Suburbs - General Topics

Twin Cities Suburbs
mattaudio
Stone Arch Bridge
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Re: Suburbs - General Topics

Postby mattaudio » February 8th, 2019, 2:37 pm

#blessed to work at the building with the highest value-per-acre in Minnesota.

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sdho
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Re: Suburbs - General Topics

Postby sdho » February 10th, 2019, 8:25 am

As an aside, I’m surprised storage facilities are taxed at a high rate. I just assumed they had rock bottom tax rates. Interesting. I guess they’re more profitable than I thought. Outside of industrial areas, though, they’re a terrible land use.
They are definitely not the most vibrant land use, although they have significantly upped their game in the last 20 years compared to the earlier versions.

A realization I had yesterday shopping in Bloomington: the only multi-story buildings on American Boulevard between Lyndale and Nicollet are self-storage -- 2x 3-story self-storage facilities. The Lock Up and Extra Space in particular seem to have fully indoor, multi-story structures with passable design.

The Lockup at Oak Lake and N 7th St is particularly well done, with ground floor retail that I'm sure was included at the behest of the city. Wonder if it'll ever get leased. Nice materials, nice window coverage on three sides.

The Bloomington ones are not that well-designed, but still much better than the old generation of low-slung garages. I wonder if someone who knows more details about property tax can explain why they are taxed so highly. Per square foot of rentable space, the rates are often decently high.

(I won't blame the land use for it, but it is also kind of depressing how much self storage gets used by people with a regular-sized, totally usable apartment or house. We need to do better at getting rid of stuff we don't want anymore. I like the concept of "storing" your stuff on Craigslist)

Multimodal
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Re: Suburbs - General Topics

Postby Multimodal » February 10th, 2019, 8:39 am

Ground floor retail would certainly make self-storage nicer, although I doubt people putting stuff in storage would want to buy more stuff.

Services make make sense, but gyms & yoga probably don’t make sense, as you’re exhausted from moving everything.

Maybe a coffee shop or café?

And it’s sad that they are the only multi-story buildings, and that people use them so much. I used them once, after getting divorced, and vowed I’d never use them again.

MNdible
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Re: Suburbs - General Topics

Postby MNdible » February 11th, 2019, 2:33 pm

#blessed to work at the building with the highest value-per-acre in Minnesota.
Wells Fargo Center?

I'd guess that if you could somehow break out just the tower portion of IDS, it would be higher.

QuietBlue
Target Field
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Re: Suburbs - General Topics

Postby QuietBlue » February 11th, 2019, 2:56 pm

(I won't blame the land use for it, but it is also kind of depressing how much self storage gets used by people with a regular-sized, totally usable apartment or house. We need to do better at getting rid of stuff we don't want anymore. I like the concept of "storing" your stuff on Craigslist)
I mostly agree with this -- that said, there are situations where having a storage unit makes sense (such as for items you only use seasonally if you live somewhere with limited storage space, or if you are temporarily living in a smaller space and expect to have more in the future).

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sdho
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Re: Suburbs - General Topics

Postby sdho » February 11th, 2019, 10:11 pm

(I won't blame the land use for it, but it is also kind of depressing how much self storage gets used by people with a regular-sized, totally usable apartment or house. We need to do better at getting rid of stuff we don't want anymore. I like the concept of "storing" your stuff on Craigslist)
I mostly agree with this -- that said, there are situations where having a storage unit makes sense (such as for items you only use seasonally if you live somewhere with limited storage space, or if you are temporarily living in a smaller space and expect to have more in the future).
Sure, there are definitely good reasons -- and like Multimodal mentioned, abrupt life events like divorce sometimes necessitate them. But it seems to be really rapidly growing industry, and surely it isn't all essential seasonal stuff that won't fit anywhere else.

A suburban planner I know had kind of a funny thing to blame for self-storage: apartments are just too small these days. According to him, people like these 500 sq ft studios, but everyone actually has at least 700 sq ft worth of stuff. Self storage is the "annex" for your crap. Kind of laughable that everyone just naturally has that amount of stuff and it's an unchangeable human characteristic -- but he may be right that downsizing we're not fully committed to is part of it.

QuietBlue
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Re: Suburbs - General Topics

Postby QuietBlue » February 12th, 2019, 9:15 am

Can't say I agree with that planner. I think it's that people just have a lot more stuff than they used to. Personally, I've always been clutter-averse and generally don't like having things around that I'm not using (with exceptions for practical things like tools).

That said, I'm probably going to move later this year and may get a small storage unit depending on if we downsize or not (currently in a 2BR, but may need to go down to a 1BR to get what we want at a price we can afford). Though that would only be after getting rid of everything we can, and we'd get as small a storage unit as we could.

dajazz
Nicollet Mall
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Re: Suburbs - General Topics

Postby dajazz » February 12th, 2019, 11:17 am

A lot of storage units are now being used for inventory storage. I've seen delivery companies use them as a pick up/drop point for items. I'm sure most are still overflow of people's personal items, but it's an interesting trend.

NickP
Target Field
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Re: Suburbs - General Topics

Postby NickP » December 13th, 2019, 4:20 pm

https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... s_headline
Not a move to either downtown, but I take this as a win for companies moving to more central locations in general.

