200 Central (2019) - 293' / 27 Stories

[rhettcarlson]

Strib coverage:

https://www.startribune.com/new-27-stor ... 600262782/

[Anondson]

It’s been so exhausting to see something take sooooo long to inch into existence with long periods of silence.

[BruiserB]

I keep thinking it would have been nice to have had this built while the bridge was closed. Now the bridge will open and they'll end up blocking 1/2 of Central during construction for more than a year. The site did give them a good staging area for the bridge work though.

[twincitizen]

Apologies for posting this in two places. I commented over in the NE/SE general thread that this area could really use a hotel, given the many wedding venues in the area, lack of any hotels in Dinkytown or NE, etc. After looking at the map for where the ideal hotel location would be... (Attn: developers, if you're still reading this thread)

Given the direct connection to the public parking ramp, and its location perfectly splitting the walk distance between Main and the center of activity on East Hennepin, the 200 Central development shoulda/coulda included a hotel component all along. A hotel lobby/restaurant would actually be a great ground floor activation on this corner, and having several floors of hotel rooms would push the resident views even higher.

[BruiserB]

Wasn't there a proposal for a hotel just SE of the United Labor Center, directly across University Ave SE from the parking ramp? What happened to that project?

[TroyGBiv]

Wow - I don’t remember that. How many years ago? The only proposals I can recall were the Doran blocks - two of which are in limbo. Did Doran have a version with a hotel? They had 5 or 6 development options rendered back before they started on “Expo”

[BruiserB]

Maybe my memory is off? I remember something proposed basically for the large surface parking lot behind the Labor Center....I even remember discussing it with someone who works in that building. Seems like just a couple years ago, but was probably before the pandemic. I've just been Googling and can't find any mention of it though. Hmmm.

[Nick]

I think you're thinking about this:

viewtopic.php?t=756

[Didier]

Aw, hi min-chi-cbus

[BruiserB]

That's definitely the location, but I'm thinking it's something that was proposed more recently than that. I do remember it involving hotel space. Maybe my memory is failing me, or maybe it went the same way as this proposal...nowhere.

[twincitizen]

I think you're thinking about this:

viewtopic.php?t=756

Heh, since we're bringing up proposals from a decade ago that never moved forward, I have to remind everyone of Rampton, proposed to wrap the St. Anthony Main parking ramp next to this site. That interesting project was seemingly dead prior to the first iteration of 200 Central being proposed. viewtopic.php?t=1370

[Nick]

I forgot about that!

[Silophant]

Walked by last night, and there's an excavator and a construction trailer on site. This might actually be breaking ground, very nearly a decade after the first proposal and 4.5 years after the revised version was pitched?

Wild.

[Silophant]

Update: it wasn't.

However, Rainville's email update yesterday included this info:

"The owner of the empty lot at 200 Central Ave SE has found a potential funding source for the proposed 360 unit apartment building. A national non-profit developer, whose mission is to ensure permanent affordability, is interested in backing the project which will have 72 units at 50% area median income (AMI), and 90 units at 80% AMI. The rest of the units would be market rate."

Perhaps!

[Wezle]

Perhaps this year really will be the year where they break ground in the coming spring!

[HiawathaGuy]

I really hope that this lot can find a financing package to finally get this built... has anyone heard anything?

[Silophant]

At this point approvals would have expired, and I believe it would have to go through the whole process again, which I'm a little concerned about since the site is zoned Transit 10.

A (much smaller) development did just manage to close on financing less than a mile away, though, so maybe there's a little reason for optimism.