urbanMSP

I agree I wish they'd redo the entire outside. Those little windows are hideous. I wish somehow they could incorporate the look of the new development going on behind it along the river.

The city of Rochester has sent out a second RFP to build above the new ramp being built behind the Titan/Harbor Bay Hilton Hotel. This time the city is asking for proposals where at least half of the units be affordable. It sounds like several developers are interested in this RFP,

Last month, Assistant City Administrator Terry Spaeth said developers have expressed interest in revisiting the issue

https://www.postbulletin.com/news/local ... l8V3d3sPoo

North Rock Real Estate, who's also proposing the 6 story apartment project along 1st Avenue, is proposing a 6 story, 109 room Marriott at the intersection of Second Street and Sixth Avenue SW. The lot in the NW corner of the intersection is currently vacant.

Though the site is within the Destination Medical Center area, the developers say they have no plans to ask for DMC funding or tax-increment funding from the city.

The proposal calls for two floors of underground parking with 88 stalls, which developers say is a higher ratio of parking stalls to rooms than is offered at any other downtown hotel.

https://www.postbulletin.com/news/local ... 47c2d.html

^^^ I'm like what are we seeing. But I get it.

EKN received final approval for the Hyatt House: "groundbreaking could be just weeks away".

https://www.medcitybeat.com/news-blog/2 ... -from-city

Hat tip to EKN, they've have the Holiday Inn redevelopment in progress, the Hyatt House starting soon and, from the looks of it, the hotel at Virgil's could be moving forward because they've fenced off the area:

The Hyatt House is significantly different from earlier presentations and appears to be about 2 stories shorter as well. Hope it doesn't change further. It will be nice to see the Virgil's site redeveloped. Hoping with both hotel and residential it might be a substantial project.

Demolition has started on Virgil's.

Are there any 16 story buildings going up in Rochester right now?

i think the closest to that height currently going up is the 13 story project by St. Mary's Hospital. https://finance-commerce.com/2016/08/bo ... y-project/

Several updates for Rochester.

1. City has selected a St. Paul non-profit for the affordable housing development above the new ramp behind the downtown Hilton. The building is expected to be an additional 8 stories above the ramp.
https://www.medcitybeat.com/news-blog/2 ... le-housing

2. Google is partnering with Mayo and will open a Rochester office. Location has not been decided yet.
https://www.medcitybeat.com/news-blog/2 ... le-data-ai


3. Post-Bulletin site has sold.
https://www.postbulletin.com/news/heard ... 64eb1.html

"This hotel for Rochester is looking to find the right mix of brand and location"

https://finance-commerce.com/2019/09/th ... -location/

Holiday Inn renovation into the Hotel Indigo in downtown Rochester will include a Crave restaurant on the 2nd level. This will include a large patio space on the corner facing Historic 3rd that will have a retractable roof and retractable walls on the corner. Should do very well there!

Mayo wants to use an old Kmart as a huge park & ride in the middle of a moderately dense, walkable, good neighborhood on the extreme edge of downtown, requiring miles of urban driving for most motorists to take advantage of it. https://www.medcitybeat.com/news-blog/2 ... king-kmart Huge mistake in the making.

I don't think that is a huge mistake. I think it is a great idea. This is a short term solution while they get the BRT system up and going. They have limited parking right now. Would you rather they build another ramp downtown? The Kmart site is not ready for any redevelopment right now with many better sites available. It is next to an old railroad spur and neighbors a big industrial site. You think this is going to get redeveloped any time soon? Mayo is using this as interim parking, not a permanent solution. The future park and ride will be further south near the fairgrounds. When the time comes for this to be redeveloped, it will. Now is not that time. Might as well get some use out of it.

There's no such thing as interim parking. Mayo is simply not with the times when it comes to transportation demand management for institutional land uses and large-scale employment centers. They don't even charge employees to park downtown.

Mayo is the institutional leader of Rochester. That town has laughable parking "problems" as it is but somehow thinks that building even more parking will somehow solve their congestion. If the clinic doesn't take a forward-thinking approach, no one in that town will. With a highly dense cluster of jobs, and obvious arterials for rail connections, they need to take a more forward-thinking tack.

They won't take a forward-thinking approach because they don't need to from their POV. Mayo does what's good for Mayo, not the city/region as a whole. If their interests happen to align with good urbanism and development on a project, it's because there's something in it for them too.

Crave restaurant is great. I've been to the one in Woodbury twice now, one being this past Sunday before going to the Heart concert. The food, atmosphere, staff, all are exceptional.