urbanMSP

Replacing the gas station and grade separating the Dean/Calhoun intersection would go a long way to making this area suck less.

When I’ve been stuck waiting to cross Lake I’ve wished it were grade separated. But I struggle imagining how to do it without raising Lake up and have it cut the view from Dean Pkwy and the ground floor of Calhoun Beach Club.

I'm not normally a fan of pedestrian/bike bridges, but this seems like a location where there's enough demand to justify it, and enough land on either side to have the ramping up to the bridge be gradual and blend into the landscape in a not-terrible way.

When I’ve been stuck waiting to cross Lake I’ve wished it were grade separated. But I struggle imagining how to do it without raising Lake up and have it cut the view from Dean Pkwy and the ground floor of Calhoun Beach Club.

I would go the opposite way - raise Dean and Calhoun Pkwys over Lake instead. They're small enough roads that they can gently rise on both sides. The turn lane onto Lake can remain an alley for access to the towers that connect to Dean right now.

In this story about the Jiffy Lube site needing clean up money, it mentions the site owner would like to put in restaurants but in the long term desired to tear out it and an adjacent property and put up multi story residential.

http://www.southwestjournal.com/news/de ... ion-later/

Eventually — in five to 10 years — the developer hopes to knock down both buildings, thoroughly clean up the soil around the Jiffy Lube structure and erect a multi-story residential-retail building spanning both sites.

48-unit building to replace a couple houses & duplex at 3818-26 W. 31st St https://www.southwestjournal.com/news/2 ... r-parking/

This would be a fine project. Wished they were more open to fewer car parking spaces, though I can understand being skeptical when no LRT station exists nor a ped bridge over the trail is even planned.

Home goods store Moss Envy is moving from West Lake to Northeast. I wonder if strip mall retail might not be the highest and best use for this area?

I thought I saw a crane up by the station area. Anyone know if it is for the station work, or Calhoun Tower(s)?

View of the station area on Friday. Just dirt for now.

While walking to get this shot, I was reminded of how terrible this entire area is for pedestrians. It is disappointing that the occasion of the SWLRT project was not used to significantly change Lake Street as it funnels into Uptown. At maximum, the road should have two lanes in either direction, with expanded sidewalks and a landscaped median. The full movement intersection at Excelsior is overkill, as is the intersection with E Bde Maka Ska Parkway. It is remarkable that connecting two of its most attractive areas to live, along the northern edge of its signature lake, Minneapolis has an urban highway that makes walking and bicycling extremely unpleasant.