CHS Field (St. Paul Saints Ballpark)

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gcm
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby gcm » March 29th, 2013, 1:01 pm

I seem to recall reading at one point, that they thought the height of the surrounding buildings would allow a west facing field.

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LRV Op Dude
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby LRV Op Dude » April 2nd, 2013, 10:35 pm

Saint Paul launched a dedicated website for the Lowertown Ballpark.
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RailBaronYarr
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby RailBaronYarr » April 3rd, 2013, 5:43 pm

I have to say I like a lot of the ideas floated by Hosko for re-use in the space (other than increasing the number of parking spots available in the area vs today.. I personally don't think Lowertown has a parking issue). But the city's response is well laid-out. Alignment of the field is important for fans and players. The extra space allows for better trail connections and a dog park. And the sunken-nature of the city's design would certainly help contain some noise and light. I also was wondering how Hosko could be so certain that his plan would cost the same amount as the city's considering all the re-work and partial demolition to the Gillette building.

Furthermore it seemed like he was scraping at ideas to put in the building.. the Model RR Museum already has a home, he's just shifting it from one location to another. Overall, I thought he had some great points but I have to give the nod to the city's design.

minnyapple
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby minnyapple » April 23rd, 2013, 4:39 pm

Theres a new article in the Star Tribune today about the ballpark.

http://www.startribune.com/local/east/204346011.html

Snelbian
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby Snelbian » April 23rd, 2013, 7:20 pm

And once again we learn what we already knew - there is nothing resembling a parking shortage in Lowertown. Not that this won't stop people from continuing to complain about the parking shortage (which I can really only assume means "I can't find a space in front of my building's door").

twincitizen
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby twincitizen » May 28th, 2013, 10:13 pm

Talk of plans for the current stadium site after the Saints head to Lowertown: http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/209281021.html

gpete
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby gpete » May 29th, 2013, 7:24 am

Uh oh, with the St. Paul Port Authority in charge, I guess we should expect another suburban-style office park. On the plus side, that type of development really fits the character of Energy Park Drive.

I'm always amazed at how terrible the SPPA developments are.

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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby mulad » May 29th, 2013, 12:03 pm

Yeah, it's pretty terrible stuff. The Westminster Junction area along Phalen near Cayuga Street is a bit less terrible, but that's about all I can say.

But maybe this will generate interest in a north-south bike/ped crossing across the tracks somewhere near Fairview?

Anyway, if SPPA can be convinced to go with a more traditional urban plan, the Midway ballpark site could probably be divided up into 3 or 4 blocks on a grid, extending what's already in place just to the east at the St. Paul Fire Department property (though I don't think those are public streets at the moment).

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Nathan
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby Nathan » June 12th, 2013, 3:33 pm


widin007
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby widin007 » June 12th, 2013, 4:20 pm

So since this is ALREADY 8 million over budget, how much further does everyone see this going over budget?

minnyapple
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby minnyapple » June 12th, 2013, 11:16 pm


Didier
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby Didier » June 13th, 2013, 9:11 am

I missed some of the $8 million additional costs news. Where is this money coming from?

Snelbian
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby Snelbian » June 13th, 2013, 9:26 am

I really like the grass slopes in the outfield. It really helps preserve the casual minor league feel, and looks like it could be a really fun spot to watch a game from.

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Le Sueur
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby Le Sueur » June 13th, 2013, 9:41 am

New article about funding gap. Old renderings (As in they were released already. Nothing "newer" has been released).

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Le Sueur
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby Le Sueur » June 13th, 2013, 10:05 am

I missed some of the $8 million additional costs news. Where is this money coming from?
I believe the quote of the week goes to Mike Hahm is the Director of Parks and Recreation:
"The exact details we don't know. We have a lot of ideas. We've solved problems like this before."
KSTP covered it last night: http://kstp.com/news/stories/S3065357.shtml?cat=1

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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby David Greene » June 13th, 2013, 10:26 am

I believe the quote of the week goes to Mike Hahm is the Director of Parks and Recreation:
"The exact details we don't know. We have a lot of ideas. We've solved problems like this before."

KSTP covered it last night: http://kstp.com/news/stories/S3065357.shtml?cat=1
Nah, Louis Jambois, president of the Port Authority has the best one:

"We can find ways to fill gaps when identified in projects of this nature. We can shake the trees and find the sources to fill those gaps."

http://www.minnpost.com/two-cities/2013 ... p-upgrades

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Le Sueur
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby Le Sueur » June 13th, 2013, 10:28 am

^^^ I knew it! Money trees are real! :)

twincitizen
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby twincitizen » June 16th, 2013, 11:14 pm

The mind-numbing idiocy of this column is staggering, even for Soucheray, and that's saying something: http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_ ... plant-site

Ugh, I remember why I boycotted PiPress/TwinCities.com for a while...stay strong and never visit their site again.

seanrichardryan
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby seanrichardryan » June 16th, 2013, 11:59 pm

Thanks for wasting 3 minutes of.my life. It's eastside Lileks.
Q. What, what? A. In da butt.

kirby96
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Re: Saints Lowertown Ballpark

Postby kirby96 » June 17th, 2013, 9:11 am

Well, I once had a boss that would say that a good idea at the wrong time is a bad idea, so in that sense this is not a good idea. But many of the points are valid. The big negative is obviously transportation, parking, etc.. But believe me as a former St. Paul resident: the Ford site redevelopment WILL be a fiasco of collosal proportions and I have no doubts that we will still be discussing how it should look 20 years from now (see Schmidt Brewery). A 'natural' use might have short-circuited the inevitable cluster f%#@ that is most certainly coming.

If somehow the ballpark could have worked there and been anticipated 5-7 years ago so that we could have slowly developed the shortcomings it would have a lot of natural advantages. At the 10,000 foot level, the Saints just ain't a big enough deal to dedicate 'valuable' urban space to. It is, however, a perfectly scaled organization for a location like Highland Park. The neighbors would obviousy howl, but again, I'm working on the thought that you could have spent 5-10 years anticipating a use for the Ford plant that would generate traffic and largely mitigated getting folks in and out.


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