Postby MplsTodd » January 11th, 2013, 12:02 pm
I know that Wells Fargo has substantial space in both the Baker Block as well as Northstar Center, so possibly they may relocate some of those workers. Since Wells Fargo just signed a large lease in the western suburbs at Metropointe, its unlikely the employees would be moved in from the western burbs. Wells Fargo has lots of locations throughout the Twin Cities, so perhaps it would be a mix of downtown and other locations.
I agree with TwinCitizen's remark that this development does mark a major change for downtown. Traditionally, the city has encouraged high-density offices to be within the core, so their employees would mutually reinforce downtown's retail, restaurants and hotels. However, although this is outside the core, I think that the LRT service provides good access to the core, and will allow for an extension of the business district eastward, just like Hines proposed offices near Ford Center would allow for an extension of the business district westward.
I really hope they don't plan to extend the skyways all the way to the stadium. Even with 1 million sf of office and 400+ residential units, I don't see this area having the density to support businesses along both the skyway and the street level. Better to focus on the street.
My final point is that I doubt you'd see a tower of 50-70 stories, like Nasa suggests. I'd be happy to be wrong! However, I'm pretty sure that the cost to build increases significantly as the building height increases, due to need for more space devoted to elevator cores as well as greater structural support. Unless this is a new corporate HQ for WF, and they would move out of their namesake Pelli tower, would they really spend the $ needed to build such an expensive tower?
I'll be happy if they build a couple 12-story buildings and maybe a 24-story centerpiece tower.