DTE: Wells Fargo, Radisson Red, Edition Apts & Millwright Building

[Unity77]

Yeah; the Ryan guy I talked to weeeks ago was pretty optimistic; yesterday he said the word campus.

sigh

Wait. So there will be no office tower? That rumor fizzled fast.

[nasa35]

Yeah; the Ryan guy I talked to weeeks ago was pretty optimistic; yesterday he said the word campus.

sigh

Wait. So there will be no office tower? That rumor fizzled fast.

All I know is three weeks ago (maybe longer) he said 500-600, not counting the spire plus and two mid rises. Last week he mentioned campus with a sick look. I will say he also said...."I'm not sure what to believe."

I do know for a fact, the best proposal is on hold until the budget is resolved. Call your democratic friends and tell them to stop making this a bad place to do business. Seriously.

[Didier]

Given the volatility of nasa's unsubstantiated leads, maybe we should disregard them for the time being? After all, if the final proposal isn't expected to be released until summer, could anything be even remotely official at this point?

[mark]

The wildly leftist magazine The Economist recently ran a special on the success of Nordic countries:

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/2 ... supermodel

In this piece the authors mentioned one US state as analagous to the featured countries. It wasn't Wisconsin.

The governor said pretty explicitly that he was open to other solutions. If you have a better idea, I suggest you write him.

[Silophant]

I do know for a fact, the best proposal is on hold until the budget is resolved. Call your democratic friends and tell them to stop making this a bad place to do business. Seriously.

While I'd be as thrilled as anyone to see Wells Fargo build a couple more office towers in downtown, my state actually having a sustainable budget plan is infinitely more important than any redevelopment project. Until someone comes up with a better plan, the Governor's plan is the only one out there.

And, to be honest, given that the recession was caused by the government allowing the big banks to do whatever they wanted, a budget plan that the big banks hate sounds just fine to me.

[Nick]

And, to be honest, given that the recession was caused by the government allowing the big banks to do whatever they wanted, a budget plan that the big banks hate sounds just fine to me.

[Minneboy]

^Citizen Kane? How adept of you.

[nasa35]

I do know for a fact, the best proposal is on hold until the budget is resolved. Call your democratic friends and tell them to stop making this a bad place to do business. Seriously.

While I'd be as thrilled as anyone to see Wells Fargo build a couple more office towers in downtown, my state actually having a sustainable budget plan is infinitely more important than any redevelopment project. Until someone comes up with a better plan, the Governor's plan is the only one out there.

And, to be honest, given that the recession was caused by the government allowing the big banks to do whatever they wanted, a budget plan that the big banks hate sounds just fine to me.

any budget that moves out business is good, eh?

[Silophant]

Yep. My hope is that, eventually, we can get to the point where every private business in Minnesota has been taxed into oblivion, and the only remaining employer is the government. Only then can we all be assured of having President's Day off, as God intended.

[nasa35]

Yep. My hope is that, eventually, we can get to the point where every private business in Minnesota has been taxed into oblivion, and the only remaining employer is the government. Only then can we all be assured of having President's Day off, as God intended.

We can't go from one extreme to the other. Now we're over-regulating. Free up the money, create jobs....build a great city style campus with soaring skyscrappers! Release the Kracken!

[RailBaronYarr]

Yep. My hope is that, eventually, we can get to the point where every private business in Minnesota has been taxed into oblivion, and the only remaining employer is the government. Only then can we all be assured of having President's Day off, as God intended.

We can't go from one extreme to the other. Now we're over-regulating. Free up the money, create jobs....build a great city style campus with soaring skyscrappers! Release the Kracken!

Howbout something inbetween. Skyscrapers = an urban version of suburbia, whether that's residential or office. They almost always have extremely stale street-level activity. Can't we do something that utilizes these empty blocks better (adding people, businesses, density, etc) without reaching to the sky?

[nasa35]

we can do both. There's going to be green space regardless.

[Viktor Vaughn]

I already posted this on another thread, but maybe you missed it.

From the NY Times: At least three recent academic studies have demonstrated that the number of people who move for tax reasons is negligible, even among the wealthy.

“It’s very clear that, over all, modest changes in top tax rates do not affect millionaire migration,” he told me this week. “Neither tax increases nor tax cuts on the rich have affected their migration rates.”

[Viktor Vaughn]

1) I don’t give a lot of credit to your leads. You talk to a “friend” who tells you what you want to hear, “Big slender towers on the Star Tribune blocks”. Then, when publically released information contradicts this assessment he tells you something else you want to hear, “Now because of the Governor’s proposed budget, they’re looking at a campus proposal.” Meanwhile, you’re running directly to the interwebs to post your exclusive inside information, which is probably giving your source a good laugh. I’m not saying you made up your Ryan source, I’m saying he’s stroking you, and you like it.

2) Big towers don’t make any sense for back-office functions outside of the downtown core. It was never gonna happen. They probably want something practical and boring like the Ameriprise Client Service Center.

