urbanMSP

https://www.gomn.com/life/stillwater-bb ... be-closing

Smalley's BBQ could be closing as soon as this Saturday. The article says the building was bought and they are being forced out. Seems like there is more to the story.

https://www.twincities.com/2018/01/02/s ... ns-on-tap/

Lift Bridge will likely stay in the city’s industrial area; they plan to announce the location of their new five-acre site within a few weeks, he said.

“The site needs to be five acres to accommodate visitors and truck traffic, so (staying) in the industrial area would make the most sense,” he said.

Not enough rolleyes emojis in the world.

As nice as a downtown Stillwater location might be for taproom reasons, this is mostly a production facility that is best suited for an industrial area. If they proposed a downtown location, everybody would complain about all of the blank walls and big loading docks. And yes, the parking.

On the other hand, they keep finding places for MASSIVE parking ramps, e.g., into the hill on 2nd St. S & Olive. That would have been a great place for this facility. There's a fair bit of space in Stillwater, actually, for a large facility near downtown. Tons of surface lots and poorly utilized space around if you look, but they'd have to build a multi-level facility, which might not be realistic.

They could put a taproom downtown like Fulton did in Mpls maybe?

Yes, that would seem to be the logical option for them, if they felt that having a downtown presence was important. Which, apparently they don't. [shrugs]

Lift Bridge Brewing lands a Stillwater site for $10 million expansion
*UNLOCKED*

They've selected the corner of Orleans St & Washington Ave (not far from their current location) for the new facility.

https://www.twincities.com/2018/08/02/n ... -business/

"When the Lift Bridge reopens after renovations are completed next year, it will connect with the new bridge in a unique two-state loop trail.

In Wisconsin, the trail will run along Main Street of 386-population Houlton, bringing a steady stream of bikers, hikers and sightseers.

That won’t help B&L Liquors, said owner Severson. “Bikers don’t buy anything. They are not going to strap a six-pack across their handlebars and ride across the bridge,” he said.

He predicted that a nearby trail rest stop would be a magnet for crime."

That won’t help B&L Liquors, said owner Severson. “Bikers don’t buy anything. They are not going to strap a six-pack across their handlebars and ride across the bridge,” he said.

I’ll start looking for Instagram photos of cargo bikes loading up at B&L Liquors soon.

At new bike/ped/transit meetings, it would be good to find old quotes along with controverting evidence to show people how these old diatribes won’t come true in this new project.

P.S. I have a nice bike bag that holds a couple bottles of wine or a six pack or two. I go grocery shopping with it all the time. You don’t even need a cargo bike to go to a liquor store.

Hell, a Lime Bike with a basket will work.

On one hand, I want to go across the river and show up in obnoxious bike garb to prove him wrong, but on the other hand I don't plan to give him any business.

The guy sounds obnoxious, but he isn't wrong. Houlton existed mostly to serve traffic across the Lift Bridge, so it's pretty clear that the bypass would hurt their business significantly. I don't know if they would be any better off if the Lift Bridge were maintained for cars, but bikes aren't going to save them.

No he isn't wrong, but it is not like the new bridge popped out of nowhere within the blink of an eye. This guy should have known for the last 10 to 15 years this was going to happen. To sit back and complain when he knew damn well what was going to happen to traffic around his place is pathetic.

https://www.twincities.com/2018/08/02/n ... -business/
"When the Lift Bridge reopens after renovations are completed next year, it will connect with the new bridge in a unique two-state loop trail.

In Wisconsin, the trail will run along Main Street of 386-population Houlton, bringing a steady stream of bikers, hikers and sightseers.

That won’t help B&L Liquors, said owner Severson. “Bikers don’t buy anything. They are not going to strap a six-pack across their handlebars and ride across the bridge,” he said.

So when should we have a group bike ride to try out the new trail and prove him wrong?

While not giving him money would be satisfying, it would be even more satisfying to demonstrate the value of bike/ped infrastructure.

And hey, people living in Stillwater are now only a short bike ride away from Wisconsin's more lenient liquor laws. That's unironically pretty convenient.

Stillwater wants to buy a taxpaying business on a prominent downtown corner for up to $1.2 million dollars - and is considering using eminent domain since an agreement could not be reached - in order to tear it down and build 37 unpriced surface parking spaces.
https://www.twincities.com/2019/06/12/s ... n-parking/

Stillwater is nuts. I have never had to park further than three blocks from the main street. I used to go a lot in the middle of the summer and would park at the post office which is .2 miles from main street and there was never anyone parked there.

Does anyone even use the parking ramp?

Stillwater is just something else. I think it might have the worst possible combination of natural resources, misdirection, and poor leadership of any city I've seen. Just look how there are parking lots lining the entire riverfront. Almost no benches or park-like features at all! Then, the leadership demands more parking when the ramps they have don't even fill, and there is abundant street grid parking within about 3 short blocks of almost anywhere near Main Street. It's just painful to watch this city flounder when it could be a truly great, urban paradise.

I've never had an issue finding somewhere to park in Stillwater, even on busy days. Plus it can be easier to get in and out of the area if you don't park right off the main street anyway.

Article I wrote for streets.mn about the parking issues
https://streets.mn/2020/08/13/stillwate ... -problems/

Basically, Stillwater wants the entire downtown to be within a 1/4 mile or 5 minute walk from a parking ramp. The southern end of the downtown is farther from the existing ramp, but will be within range of a future ramp on the Shorty site. Once there's adequate parking to all of the downtown on these two sites, they plan to start phasing out the riverfront parking which will result in people needing to use the ramps.

Right now Stillwater has it's hands full figuring out the two huge new riverfront parks on either end of downtown. The south one was a former barge terminal turns out to not have been needed for a new freeway approach to a downtown bridge, so it's now ready for development as a park. The north one the elderly owner decided to sell her estate to the city for use as a park. The Shorty site was in long term plans but wasn't on their immediate radar until the owner approached the city wanting a well above market value offer. The cities move to condemn is started when Shorty's refused a counter-offer of market value.
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73 unit apartment building with 73 indoor parking spaces proposed at 200 Chestnut Street, currently a low-slung commercial building with a Mansard roof


https://public.ci.stillwater.mn.us/webl ... Page1.aspx
Blends in well with the historic area without becoming a parody of it like the Stillwater Mills building.