urbanMSP

When that bridge went in about 1998, I thought " Geeze this is nice, why can't other parts of the city get nice stuff like this?"

The bridge is fine! The underside could use cleaning and probably more light, but it's hardly the problem.

Wellington has purchased the former Rainbow foods at 27th & East Lake. Plans mixed-use.

http://finance-commerce.com/2016/07/wel ... t-station/

Hopefully with a regrid too.

Hopefully with a regrid too.

I'm confused. The former Rainbow Foods building doesn't disrupt the street grid. Neither does it's parking lot. Or do you consider the interrupted alley to be a part of the street grid?

^beat me to it. yeah, as far as big retailers in the city go, that rainbow wasn't that bad actually. Sure, their parking lot is big, but they kept the through street between the lot and the building.

Part of 27th is vacated in front of rainbow, judging by Hennepin gis.

It sure doesn't feel like a street.

27th Ave S.

Part of 27th is vacated in front of rainbow, judging by Hennepin gis.

I had no idea that was vacated. Anyone can still drive/bike/walk through there now, though I doubt that many do for practical reasons. It functions more like a "woonerf".

The city should reclaim the ROW, but I'm still not sure I would consider this "grid restoration". More like "grid protection".

Yeah, the actual land has been vacated in front of the Rainbow store only (immediately north and south it's still public ROW); I'd wager that there are still a number of utility easements through the old street ROW. And I've been surprised before (see the old Marshall High School project), but a site this big will probably want to go through a PUD process, and that means the city will have some leverage to negotiate a site plan that would at least maintain access through the site, if not restore it to a full public ROW.

The 70,000 square foot Rainbow building is staying. Wellington is securing a retailer or multiple retailers for the 27th Ave (front) side of the building, as well as an office or charter school tenant on the 28th Ave backside. The freestanding Wendy's in the parking lot was included in the sale, but will remain open for now. No other buildings (Autozone, Denny's, Schooner, etc.) were part of the sale.

In the future, Wellington plans to build a mixed-use (and likely mixed-income) housing project in the NW corner of the parking lot.

EDIT: Strib story and pic: http://www.startribune.com/former-rainb ... 388158232/




Sidebar: why is 26th Avenue not consistently signed as Minnehaha Avenue through here (28th St to Lake)? That's just dumb and confusing.

Re: Sidebar

Once you're north of Lake Street, 26th Avenue is arguably the more important street, with it's connection to I-94, etc. And the road geometry would certainly suggest that they're signed correctly.

There's going to be an event this Saturday at 10AM at the Midtown Farmers market with CM Cano, Peter McLaughlin, and the new Minneapolis Public Works Director Robin Hutcheson centering on the Humanize Hi Lake effort and how to improve the streets around here for people not in cars.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1649814158664579/

Harriet Brewing is closing on Jan 31, 2017.

In other news, should this thread be renamed "Downtown Longfellow" since that seems to be the new name for the area east of Hiawatha?

Here's a Facebook link to the announcement.

I wonder if there's actual redevelopment plans for that building, or if it's just a rent increase they can't afford?

According to Hennepin County Property Info for 3036 Minnehaha there's one owner for eight lots on that side of the block and two across the alley, though there's a mix of Minneapolis (including "Crop Top LLC", LOL) and Iowa City, IA addresses. It looks like they've owned some of them for a long time, but maybe something's afoot?

I was thinking about them the other day as I rode by. They've been around longer than a lot of the local places, but you don't I don't see their beer in bottles or on tap as much as some of their peers (I recall seeing West Side on tap here and there at times, but nothing regular). Also, the state of their parking lot and the dirt lot next to it didn't seem a good sign either.

Anyway, sounds like they were content with operating their tap room rather than expanding to a bigger business, so the jigs up. There's definitely development potential in the area.

I can't speak for whether or not it had an effect on their bottom-line, but everytime me and my friends wanted to go have a beer there (especially on the weekend) there was always a cover for a band we weren't interested in seeing and paying $5 or $10 for the privilege. Not sure if that kept other people away or not. It definitely wasn't run like the other taprooms, for better or worse.

Certainly the strongest smelling tap room I visited. RIP