Stadium Village

[MNdible]

Good ground level retail. The design is a little underwhelming after the flashy initial renderings for the project.

[BigIdeasGuy]

That was my exact reaction, pretty middling and meh based on what was previously shown.

I hope the city pushes Mortenson & the U to release more of what they have planned for phases 1.2 and 2 as shown on page 5 of the application which also shows the U still has some land to buy on the Sterbs & Dinnaken blocks.

[Wezle]

Not the flashiest building, but I think it's still a sharp design and is exactly what I want to see along the Green Line.

[thespeedmccool]

Design-wise, it's not stunning, but if they pick the right materials, it should look a lot better than many precast buildings.

Really exciting development! Will make Stadium Village feel a lot more urban.

[Silophant]

Ten stories, you say? Chalk up another win for the 2040 plan height minimums.

[twincitizen]

The first building of the Minneapolis Innovation Exchange is up for Planning Commission review.

59,825 sqft of office space across ten stories, plus ground level commercial.

That is an awesome amount of ground-level commercial space, well-configured too. Seven different tenants unless any of the spaces are combined or turned into additional lobby / amenity. Potentially with more retail space to come in "future building 1.2".

For phase 2, have they said where the Mpls Fire Station would be relocated to? TBH I don't love the idea of tearing down Stadium Village Mall...that's a nice building. Honestly, the current Washington frontage of block 2 is pretty nice. I wish they'd leave SV Mall and Sturb's in place while infilling the rest of the block and vacating Beacon St. I guess one big advantage of taking down SV Mall is the ability to build a wider sidewalk on Washington, which is pathetically narrow with no ability to widen.

The Phase 3 redevelopment of Dinnaken House makes no sense to me. The building is just 35 years old and the exterior still looks pretty nice. Why tear down a decent supply of student housing when you can develop around it on the rest of the block? What is so important that it must go on this block rather than the two full-block parking lots to the south or the nearby Days Inn block?

[thespeedmccool]

The Phase 3 redevelopment of Dinnaken House makes no sense to me. The building is just 35 years old and the exterior still looks pretty nice. Why tear down a decent supply of student housing when you can develop around it on the rest of the block? What is so important that it must go on this block rather than the two full-block parking lots to the south or the nearby Days Inn block?

Not disagreeing with this necessarily, but I imagine by the time Phase 3 comes around (if ever), Dinnaken will be 50 years old and showing its age. And, once phases 1 and 2 are complete, plus maybe a new hospital and other residential developments in the area, Dinnaken may look puny and old-fashioned by comparison.

[BikesOnFilm]

I think they correctly realize they have city support to stack the student housing vertically and make way better use of the space than might have been considered acceptable 35 years ago.

[BigIdeasGuy]

The Phase 3 redevelopment of Dinnaken House makes no sense to me. The building is just 35 years old and the exterior still looks pretty nice. Why tear down a decent supply of student housing when you can develop around it on the rest of the block? What is so important that it must go on this block rather than the two full-block parking lots to the south or the nearby Days Inn block?

Not disagreeing with this necessarily, but I imagine by the time Phase 3 comes around (if ever), Dinnaken will be 50 years old and showing its age. And, once phases 1 and 2 are complete, plus maybe a new hospital and other residential developments in the area, Dinnaken may look puny and old-fashioned by comparison.

Agreed and I'll add Dinnaken was likely never going to be an architectural masterpiece, bluntly student house rarely is meant to be. Plus it's somewhere between terrible and mediocre urbanism depending on how you feel about windows with the blinds closed 24/7 on one of the most prominent corners & walkable streets in the city.

[MNdible]

I'll stand to defend Dinnaken.

First, it's definitely above-average architecturally. Thoughtful massing, good materials, etc. Second, now that student apartments are everywhere, it's easy to forget that this project really was ground-breaking for the UofM campus. As far as I know, it was the first large-scale private student housing project built probably in decades. I may be forgetting something, but I think you have to go all of the way back to the Chateau tower to find something of similar ambition.

[COLSLAW5]

As someone who has been in dinnaken its not the best or worst. A perfect example is a lot of the walls even on the inside are made of painted concrete block. Great for sound dampening, really unwelcoming in a design sense.

[Wezle]

The MIX 1.1 has been presented to the planning commission. Still moving along nicely.

https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/download ... hments.pdf

[Silophant]

Seems like the city shouldn't be backing down on the 10-story minimum in Transit 30. Yes, it's prevented one development that I'm aware of, and probably a couple more that never even got to the Planning Commission, but it does appear to be having the desired effect of prodding developers to go denser in Stadium Village and downtown. Similarly, a 10-story office building with no on-site parking is a pretty big win for the parking reforms of a few years ago, and evidence that the upcoming 2050 plan doesn't need to backtrack.

Edit: lol, I'm just repeating my post from June, aren't I?

[Nick]

What a ground floor!

[Bakken2016]

What a ground floor!

Yes, that is super exciting to see all the retail space. Which in the University area will fill up fast.

[phop]

Cool to also see retail fronting the proposed plaza area.

[Didier]

Yes, that is super exciting to see all the retail space. Which in the University area will fill up fast.

Aren't like half the retail spaces in WaHu still vacant? What's up with that?

[BigIdeasGuy]

I think crossing Huron isn't nothing and those street frontages on either Huron & University aren't great either