urbanMSP

This place seemed to be on borrowed time even before this year. It was really hot 15 or so years ago, but it struck me as more about drinks and the scene rather than the food, which was better elsewhere (and probably cheaper to boot). I'd bet that many people who loved it in its prime haven't been there in at least a decade.

This place seemed to be on borrowed time even before this year. It was really hot 15 or so years ago, but it struck me as more about drinks and the scene rather than the food, which was better elsewhere (and probably cheaper to boot). I'd bet that many people who loved it in its prime haven't been there in at least a decade.

This is me. I was bummed to hear the news. I used to go there a lot. But yeah, it's probably been 8-10 years since I've been there.

Maybe I’m missing something, but the idea that Uptown is going to transform to a retail district catered toward small, independent, neighborhood businesses doesn’t make sense.

Uptown is a shopping mall surrounded by new, high-priced apartments. It’s basically the template for the opposite type of retail environment.

I also question what Uptown is desperately lacking for residents to spur such a revolution? It has two grocery stores, a mini Target, a Matterss Firm. I count two dry cleaners, a couple of banks, several salons and a FedEx store. I’m sure there’s room for more of these types of businesses, but how much more? Just filling the Apple, Victoria’s Secret and Columbia vacancies is a lot of square footage.

Uptown also, even with the recent closures, still has regional businesses like Kitchen Window and CB2 and even Magers and Quinn that don’t exist on walk up traffic. There are also several bars and restaurants catered to people coming in from outside the neighborhood, and they don’t seem to be going anywhere.

I obviously don’t know what’s going to happen, but if I had to guess I’d say the area continues adding expensive apartments and trying to attract more offices, while retail changes from one type of national chain to another, all of this resulting in an Uptown that remains fine but still not edgy and cool like it apparently used to be. And I wouldn’t be surprised if part of the reimagination of Calhoun Square involves a new attempt at a “destination” concept there, whether a new store or some kind of entertainment venue.

Again maybe I’m off base because I’ve never lived there, but Uptown feels like a place that’s always going to be geared toward attracting people from outside the neighborhood.

The whole area would benefit if the parking ramp at 7 Points (fka Calhoun Square) would lower their parking prices. Same thing with the Mozaic ramp. They are priced higher ($12 max reached in 3 hours) than many downtown parking facilities' evening/weekend rates and they typically sit half empty even on the busiest nights.

Does anyone know how much one makes off of parking ramps? You would even that the ones like downtown that have long been paid for in terms of construction could lower prices, but I suppose it's a business and with properties taxes continually going up, etc....Sometimes I think the owners of with paid parking make more from the rents they receive from building tenants...would seem to be the case since they don't lower parking rates and many don't seem too concerned about attracting tenants to empty spaces (i.e. downtown).

Does anyone know how much one makes off of parking ramps? You would even that the ones like downtown that have long been paid for in terms of construction could lower prices, but I suppose it's a business and with properties taxes continually going up, etc....Sometimes I think the owners of with paid parking make more from the rents they receive from building tenants...would seem to be the case since they don't lower parking rates and many don't seem too concerned about attracting tenants to empty spaces (i.e. downtown).

Off street parking facilities generally operate with very narrow margins. Security, maintenance, and taxes really add up. As they age and and financing payments become less then the maintenance costs skyrocket. They are not a good stand alone business. Some operators intentionally keep prices high to limit occupancy so they have less maintenance expenses. This however is a terrible practice for parking that is intended as a "district" parking option since fewer people are likely to visit the area. It also creates the situation where people perceive a "parking problem" in an area because the street parking is full even though there are hundreds of open spaces in the ramps.