536 Nicollet is up for "discussion" next week. Link to the packet: https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/download ... llet%20Ave

3536 Nicollet is up for "discussion" next week. Link to the packet: https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/download ... llet%20Ave

I'm actually very upset this isn't mixed use at all and I would consider opposing this project because of it. This is a prominent block on Nicollet and there are no valid excuses to the exclusion of ground level commercial space.

I don’t mind the lack of retail here. It’s not on a corner, and several corners of Nicollet & 36th have high redevelopment potential. It is on those sites where I’d demand retail space. The 3601 site is vacant and has been rumored about. Uhaul is a nice piece of property that I imagine will eventually turn over. And the existing building on the northwest corner is clearly underutilized as far as retail goes. If there was demand by better retail users, they’d promptly replace the temp staffing office, insurance, and/or chiropractor with a restaurant that would pay higher rent.

3601 is under construction, right?

https://thedevelopmenttracker.com/mpls/ ... edeveloped

Considering the housing shortage relative to the retail surplus, it would seem to me to be better to have the ground floor be housing rather than retail. Especially if the developer decided that they'd rather just not do the entire project and leave the lot vacant rather than be forced to include retail that no one wants to lease, at least not at a price that would make the developer any money.

With the price of construction materials already squeezing profits and the current retail apocalypse, is the city still in a position to force developers to include ground floor retail as a condition of being able to do the housing projects?

3536 Nicollet is up for "discussion" next week. Link to the packet: https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/download ... llet%20Ave

I'm actually very upset this isn't mixed use at all and I would consider opposing this project because of it. This is a prominent block on Nicollet and there are no valid excuses to the exclusion of ground level commercial space.

I thought some on the commission would've focused on this, but they didn't. Most of the discussion was on size/massing and making a great pedestrian experience. Nobody seem to be bothered that Nicollet is a designated goods and services corridor and there isn't any true commercial/retail being proposed. I would have thought someone would have pointed out that the business occupying the space before were pretty busy and well used by the neighborhood and we aren't getting anything to replace either.

All is pretty much lost on the front of goods and services. There's a solid belief that we're going to become 100% reliant on online shopping for the rest of our lives, so there's no need for it. Despite almost every other major city working to fight against that change because they recognize the negative impact it will have on urban form.