Miracle Mile and Redevelopment - Rochester

matthew5080
Rice Park
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Miracle Mile and Redevelopment - Rochester

Postby matthew5080 » October 13th, 2016, 1:11 pm

I thought it might be easier to keep anything related to Miracle Mile and the redevelopment in one thread, that way the Rochester one doesn't get too cluttered.

Current redevelopment plans...

Building height: 65' (5 floors)

Grocery SF: 30,000
Commercial SF: 6,800
Total SF with residential: 166,110
Residential units: 107 (10 units affordable housing)

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http://www.rochestermn.gov/home/showdocument?id=11414


The development, after many attempts, won the planning commission approval last night. Of note, two commission members announced conflicts of interest and would not participate in proceedings for the Miracle Mile development... which they had previously voted on twice before. 4 voted in favor, 2 against, and 2 did not vote on the matter. The city council is scheduled to review the project on October 17th.

http://www.postbulletin.com/news/local/ ... c9e85.html

matthew5080
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Re: Miracle Mile and Redevelopment - Rochester

Postby matthew5080 » October 13th, 2016, 1:13 pm

Another point to add would be that this is "phase one" of a greater redevelopment for Miracle Mile, according to the owner and site plans.

bubzki2
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Re: Miracle Mile and Redevelopment - Rochester

Postby bubzki2 » October 13th, 2016, 3:12 pm

Think there's a chance the city council will push back due to the orientation? I find it odd they couldn't even put the grocery entrance on the north side of the building (where the apartment entrance is). Seems like that would be a compromise...

matthew5080
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Re: Miracle Mile and Redevelopment - Rochester

Postby matthew5080 » October 14th, 2016, 11:20 am

Interesting little article as to why the two council members recused themselves from voting this time...

One is a board member of the Peoples Food Co-op and as it was only just "confirmed" to be a Fresh Thyme grocery store he felt it would be a conflict of interest to vote on the issue anymore. The other is an architect who's firm wasn't selected for the project. Apparently, if the two had voted, the project would have been voted against by both, which would have tipped the scales in favor of the naysayers.

The redevelopment will be worth more than $25 million according to the article and will be seen by the city council this coming Monday.

http://www.postbulletin.com/news/local/ ... 3873d.html

matthew5080
Rice Park
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Re: Miracle Mile and Redevelopment - Rochester

Postby matthew5080 » October 18th, 2016, 8:45 pm

The city council discussion was postponed by the projects owner until the 21st of November...

Interestingly, the owner sent out an email claiming he made dozens of concessions to the neighborhood associations, which the associations claim are false. The owner also went on to talk about the failed plan to build a hotel across from Saint Marys and how those plans fell through because of the same neighborhood association... Council Members and the association also claim falsehood to those accusations.

http://www.postbulletin.com/news/local/ ... 6961a.html

mattaudio
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Re: Miracle Mile and Redevelopment - Rochester

Postby mattaudio » October 19th, 2016, 8:29 am

Of course some gray hair from Oronoco doesn't understand why this building has serious defects interacting with the urban realm.

go4guy
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Re: Miracle Mile and Redevelopment - Rochester

Postby go4guy » October 19th, 2016, 9:57 pm

I kind of get the fuss about this, but if I were the developer, i would absolutely not put any store fronts on 16th. Those would be impossible to lease. And putting the building up against the highway would severely hurt the apartment rental aspect of the project.

mattaudio
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Re: Miracle Mile and Redevelopment - Rochester

Postby mattaudio » October 21st, 2016, 7:40 am

Why and why?

go4guy
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Re: Miracle Mile and Redevelopment - Rochester

Postby go4guy » October 21st, 2016, 4:19 pm

That street is awful from a pedestrian perspective, and there are no parking spaces along the street. This is an area of Rochester which is not very walkable. Getting foot traffic to a store front on this road would be difficult. This is not the fault of the developer either, so it is not in their best interest to try and fix an issue which is the cities fault.

Apartments that are right up against a busy freeway don't rent very well. I think that is pretty obvious.

matthew5080
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Re: Miracle Mile and Redevelopment - Rochester

Postby matthew5080 » October 24th, 2016, 11:04 am

And the plot thickens... This comes from Councilman Wojcik's blog.
In preparing for the discussion of the now continued project; I reached out to Fresh Thyme. Based on their corporate philosophy and previous developments, I was skeptical of some of the claims that Javon Bea had made. As it turns out Javon and his team made false statements to the neighborhood, community leaders, and Fresh Thyme. I have a world of respect for people like Nate Stencil who are interested in finding consensus with neighbors. While there were a number of false statements made; the most significant was placing the blame for the offset pedestrian intersection and poor design of 16th on Fresh Thyme. Not true, as with any competent firm putting active faces on multiple sides of buildings is not difficult.

But it wasn’t just city leaders and neighbors that were being told false statements, Javon also failed to communicate neighborhoods concerns to Fresh Thyme. Fresh Thyme was of the impression that Javon had worked with the neighborhood and there were no concerns. I filled in the concerns that Javon left out. I also sent Javon’s correspondences with the neighborhood. I will also say Javon never mentioned that Fresh Thyme was the grocer, but smart people figured that out.
http://www.votewojcik.org/blog/2016/10/ ... esh-thyme/

matthew5080
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Re: Miracle Mile and Redevelopment - Rochester

Postby matthew5080 » November 22nd, 2016, 9:38 am

Passed 4-3.
Last edited by matthew5080 on November 22nd, 2016, 10:03 am, edited 1 time in total.

Thorondor
City Center
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Re: Miracle Mile and Redevelopment - Rochester

Postby Thorondor » November 22nd, 2016, 9:43 am

http://www.postbulletin.com/news/local/ ... 4db93.html

The miracle mile development was approved last night despite many well-reasoned arguments against it. I can't help but feel this was primarily a result of it only being brought to the council once, rather than as a two-step approval. The developers never revealed whether or not they would consider revising the project if it was denied by the council. Listening to both sides, it seems clear that the developers never made urban design a priority of the development. As a result, this will likely remain a suburban development facing the highway, in what should have been a town center style neighborhood. If they ever build a sound wall along that section of the highway, then every argument for the development facing the highway falls apart. This project clearly would never have been approved if it was located just slightly closer to downtown and therefore within DMC boundaries. Obviously, this is an improvement over the current situation, but that's not saying much. The city council ignored so many neighborhood concerns and missed out on an opportunity to start redevelopment in this area with strong urban design principles that fit into the neighborhood, rather than taking the easy route and building a slightly nicer strip mall.

It should be so obvious that people would much rather live in an apartment that faces the beautiful skyline of downtown Rochester rather than a busy 6-lane highway. And who's to say that part of the grocery store can't face the highway as well as 16th for visibility both directions.
Sorry for my little rant, but that's just my two cents after listening to much of the three-hour debate last night.

go4guy
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Re: Miracle Mile and Redevelopment - Rochester

Postby go4guy » April 13th, 2017, 4:05 pm

Demo has started on this site!

go4guy
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Re: Miracle Mile and Redevelopment - Rochester

Postby go4guy » May 2nd, 2017, 9:26 pm

Demo is complete. Looks like they are ready to start digging for the foundation.

mattaudio
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Re: Miracle Mile and Redevelopment - Rochester

Postby mattaudio » November 24th, 2017, 3:50 pm

Image

go4guy
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Re: Miracle Mile and Redevelopment - Rochester

Postby go4guy » November 25th, 2017, 11:58 am

Very slowly going up. They had some soil issues, so it is taking longer than anticipated.


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