The Walkway - (1312 West Lake Street)

[John]

Agreed. This is a dramatic improvement to the urban density of Uptown. A friend and I stopped by their rental office today and spoke with staff. The rentals are already 35% pre-leased and he reported a "diverse" group of people renting there (not income wise...lol). He also said the developer was very fond of the old Figlio's, and wanted to recreate some of the street level energy that Figlio's gave to the corner of Hennepin and Lake with its open windows and bustling sidewalk dining scene in the summer. The walkway along Girard Ave (in front of the complex) will include sculpture by local artists and a very modern street lighting scheme with other first floor retail. The wide canopy/marquee above the entrance will be lit up using a technology similar to the top of the Target building downtown. Awesome.

[min-chi-cbus]

The rentals are already 35% pre-leased and he reported a "diverse" group of people renting there (not income wise...lol)..

That's basically illegal. Landlords are not supposed to provide ANY information about the other current or prospective residents of a building/community:

"Even if asked, landlords should never comment on the “types” of persons who live in the community."
https://www.americanbar.org/newsletter/ ... lords.html

One time when my wife and I were looking at a building we had asked the landlord whether there were any residents closer to our age group (because the majority of residents there seemed to be elderly/retired and we had a small child), and he told us that he can't answer that question. I immediately realized what he was talking about and remembered talking about this kind of stuff in Real Estate Law class back in college, and basically apologized for even asking.

On the (complete) flip side, the last time we searched for a place (we do so nearly annually) recently the Landlord not only offered demographic information about the neighborhood, but said something along the lines of the following when we had asked about the area and its safety/crime record: "Oh yeah, there's all kinds of people who live on this street. There's some Asians, white people, black people, Jews, etc. None of the "bad" kids who blast that nonesense rap and swear up and down the street like the guys who are moving out of the place ya'll are looking into. Naw.....in fact, one way you KNOW this area is safe is because there are Jews all over the place, and police protect the Jews, and where there's Jews there's police and hence the neighborhood is very safe. Your neighbor to your right is white, and the one to your left I think is black."


It was after this comment we were both jaw-dropped and said that we meant how often do break-ins occur or other kinds of crime, not asking for what racial characteristics would best suit us. Firstly, my wife is Jewish, so that was a huge deal-breaker right there and I was practically worried she was going to make a scene. Secondly, the Jewish population in the area are Hasidic (the people who wear the hats and the men have the curls going down the side of their cheeks), and are generally dirt poor and are certainly not heavily favored by the police force (the LL was insinuating that all Jews have money). Needless-to-say, we did not call him back!


P.S. this Landlord was black (bet none of you thought that!)

[MSPtoMKE]

It may not be to the letter of the law to say that the residents are diverse, but this particular instance doesn't seem like a very big deal. As long as "diverse" wasn't being used as a euphemism like "urban" to say that there are a lot of minorities, then it really doesn't reveal all that much about the renters' demographics. I assume that John simply assumed that there was not a lot of income diversity based on the rent.

[John]

Yes MSPtoMKE, that's right. To clarify, I was asking leasing agent about the age demographic of people interested in renting and he replied: "diverse". It was very vague and unspecific.

[min-chi-cbus]

That might be different.....certainly different from some of the LL's I've experienced!

[bapster2006]

My brother is visiting from Oregon and immediately complained about the lost view. He hasn't been here for 12 months.

[ECtransplant]

Well, he is about to get a view of the hot tub, or is that on the other side?

[bapster2006]

I mentioned the hot tub / pool! Ha ha

[Jenny on the Block]

Via Burough (via Travail)... coup d'état is coming to Walkway!
http://blogs.mspmag.com/foodiefile/2013 ... oup-detat/

[Minnekid]

I like the restaurant going in there, it shows that not all new developments always fill up with Subway's and applebee's. Some smaller, cooler restaurants can be in a new building.

[John]

Sounds like a winner and gives the Uptown dining scene something a little more innovative than what has generally occured in this neighborhood over the last couple of years. Yet another sign of the positive impact this project will have on this area.

[mullen]

that is very cool news. lots of interesting restaurant/bar concepts happening.

[MNdible]

I like the restaurant going in there, it shows that not all new developments always fill up with Subway's and applebee's. Some smaller, cooler restaurants can be in a new building.

300 seats is not a small restaurant.

[Wedgeguy]

Neither restaurant will be small with 2 levels, and outdoor patio seating also on 2 levels.

[lordmoke]

I'm guessing small was meant in the "not a large chain" sense. Subways aren't exactly sizable.

[MNdible]

You're probably right, but I just wanted to be clear that this is not the small mom-and-pop type operation that the Save Dinkytowners are trying to save/promote. The take away I had from the original post was that this restaurant somehow proved that it was still possible for these new developments to serve as incubators for small scale independent businesses. Which may still be true, but by all accounts, this is a huge restaurant/bar that is no doubt being funded by some very deep pocketed investors and has very little in common with a small start-up operation.

[RailBaronYarr]

...this is a huge restaurant/bar that is no doubt being funded by some very deep pocketed investors and has very little in common with a small start-up operation.

Because small start-ups are never funded by deep-pocketed investors?

I agree with you, though. I think the language and lack of nuance in people opposing development gets caught up here. Do you want eclectic? This certainly seems unique (not unlike a Loring Pasta Bar in terms of size/price/etc). Or do you want small businesses owned by ma/pa, started with their own $5,000 and a loan from the local credit union? Both can be unique, eclectic, add to the "character" of a neighborhood but saying "unique" doesn't describe exactly what they mean.

[min-chi-cbus]

Both for me, personally. I love eclectic, regardless of the size, but I also love the tiny 10-20 seat restaurants that have small menus and intimate dining. Something that (I've heard) is much more common in Europe and NYC than much of the U.S. It wouldn't be a bad thing if Minneapolis made it much easier for these kind of places to exist/coexist with the "big boys".

[RailBaronYarr]

Completely agree with you, I'm just saying that the broader, less precise argument isn't clear enough and doesn't prescribe one developed form over another.

I really like the number of 100-200 sqft mini shops you'll see on European streets, in addition to places that serve a couple tables and chairs with a 10x7 "kitchen," or the same with food meant for walking (like crepes). We would definitely do well to encourage more of this.

[Chef]

Those types of restaurants don't provide a good standard of living to the people who own them. Nobody wants to blow $200k on a build out just so you can make $20k a year working seven days a week. That is how you make tiny places work unless you are charging La Belle Vie prices or have the economies of scale that comes from being a chain.

For the amount of hassle involved in running a restaurant and the amount of money it takes to open one, it is not worth doing if you have less than 80 seats. Anything less than that and you are better off working for somebody else (in terms of work and investment vs financial return).