Loring Vue Apartments - (415 Oak Grove Street)

Downtown - North Loop - Mill District - Elliot Park - Loring Park
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spectre000
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Re: Loring Vue Apartments - (415 Oak Grove Street)

Postby spectre000 » August 26th, 2012, 4:06 pm

Here you can see the little park area they are constructing on the side of the building.


And by park, they meant a pad for their transformers.

I still don't share the general enthusiasm that many of you have for this project, and this photo demonstrates how badly that white house on the corner has been impacted by this development. The little wrap-around extension was just an unnecessary square-foot grab on the part of the developer that really should have been stopped on the drawing board.
I was a bit dismayed myself as to how close the Vue and the white house are to one another. It doesn't appear to be more than 10-15 feet apart. So much for privacy.

Overall I still like the project though.

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Re: Loring Vue Apartments - (415 Oak Grove Street)

Postby John » August 26th, 2012, 4:28 pm

When you walk by it on Oak Grove, the upper two floors are set back in a way that makes them barely perceptable from the street level. Plus, the angled design of two story projections that run along the building soften its scale and works well on Oak Grove. I'm not sure about how it appears from the back, as I haven't biked by it recently, but it definitely has a bulkier presence than the other side. One thing though, the white house is at a significantly higher elevation than the site, so Loring Vue's scale may not be as overwhelming as it appears in the photo. The bummer is the white house has lost its view...and so it goes with life in the big city :|
Last edited by John on August 26th, 2012, 6:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.

minneapolisguy
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Re: Loring Vue Apartments - (415 Oak Grove Street)

Postby minneapolisguy » August 26th, 2012, 6:24 pm

I think your comment about the park being a pad for the transformer is a bit hasty - considering it isn't even near completion yet - and no one has really seen any renderings of what the final area will look like.

As far as the house being overcrowded - it may be - but I'm not terrible worried about that homeowner - I recall he wanted to buy that little parcel of land to build a garage there - he also owns the house directly across the street that he uses to park his car in and nothing more - the house has been vacant for over a year and is not maintained and adds nothing to the neighborhood - he barely shovels the sidewalk in front of that house in the winter months - if this guy has enough money to buy two $300,000+ homes - he is doing just fine with or without this development.

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Re: Loring Vue Apartments - (415 Oak Grove Street)

Postby seanrichardryan » August 26th, 2012, 8:39 pm


'... if this guy has enough money to buy two $300,000+ homes - he is doing just fine with or without this development.
Could you elaborate?
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Re: Loring Vue Apartments - (415 Oak Grove Street)

Postby woofner » August 26th, 2012, 9:14 pm

The little wrap-around extension was just an unnecessary square-foot grab on the part of the developer
Or it is a way to reinforce the street wall, step down to the height of the adjacent house, and provide a sense of enclosure to the area behind the building. What would you rather be built there?

Also, this is an urban neighborhood near the center of a major city. No one should be whining about 10-15' between structures. Sure, if this building followed the postwar pattern there would be a 50' surface parking lot between it and neighboring structures - that worked out great for urban neighborhoods, didn't it?
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Re: Loring Vue Apartments - (415 Oak Grove Street)

Postby minneapolisguy » August 26th, 2012, 9:20 pm

I'm not sure how it can be considered an unnecessary square-foot grab when that plot of land was already owned by the developer and was part of that entire plot of land so they are just utilizing it what's the big deal?

Since the developer owned that little piece of land with the rest of the surface parking lot he is under no obligation to accommodate the adjacent property owners you can do with it when he wants - the city approved it

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Re: Loring Vue Apartments - (415 Oak Grove Street)

Postby mplser » August 27th, 2012, 1:40 am

Who's grabbing anything? they own the land, why shouldn't they build on it?

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Re: Loring Vue Apartments - (415 Oak Grove Street)

Postby min-chi-cbus » August 27th, 2012, 6:58 am

And by park, they meant a pad for their transformers.

I still don't share the general enthusiasm that many of you have for this project, and this photo demonstrates how badly that white house on the corner has been impacted by this development. The little wrap-around extension was just an unnecessary square-foot grab on the part of the developer that really should have been stopped on the drawing board.
YES!! That's exactly what I was thinking but just assumed that I wasn't looking at the right spot or something! What on Earth are they thinking (either the developers for letting kids play by a large transformer, or the Strib for getting the information that wrong -- or the picture)! I'm glad somebody else saw that!

I agree with the white house comment. It actually makes the Vue assymetrical and "blobby" instead of classy looking, and it looks like it could have been avoided to make good with the neighborhood, but if I recall correctly the neighborhood rubbed this developer the wrong way one too many times and I don't believe he should have to bend over backwards for this area at this point. That beind said, I wonder if the developer tried to plea with the city/hood about taking those units that jut out towards the white house and adding them on top of the building for a little extra height (1 or 2 floors) and more of a "castle" look, with a stepped-up rooftop.....which I kind of like for buildings like these. If it didn't come up and nobody had presented that question, I wonder if it would have passed if they had....