Anondson
IDS Center
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Re: Suburbs - General Topics

Postby Anondson » January 22nd, 2020, 7:54 am

The old TIES arc deco building in Falcon Heights to get apartment makeover. (Is there a Falcon Heights-relevant thread?)


https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... -ties.html

pannierpacker
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Re: Suburbs - General Topics

Postby pannierpacker » January 27th, 2020, 11:30 pm

The old TIES arc deco building in Falcon Heights to get apartment makeover. (Is there a Falcon Heights-relevant thread?)


https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... -ties.html
Very nice addition to Falcon Heights!
Now if they can just get the northern corners of that intersection fixed up.

Anondson
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Re: Suburbs - General Topics

Postby Anondson » March 5th, 2020, 7:14 pm

A hillside at the southwest corner of 169 and 394 once owned by the state for nearly a century has been sold and will be developed.

https://finance-commerce.com/2020/03/he ... rk-corner/

It’s kind of an inconvenient corner despite being adjacent to two highways. I would rather this be offices than housing, I think, because of how far from neighborhood-like amenities this is. But I’m glad something will be built on it.

twincitizen
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Re: Suburbs - General Topics

Postby twincitizen » March 9th, 2020, 12:43 pm

Cottage Grove mixed-use, walkable development would be among metro’s largest: https://www.twincities.com/2020/03/07/c ... s-largest/

As the article states, this is an aspirational plan done by the city to generate interest among developer(s). It is not an actual development plan that anyone is planning to build. Given the remote location on the edge of the developed metro area in that direction (it's next to literal farm fields), it's not a terrible plan. But I doubt there's a developer willing to build anything near this scale in terms of the number of apartments. Might be smarter for the city to focus on a smaller, more compact "walkable mixed-use" area and either hold the rest of the land for the future or allow the back half of it to be developed as purely residential.

Image: https://www.twincities.com/wp-content/u ... t-Plan.jpg

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mister.shoes
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Suburbs - General Topics

Postby mister.shoes » March 9th, 2020, 3:26 pm

I dunno. It could really use a drive-in theater.
The problem with being an introvert online is that no one knows you're just hanging out and listening.

twincitizen
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Re: Suburbs - General Topics

Postby twincitizen » September 15th, 2020, 12:34 pm

Picking up on the discussion of Deluxe Corp moving from Shoreview to Downtown Mpls (see Downtown Mpls Office Market thread) - here's a statement from Shoreview's mayor: https://www.shoreviewmn.gov/Home/Compon ... ws/1624/17

It sounds like the 50 acre campus has already sold to an light-industrial/warehouse developer (Scannell Properties). Another Amazon Distribution hub or similar? Excellent freeway access without any major traffic issues up there.

Mdcastle
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Re: Suburbs - General Topics

Postby Mdcastle » October 9th, 2020, 9:02 am

https://www.startribune.com/rental-home ... 572633721/
(Paywalled)

So neighborhoods of single family houses that are all rentals are becoming a thing. I see this as remaining a niche market, but it's easy to see why it appeals to certain people since you don't have to mow the lawn, can just leave for Florida for months in the winter, provide a private bedroom and private yard for your kids, and can just leave rather than having to sell your house if you get transferred, yet not have to share a wall with neighbors.
What we hear from people all the time is they want to rent and they want the option for a maintenance-free lifestyle but they don’t want the shared walls... This really appeals to a lot of people. I think we will see a lot more of this in the metro and in Maple Grove, and it will be really welcome here.”

About a third of renters are empty nesters, sometimes with vacation homes elsewhere. Another third are middle-age people, some single or recently divorced, and professionals who relocate frequently for work. The final third are younger millennial couples testing out life in the suburbs. They’ve done the North Loop thing and the Uptown thing. They are starting to have kids and want extra space...They want their own four walls.
Yes, there are lots of rental homes in the suburbs, but they tend to be in less safe neighborhoods, are older with "closed" flooplans (why you want to be able to see and hear your dishwasher when you're watching TV IDK, but people do nowadays), and don't have community amenties like a pool. From a strictly financial point of view it doesn't make sense to rent one of these instead of buy something, but look at the number of people leasing cars so they can get more car than what they could afford otherwise.

QuietBlue
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Re: Suburbs - General Topics

Postby QuietBlue » October 9th, 2020, 2:34 pm

I can definitely understand the appeal of these for people who want the SFH life but don't want to commit to buying one yet (or ever). Yeah, over a long period of time, buying a home would be less expensive than renting something expensive like these, but I get the impression they're intended for people in a transitional state or who want to stay mobile.

DanPatchToget
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Suburbs - General Topics

Postby DanPatchToget » October 20th, 2020, 10:41 am

Amazon fulfillment center coming to Lakeville.

https://www.startribune.com/city-counci ... fresh=true

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Tiller
Foshay Tower
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Re: Suburbs - General Topics

Postby Tiller » October 22nd, 2020, 2:50 pm

Of course they would put it somewhere like Lakeville. Why not just put it in Iowa. 🙄

Mdcastle
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Suburbs - General Topics

Postby Mdcastle » October 22nd, 2020, 5:12 pm

Where else to you suggest besides Lakeville that has room for a 750,000 square foot distribution center with associated truck parking? The former Apple store in Uptown?


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