3) The last thing we want to be is some sort of corporate utopia. It’s true that multi-national corporations have options. They can operate wherever it’s the most profitable to them. They have no loyalties, no soul, only a fiduciary duty to their shareholders to generate return on investment. But we are never going to have taxes as low as the Caiman Islands. We don’t want to compete with Cambodia on wages or attract business with fewer workers’ rights than China. It’s not to our advantage to let companies dump toxic waste in our rivers with impunity like they do in India.

Minnesota needs to compete on quality of life. We need good schools, solid infrastructure, and tap water you can drink. We need to outdoor recreation from the Chain of Lakes to the BWCA . We’ll be competitive if we have a world-class orchestra and an indy hip hop scene. Corporations won’t seek Minnesota out for our tax rates, they’ll move here because it’s a good place to live.

[Nick]

We're drifting again...good conversation, but maybe move it to OT.

[nasa35]

1) I don’t give a lot of credit to your leads. You talk to a “friend” who tells you what you want to hear, “Big slender towers on the Star Tribune blocks”. Then, when publically released information contradicts this assessment he tells you something else you want to hear, “Now because of the Governor’s proposed budget, they’re looking at a campus proposal.” Meanwhile, you’re running directly to the interwebs to post your exclusive inside information, which is probably giving your source a good laugh. I’m not saying you made up your Ryan source, I’m saying he’s stroking you, and you like it.

2) Big towers don’t make any sense for back-office functions outside of the downtown core. It was never gonna happen. They probably want something practical and boring like the Ameriprise Client Service Center.

3) The last thing we want to be is some sort of corporate utopia. It’s true that multi-national corporations have options. They can operate wherever it’s the most profitable to them. They have no loyalties, no soul, only a fiduciary duty to their shareholders to generate return on investment. But we are never going to have taxes as low as the Caiman Islands. We don’t want to compete with Cambodia on wages or attract business with fewer workers’ rights than China. It’s not to our advantage to let companies dump toxic waste in our rivers with impunity like they do in India.

Minnesota needs to compete on quality of life. We need good schools, solid infrastructure, and tap water you can drink. We need to outdoor recreation from the Chain of Lakes to the BWCA . We’ll be competitive if we have a world-class orchestra and an indy hip hop scene. Corporations won’t seek Minnesota out for our tax rates, they’ll move here because it’s a good place to live.

Last comment side bar.

Of course I asked my *friend* after I heard from others that they weren't hearing happy news. I guess I don't see where that is either odd, or abnormal behavior. Maybe messsage me and explain what your issue is with that? Also, this project had very little to do with the budget, I was referencing the project we all would enjoy seeing built.

[min-chi-cbus]

Given the volatility of nasa's unsubstantiated leads, maybe we should disregard them for the time being? After all, if the final proposal isn't expected to be released until summer, could anything be even remotely official at this point?

I'll disregard them as long as he keeps throwing politics into the mix.....as if the current Governor or Mayor is the reason we aren't seeing XYZ happen at this site.

[min-chi-cbus]

Yep. My hope is that, eventually, we can get to the point where every private business in Minnesota has been taxed into oblivion, and the only remaining employer is the government. Only then can we all be assured of having President's Day off, as God intended.

We can't go from one extreme to the other. Now we're over-regulating. Free up the money, create jobs....build a great city style campus with soaring skyscrappers! Release the Kracken!

Howbout something inbetween. Skyscrapers = an urban version of suburbia, whether that's residential or office. They almost always have extremely stale street-level activity. Can't we do something that utilizes these empty blocks better (adding people, businesses, density, etc) without reaching to the sky?

Good point! We get all excited when we hear of a new skyscraper proposal but if a proposal falls short of 8 floors we lose interest (at least, relatively). Good urbanism and steps in the right direction SHOULD trump ANY proposal that tickles the sky but requires (ahem, demands!) that the city/state pay for a certain portion of the project.

[min-chi-cbus]

I already posted this on another thread, but maybe you missed it.

From the NY Times: At least three recent academic studies have demonstrated that the number of people who move for tax reasons is negligible, even among the wealthy.

“It’s very clear that, over all, modest changes in top tax rates do not affect millionaire migration,” he told me this week. “Neither tax increases nor tax cuts on the rich have affected their migration rates.”

Well it certainly affects the migration patterns of the rest of the country! Look how many sheeple flock to states like Florida, Texas or Arizona to escape high taxes and cold weather! Although it's very Freuden Schaude of me, I can't wait to see how those states respond to the strain on infrastructure the increased population causes once that infrastructure begins to reach its useful life! In my personal opinion, there is a REASON most progressive/successful states are high-taxed: they've learned what works and what does not work!

[mattaudio]

Well here's some cool plans for the area via the ULI contest:
Portland Avenue – Ball State University-Purdue University
Connec+ Minneapolis - Harvard
The Armory - K State / Missouri / Kansas
MinneDi - Yale