urbanMSP

General Mills will close Minneapolis R&D lab, move staff to headquarters
https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... -move.html
*LOCKED*

Tidbits:
Over the next two years, Golden Valley-based General Mills (NYSE: GIS) will move employees from its Riverside Technical Center in Minneapolis to its James Ford Bell Center in Golden Valley, spokesperson Lauran Knutson said.

General Mills sold the Riverside Technical Center to Bloomington-based Doran Cos. and Minneapolis-based CSM Corp. as part of a $15.8 million deal in April. Doran and CSM are building a 20-story tower and a six-story low-rise building on a surface lot next to the research center.

The General Mills building was not part of the developers' site plans, but the company had previously said a move to Golden Valley was likely in the cards if the building sold.

The move will mean some new choices for Doran and CMS: Try to re-lease the building or redevelop that site as well?

Would love to see the block redeveloped with the street grid re-connected. Ideally with some retail and not mega-block style like the project next door.

I know I’m getting ahead of myself here as nothing has been proposed, but it’s really exciting to see this area blossoming into a dense neighborhood.

I'd imagine that an R&D lab would be pretty single purpose. Additionally, with the sky-high demand in the area hard not seeing this turn into residential.

Here's the CPC packet.

Looks like the biggest change is the addition of a 3176 sq ft retail space on the University and 3rd corner. Additionally, it lost two apartment units and 27 parking spaces. Architecturally, no big changes.

I'd imagine that an R&D lab would be pretty single purpose. Additionally, with the sky-high demand in the area hard not seeing this turn into residential.

Probably a bit of a long shot, but the University might have some interest in R&D lab space, already built and available at a discount as compared to new-build, near it's land-constrained campus.

Could be. There's even precedent, with the University's Stream Lab on Hennepin Island.

Nice to see this adding some retail, even if it'll probably just be a coffee shop. University really seems like it could support more active uses along it than currently exists.

A note related to this project. If the R&D site is developed similarly to this these new NE Mpls projects will be getting very close to the U of M and start to connect the high density landscapes together.

Is this where an old Exposition Hall was located? Is that the background behind the name?

That was the west side of Central Ave, the townhouses next to Chute Square. (Which does its best to hide them, for some reason.)

That was the west side of Central Ave, the townhouses next to Chute Square. (Which does its best to hide them, for some reason.)

Ah yes the true character killers of the neighborhood.

I'm surprised there isn't more retail in this thing. I would guess retail the entire length of University would be successful plus it would start to reconnect NE with Dinkytown which should be a goal of the city.

The corner of 2nd and 2nd should be retail as well. To me that is a major access point from NE down to Main Street and that could certainly support a coffee shop/bistro/wine bar concept plus that would help connect the two areas.

Lastly I wish there was a color other than different shades of black, brown and tan in the tower but that's just me.

Tower project near St. Anthony Main gets Planning Commission OK

A 26-story residential apartment tower in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood of Minneapolis, just blocks from the historic St. Anthony Main riverfront area, has won a key approval from city planners.

It would seem unfair if this breaks ground before the Alatus project. The other developers seem to be some of the bigger winners with their struggles.

Concrete traffic barriers are in place surrounding this block. It looks like this will be starting soon!

Press release Biz Journal article:

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

Called The Expo, the project consists of a 25-story tower with 199 units surrounded by an six-story mid-rise building with 157 apartments, 12 street-level town homes and 3,000 square feet of retail space.

Anyone know if this is a ceremonial groundbreaking or the real thing. If I were to go up to the parking garage tomorrow afternoon, you think I would be able to get some pictures of anything actually occurring?

Either way this is awesome! It’s so interesting how NEBL Seems to have had no problem with this development or the one on Hennepin (333).


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They closed the lot to parking, so I imagine this is the real start of construction. Probably won't look like much for a while, though, while they prep stuff and drive piles.

Jersey barriers and fencing surround the site as of Tuesday night.

Looks like they took down some of the trees surrounding the lot. :/