Nicollet-Lake Redevelopment

[martykoessel]

Long, LONG ago, the Osman Cleaners Building at 2500 Hennepin was a KFC, I believe. I feel old.

[martykoessel]

1959-1987!

[fehler]

Lake/Chicago KFC became Popeyes a few years before it burned/rebuilt.

[MNdible]

Wasn't there a KFC somewhere in South long ago? Was it the Revival spot near 46th/Nicollet?

Before my time, but I've heard others say this.

[Blaisdell Greenway]

Butter Bakery has a picture of a KFC on a bulletin board that says "Remember When." So it was somewhere in Kingfield but I don't recognize the building.

[MNdible]

This old Patch article would seem to confirm that it's the Revival building.

[Blaisdell Greenway]

Yet another survey for reconnecting Nicollet. They have a full block between Nicollet and 1st set aside for a park next to the greenway https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FG28XQ3

[COLSLAW5]

what are people's thoughts on not requiring more than the 20% low income housing for this area? My thoughts are this should be mostly market rate with more retail spaces and that might help attract and maintain a grocery store or other service retail in the area.

[thespeedmccool]

what are people's thoughts on not requiring more than the 20% low income housing for this area? My thoughts are this should be mostly market rate with more retail spaces and that might help attract and maintain a grocery store or other service retail in the area.

I can't imagine market rate in these buildings would be wildly expensive anyway; this isn't the Mill District or something.

I think the most important thing here is retail and density. These are Minneapolis's two "main streets" intersecting, and probably two aBRT lines as well. There should be a bustling atmosphere here. 5-over-1 doesn't cut it, IMO.

If that means inclusionary zoning has to be waived, I'm not happy about it, but until the development environment picks up, beggars can't be choosers.

[BikesOnFilm]

Kind of annoying to see townhouses considered. I really wish we'd figure out whatever we have to do to make condo development easier in Minnesota again. I get that owner-occupied housing is a financial/generational wealth issue, but I'd really like for it to not be a binary choice between owner occupied and dense development.

[fehler]

Is the Blaisdell/Lake Street KFC actually going to open, or are they doing a bare-minimum restoration just to keep the drive-thru grandfathered-in, instead of losing it by letting the building deteriorate like the Burger King on Nic/34th?

[COLSLAW5]

Definitely not a bare-bones remodel, they have been working all summer and they just got all the exterior work and branding done in the last week

[TroyGBiv]

I am actually on this Kmart development committee tonight’s meeting had three experts from Land Trust and development in speaking about financing issues and next week are some case studies… it is an incredibly complex site and the community wish list is incredibly long…after tonight’s session I have a headache!

[PhilmerPhil]

The KFC Is drive thru and pickup only. They closed off the old White Castle dining room. Another blow to the Lake & Nicollet redevelopment area. There have been so many missteps here over the past decade that it's really hard to be optimistic about its future. In addition to the KFC, some of those shortcomings are:
-The redevelopment plans seeming turning its back on the Greenway--why not slope it down to establish a better connection? (Supposedly due to a possible future streetcar down there, but that seems like something that should've been worked out)
-MnDOT's expansion of 35W and widening of Lake and 31st streets
-The ticky tacky post office design with the rebuild not making any changes to the terrible car oriented site plan
-The strip mall going through a full renovation, meaning it's not going anywhere anytime soon
-Less than ideal bike circulation within the area despite lots of recent road work
-Allowing a general sense of disorder to persist around here for so long. There's so much litter...
-That dumpy new apartment building with the smoke shop
-The condo building at the SW corner fencing off their little secondary sidewalk
-Fencing off the 31st Street sidewalks under 35W

When I moved into the neighborhood 10 years ago, it seemed like there was a lot of opportunity to do a creative rethinking of this whole area, but it's just gotten really bleak over the years and seems like it's going to take a lot to move in the right direction.

[Anondson]

In addition to the KFC, some of those shortcomings are:
-The redevelopment plans seeming turning its back on the Greenway--why not slope it down to establish a better connection? (Supposedly due to a possible future streetcar down there, but that seems like something that should've been worked out)

I may be misremembering but I believe the major aspect of the greenway’s historic designation is the trench itself. Something like the sloped sides of the trench are a factor, and therefore changing any aspect that eliminates the sloped sides of the trench would run up against the historic protections of the greenway.

[Blaisdell Greenway]

Went through the old neighborhood today after some time away. There's a one story building almost completed where Atlas Staffing was, on the NE corner of 1st and Lake. The building goes all the way out to the corner, which is better than what was there before I guess. Looks like an office so wonder if Atlas Staffing is moving back.

Construction workers are sinking metal panels in the roadway of Nicollet just north of the bridge over the greenway. Seems like excavation will begin soon for the bridge replacement.

[twincitizen]

What's the phasing plan for building the new Nicollet bridge over the Greenway and building a new Greenway access ramp to 1st Ave? The bridge is supposed to begin construction this fall. Will the new Greenway access ramp be completed at the same time?