urbanMSP

Slightly off-topic, but I'm going to be interested to see what happens to townhouse cluster communities like the one at the bottom right in that photo, or The Landings in the North Loop. They are bizarre little enclaves of a short but weird era of downtown development that now seems very close minded.

Developers would I'm sure love to purchase some of that land and build larger, denser buildings, but I imagine these communities are quite hard to break-up legally. So if they remain, do they become suddenly in-vogue and interesting in twenty years, a sort of time capsule like Milwaukee Avenue?

And Greenway Gables between Yale Place and the Loring Greenway.

I agree. The warm color is nice but it definitely doesn't look like a modern building.

Slightly off-topic, but I'm going to be interested to see what happens to townhouse cluster communities like the one at the bottom right in that photo, or The Landings in the North Loop. They are bizarre little enclaves of a short but weird era of downtown development that now seems very close minded.

Developers would I'm sure love to purchase some of that land and build larger, denser buildings, but I imagine these communities are quite hard to break-up legally. So if they remain, do they become suddenly in-vogue and interesting in twenty years, a sort of time capsule like Milwaukee Avenue?

Hopefully something happens, but you're correct that it would be a very difficult process to buy out the whole development. The one in the picture appears to be condominiums on a common lot, not really townhouses, legally. Compared to Milwaukee Ave, which is really just a normal neighborhood with an HOA.

I think they'll be there for a very long time, until someone comes a long willing to offer every single owner something way above market.

That particular development's frontage on Main Street is one the worst pieces of urban design in the city.

https://goo.gl/maps/MuHZWuE58nHTGvDJA

Unlocked F&C article with some photos.

Building Blocks: Doran tops out luxury apartments

https://finance-commerce.com/2019/09/bu ... partments/

And, looks like work has started on the neighboring mid rise portion, which will have 574 units according to the article.

The Expo has topped out the last residential floor, but is still working on the "canopy" for the top, so there is still more concrete work up there.

That particular development's frontage on Main Street is one the worst pieces of urban design in the city.

I always assumed that the retaining wall here predated the condo development, but I guess I'm not 100% sure about that. Can anybody confirm?

That particular development's frontage on Main Street is one the worst pieces of urban design in the city.

I always assumed that the retaining wall here predated the condo development, but I guess I'm not 100% sure about that. Can anybody confirm?

Based on Hennepin's GIS, it looks like the wall was built sometime between 1969 and 1988, then the townhouses were added sometime between 1988 and 2000. I still hate it, but that makes the design slightly more excusable.

Buying out the Lourdes Square townhomes and rebuilding a version of the Industrial Exposition Building that was on the site until 1940 has been a dream of mine for a while. The acquisition costs are going to be prohibitive when the get in the door price is $700k+ not mention they don't come on the market super often either

Expo apartment tower construction Minneapolis 11-26-19 by Matt Bappe, on Flickr

Viewed from Main Street, the side of this thing facing the river doesn't look half bad. Wish I could say that for the other three sides.

Phase 2 & 3 on hold?

Minneapolis developers who teamed up on Expo apartments in legal dispute
'A partnership between Twin Cities developers Gary Holmes and Kelly Doran... appears unlikely to survive into future phases of the redevelopment.

Doran and Holmes are currently scheduled to face off in Hennepin County District Court early next year in a dispute stemming from Bloomington-based Doran Management’s role as property manager for The Expo. That raises questions about plans for the remaining 6 acres of the nearly 9-acre development site entities controlled by Holmes and Doran purchased together in 2017. '

https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... frays.html

I hope that this delay could lead to a revisit of towers on this location. I was disappointed when phase 1 included a tower and 2-3 were both nothing to get excited about.

This is one of the rare projects that I dislike enough to wish it would be withdrawn and redone, even at the short term expense of a lot of housing.

Building two Dallas Donuts on these prime sites, which should instead have tall towers and less parking, would be a big missed opportunity for climate and the city tax base. Hopefully this dispute leads to a more forward-thinking developer than Kelly Doran taking over.

One wrinkle is that the 2040 Built Form rezoning has taken effect since the previous tower was approved - this site is Transit 10, which allows up to 15 stories with a CUP. However, with the E Line being fully funded now, amending the comp plan up to Transit 20 or 30 seems pretty reasonable. We'll see, I suppose.

Assuming this means the 5+1 is on hold or dead im ok with it. Even a 10 story complex on this site would do wonders compared to the current plan but I can hope we get something of decent size here.