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Re: Loring Vue Apartments - (415 Oak Grove Street)

Postby min-chi-cbus » August 27th, 2012, 7:06 am


'... if this guy has enough money to buy two $300,000+ homes - he is doing just fine with or without this development.
Could you elaborate?
I don't believe those homes are only $300K......more like $800K+. They are HUGE, not to mention classic homes in a top-notch location. Or if they ARE only $300K (and up to code and up to date structurally), I would buy them and divide them up and rent them out as triplexes or quads (I'm certain the zoning there is at least R3!).
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Re: Loring Vue Apartments - (415 Oak Grove Street)

Postby min-chi-cbus » August 27th, 2012, 7:10 am

Who's grabbing anything? they own the land, why shouldn't they build on it?
It's gawdy and unnecessary, I agree with MNdibble. It only adds about 5% more to the building's square footage and it completely goes out of the way to obstruct any possible views that owner had. HOWEVER, for all I know that may be the owner who caused all of the problems the developer faced with this property (and there were plenty), so I won't feel bad for the SFH owner if he pissed on the developer while he was in the planning stages of this project. What goes around comes around....gotta love Karma sometimes!

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Re: Loring Vue Apartments - (415 Oak Grove Street)

Postby mplser » August 27th, 2012, 1:27 pm

a different view of the progress:

Image

1200onthemall
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Re: Loring Vue Apartments - (415 Oak Grove Street)

Postby 1200onthemall » August 27th, 2012, 3:05 pm

Anyone who owns a building in an urban environment that is surrounded by surface parking lots and believes they are "always"going to have the same view is a fool. It's time to stop apologizing for becoming a City!!

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Re: Loring Vue Apartments - (415 Oak Grove Street)

Postby John » August 29th, 2012, 3:56 pm

Rode by this on my bike and I have to say it is really "urbanizing" this area in a good way. It doesn't seem out of scale and actually ties together a lot of nearby buildings (of similar scale) making the neighborhood feel more unified. The building has slightly different angles as it moves down Clifton to Oak Grove retaining an unobstructed skyline view. The three story addition in the back creates a step down softening the height, and it looks like there was actually some effort to defer to the white house so as not to drown it. There is some exterior paneling on the back side going up which is horizontily textured with a beige/olive tone and looks attractive so far. This project may end up being a winner for this neighborhood despite the earlier vehement opposition.

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Re: Loring Vue Apartments - (415 Oak Grove Street)

Postby minneapolisguy » August 31st, 2012, 9:36 am

A few images from today - I like the first image - that will be a nice little patio/deck for that 5th floor unit!!

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

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Re: Loring Vue Apartments - (415 Oak Grove Street)

Postby seanrichardryan » August 31st, 2012, 9:44 am

Ah, now I can comment. What kind of siding is that? It seems odd to put a material that needs painting 6 stories up.
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Re: Loring Vue Apartments - (415 Oak Grove Street)

Postby John » August 31st, 2012, 9:47 am

I don't think it will be painted. It is some type of cementious board I think. It has a olive green/beige color which is hard to see in the photo. I like the siding better than some of the other apartment projects because at least it has some texture and isn't so flat.

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Re: Loring Vue Apartments - (415 Oak Grove Street)

Postby minneapolisguy » August 31st, 2012, 10:13 am

I agree - at least it has some character and is not that usual pre-fab concrete in a salmon color -

They also moved a little trailer into the parking lot of the Episcopal building across the street - I'm assuming they are going to use this as a leasing office.

The churches in this neighborhood must be loving these two projects - even though they opposed them - since they are making lots of money on renting out parking spaces to the construction crews all this month.

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Nick
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Re: Loring Vue Apartments - (415 Oak Grove Street)

Postby Nick » September 9th, 2012, 10:22 am

Hey look, brick!
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Re: Loring Vue Apartments - (415 Oak Grove Street)

Postby minneapolisguy » September 9th, 2012, 10:30 am

Nice to see some bricks out front - they are very close to finishing the 6th and 7th floor on the west side of the building.

Below is a shot of the trailer that was installed last week - assuming this will be a temporary rental office.


Image

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Re: Loring Vue Apartments - (415 Oak Grove Street)

Postby Nathan » September 11th, 2012, 9:27 am

I saw a rendering, maybe the latest we've seen in a magazine yesterday, and with all of these materials on site, it just excites me for this to be complete even more! I think it's going to be a little (compared to our larger coming soon) gem in Loring Park!


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