urbanMSP

A fitness center/gym is being proposed on Plymouth Ave N. and 94. The organization proposing it is V3, which appears to be founded by Erika Binger. (Who I am pretty sure part of the McKnight/3M heritage and is on the board of the McKnight Foundation.) The project looks pretty good and might be a good way to stich the city together a bit across 94.


http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2018/01/2 ... polis-gym/

Tori Ramen filling the old Victory 44 building: https://mynorthnews.org/new-blog/2018/1 ... to-victory

Odd that the story says the proposed gym would be the Northside's only public swimming pool. Perhaps the only indoor pool? Because Webber Park pool definitely exists.

There is an operating indoor pool at Olson Middle School up near the Brooklyn Center border. Adjoining Creekview Park has possibly the last 2-story slide in Minneapolis and an unimaginably awful skatepark.

Franklin Middle School just across Plymouth has a disused pool. I campaigned on re-opening it through a MPRB-MPS partnership. Pools are crazy... I wonder if building new in an empty building is cheaper than refurbishing the extant one?

Here's the packet for something called the "Greenbelt Cluster housing," on Lyndale N and 31st. It looks really interesting and different than most other projects we see.

http://minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/pub ... 208617.pdf

Reminiscent of a HOPE VI development. Definitely not the kind of urban infill you frequently see today.

That's great, love the style and the format!

This is a very exciting project. Lots of work being done in Hawthorne to make the most of the numerous empty lots in the neighborhood. Hope this will set a good precedent for other projects!

Awesome. There's always going to be a demand for housing where you don't have to share walls with your neighbors, but there's no reason that that has to drop density down to a single unit per 5000 square feet.

Nice to see the intersection of Penn and Plymouth getting some much needed new life. Don't have a picture with me, but we are getting the headquarters of Thor Construction and an updated replacement for the Estes Funeral Home. Hopefully we will get some retail included in the ground floor of the Thor building.

Awesome. There's always going to be a demand for housing where you don't have to share walls with your neighbors, but there's no reason that that has to drop density down to a single unit per 5000 square feet.

I like this a lot. It's nice to see some new construction that's not multi family.

This description of the city policies that led to Juxtaposition Arts demolishing their building on West Broadway is... frustrating. Hoping this turns out well in the long run: http://www.citypages.com/arts/juxtaposi ... /478403613

Keep an eye on this

https://www.4rmula.com/?portfolio=juxta

Not sure we should get too down on the city for taking actions to prevent a brick facade from collapsing onto the sidewalk.

Keep an eye on this

https://www.4rmula.com/?portfolio=juxta

That had to have been designed by an art student... I hope I never see that again.

Northern Metals finalizes plans for a move.
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/04/2 ... -to-becker

Not super informed about goings-on in the area but as I understand it, there's some interest in moving the entirety of the N Minneapolis riverfront away from heavy industrial use. Can someone clue me in? This site strikes me as a big deal because it's huge and close to Upper Harbor Terminal.

I know of several cities (Berlin, Chicago, others probably) in which industry-oriented riverfront has transitioned to yuppy-oriented office/multi-use. Is that what we're going for? It's hard for me to imagine anything like that on this site, but it also feels like the city isn't going to eagerly welcome 10 acres of new industrial use onto a site 1/4 mile from the shiny flagship park.

Also: on the county property map, the site just north of this has the parks department listed as its taxpayer. Am I reading that correctly? I don't see that site in any of the UHT plans.

Research is really going to help you here friend. NM was and still is actively polluting a majority of the North side with the way that they go about their business. We can have jobs on the river, but not when it coincides with the health of a community that's already disenfranchised.

I certainly wasn't lamenting the loss of Northern Metals. I'm excited by the idea that this area could eventually be home to something more neighborhood-friendly but I'm not sure what that looks like. The 2040 plan has this site for "Production Mixed Use", which it says means that the site could be used for residential/other non-production use. I read it to mean 'transitioning from production to mixed use'.

I'm interested to see what happens here because I think the site is big enough that I think it will set the tone for the rest of the area.

Ideal state: high-wage jobs stay, and we get some accessible housing too
Another thing that could happen: no housing. more of the same, unsavory industrial use accessible only by car but at least they comply with environmental regulation now
The thing I'm kind of betting on: the progression to a corridor of 'scandinavian inspired' glass polygons. The people who work here now are replaced with educated white people.

Call for optimism: Are there any examples of a successful integration of industrial use into a mixed-use neighborhood?

Hmm... besides places like docklands? Battersea Power Station in London?