While I'm a huge supporter of having retail options available on both street and skyway levels, I don't think there will be a huge demand at this location since it's on the far edge of the mall. That being said, I think this would be a perfect spot for a street level restaurant or bar with outdoor seating. It would be nice is there was another food option a bit closer to library.
There should be a restraunt on the end of the building which would face
Nicollet. The bar would be located on the skyway level with a decent terrace to over look the mall. The restraunt, at ground level, would be at one of the widest parts of the mall so there would be great space for outdoor seating. Because of its location on the mall the seating would see plenty of sun light around noon time, with no massive tower to block the midday sun.
Yes there needs to be another office tower to the east of the Library. That block could support both an office tower and a residential tower. From the earlier statements I read after my speculation, you would think that Minneapolis is a stagnate city where nothing ever changes. Hello North Loop, Milwaukee Road depot district, St. Anthony Main area, these are all area that have gone through start and stops with redevelopment. Sometimes you need a catylast to get things going. Who says five years from now that DT Minneapolis will not have a greater share of the shopping dollars. How many new consumers will we have within walking distance of the mall? Most will be coming from the north with some coming from the south. There is still a possiblity that the DTE will get a catylast to get housing going. Biggest problem with DTE is we are looking at full block developments and not just fill in.
Don't settle with what is here today. You have to look at the potential that you will be having in the near future. Once 222, Velo, The other north Loop buildings that are still under construction, the old Soo Line Building, and the Magellan building are up. You have the potential for a whole different shopping outlook. We will hope that the owner of City Center will look at their asset and decide that making the
Nicollet Mall facade more attractive and engaging so it will make people want to go in and shop. There are already good stores in there for those that know about them. But who wants to go into a dive bar when they don't know that it truly is a great place for the best of something in town. You fix it up and you get more people interested in checking it out. Yes I look at things from a pie in the sky attitude, But some of those pie in the skys become your catylast, your landmarks, IDS CENTER anyone. Why did that get built, because we had leaders back then that look to the future and not just until next quarters profit. They wanted something that would be a symbol of a great city and that would hold it's value over time. You go cheap you become a B class building down the road. You lose your future potential to sell at a greater price.
We need to be looking outside the box for answers and not pigeon holing things to fit current conditions. 20 years ago we had 4 major office towers all being built at once. That will not happen again, but times will change and the ecomomy will turn around. There will again be demand for office space, living space and entertainment space. When you make your city someplace that people want to visit, work , or live in you need to invest wisely with a look to the future as well. There, I'll get off my soap box and listen to what others think.
*spit take*. Wait, Foshay is an obelisk! But seriously I agree, I think I'd rather get Gaviidae humming again before seeing a concept quite identical literally across the street. This would be a "Gaviidon't" Although, all this arcade talk has made me bust out my Arcadia tracks on iTunes, which was basically Duran Duran.
