Seven Corners Gateway - Apartments & Hotel

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lordmoke
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Seven Corners Gateway - Apartments & Hotel

Postby lordmoke » July 15th, 2014, 10:08 am

The City of Saint Paul has put out an RFP for the Seven Corners Gateway Site, currently a parking lot, across the street from the Xcel Energy Center. New development here would most certainly transform what's now a pretty sad area.

http://www.stpaul.gov/index.aspx?NID=5478

mattaudio
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Re: Seven Corners Gateway Site

Postby mattaudio » July 15th, 2014, 10:10 am

In case you picked up an acting gig and have to figure out a way to shed real tears for a scene,

go to historicaerials.com or the borchert site and check out historical photos of this area.

twincitizen
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Re: Seven Corners Gateway Site

Postby twincitizen » July 15th, 2014, 11:01 am

Or check out this vintage blog post by Nate Hood at TC Streets for People (streets.mn precursor): http://tcstreetsforpeople.org/node/1414

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Nathan
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Re: Seven Corners Gateway Site

Postby Nathan » July 15th, 2014, 1:58 pm

uhh... so much nope.

uptowncarag

Re: Seven Corners Gateway Site

Postby uptowncarag » July 15th, 2014, 3:22 pm

Is this the same area that at one point the Wild wanted to build a practice facility similar to what the Timberwolves are doing in downtown Minneapolis?

VAStationDude
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Re: Seven Corners Gateway Site

Postby VAStationDude » July 15th, 2014, 3:40 pm

Yes. I heard a subsidized Wild hockey facility once justified on sports talk radio because the team has to practice in Mendota Heights ten times a year. I'm not joking.

BigIdeasGuy
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Re: Seven Corners Gateway Site

Postby BigIdeasGuy » July 17th, 2014, 9:26 pm

I'll defend the concept of a practice facility on this block for the Wild and a small amount of public financing. I think a 3000 to 5000 seat arena here would do very well for multiple reasons. Obviously the Wild would anchor the space (and pay for a huge percentage of the project) but it could also provide free ice time to local high school hockey teams and youth programs along with providing public ice skating opportunities year round. Not to mention it would serve as a great warm up/cool down rink for any traveling ice shows or figure skating championships that come through town. On top of that some of the smaller MSHSL championships could use rink instead of booking the X/Target Center/Williams. I'm not trying to argue that the public should finance the entire thing but I think helping with a small part in return for the public having access and use of the rink would be idea.

I believe if you correctly angle the rink you would also have enough space for hotel/apartments/condos lining Smith and 5th St and restaurant/retail store along Kellogg with a plaza and/or restaurant patio opening up to the corner of West 7th/Kellogg. The biggest mistake a developer could make on this block is turning the developments back on the West 7th/Kellogg corner and placing the plaza in the middle of the block. That corner is the center of activity and energy when the Wild play and trying lure people away from that area and into a central plaza away the X will result in failure for the plaza and possibly ruin the West 7th/Kellogg corner.

nickmgray
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Re: Seven Corners Gateway Site

Postby nickmgray » July 18th, 2014, 8:08 am

It'll be interesting to see if anyone comes up with a decent proposal for the site. It's not the best location in downtown and it seems not many developers are wiling to take a gamble and built in Saint Paul these days.

Snelbian
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Re: Seven Corners Gateway Site

Postby Snelbian » July 18th, 2014, 12:33 pm

St. Paul and Minneapolis need more arenas like I need a bullet in my face. Hotels are only marginally better.

EDIT: St. Paul's woes don't stem from a lack of destinations or hotel rooms or draws for suburban kids. They stem from precisely the fact that life in St. Paul has been subjugated to the whims and needs of people who need hotel rooms when their exurban hockey team plays in town once a year and of their parents driving in, parking, working, and leaving as soon as they can to retreat to the 'burbs. We don't need more events for people from Bloomington and Forest Lake. We need more amenities for people from, or soon to be from, St. Paul. If we need more hockey arenas for the kids, put them in Woodbury or Blaine.
Last edited by Snelbian on July 18th, 2014, 12:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

twincitizen
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Re: Seven Corners Gateway Site

Postby twincitizen » July 18th, 2014, 12:57 pm

This area has been chopped up, stroaded, and suburbanized so badly, it's going to be tough to put it back together again.

The first step would be dropping that third lane/free right turn from westbound 7th to northbound Kellogg and maybe that long-ass right turn lane from NB Kellogg to EB Smith. By reclaiming that ROW, any potential mixed-use building would feel slightly more connected to the "near West 7th" commercial area. There's simply no way to make this block feel connected to downtown. To the north and east you've got a homeless shelter, another full block of surface parking, and more dead plazas. The only hope is making it feel connected to West 7th.

talindsay
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Re: Seven Corners Gateway Site

Postby talindsay » July 20th, 2014, 9:34 pm

St. Paul and Minneapolis need more arenas like I need a bullet in my face. Hotels are only marginally better.
Seriously, there are already way too many municipal and subsidized arenas in the metro. It's crazy.

seanrichardryan
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Re: Seven Corners Gateway Site

Postby seanrichardryan » September 2nd, 2014, 6:11 am

Q. What, what? A. In da butt.

Azel
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Re: Seven Corners Gateway Site

Postby Azel » September 11th, 2014, 9:45 am

From this story: http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/p ... -site.html - rest of it is behind a paywall though

"Neither proposal has been made public yet, but Minnetonka-based Opus has proposed a building that would be a maximum of about six stories and include retail, housing, a hotel and “quite a bit of plaza or public space in a well-laid out configuration,” said Dave Menke, president of Opus Development Co. in an interview."

HiawathaGuy
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Seven Corners Gateway Site

Postby HiawathaGuy » October 16th, 2014, 12:14 pm


mattaudio
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Re: Seven Corners Gateway Site

Postby mattaudio » October 16th, 2014, 12:23 pm

That rendering looks suburban to me for some reason, but I guess that makes sense because it's sandwiched between three stroads. Thanks for posting the link!

bubzki2
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Re: Seven Corners Gateway Site

Postby bubzki2 » October 16th, 2014, 12:31 pm

Any chance of removing some turn lane pork chops while they're at it? Terrible pedestrian experience currently.

acs
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Re: Seven Corners Gateway Site

Postby acs » October 16th, 2014, 12:59 pm

I don't think St. Paul could ask for much more. This is the appropriate height for the area and downtown needs more residential. Plus it preserves space facing the X where they could put a future LRT station.

Edit: So much for Opus being afraid to partner with anyone...

seanrichardryan
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Re: Seven Corners Gateway Site

Postby seanrichardryan » October 16th, 2014, 8:44 pm

Q. What, what? A. In da butt.

twincitizen
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Re: Seven Corners Gateway Site

Postby twincitizen » October 16th, 2014, 8:47 pm

Good to see it won't block any views of the Capitol ;)

I wonder if Opus is still going to move forward with developing the Seven Corners Hardware site as well. That site was also proposed for residential and hotel... I wouldn't be surprised if it got scaled down or the hotel portion removed. A previous article did note they were interested in "doubling down", but something tells me this has become a priority over the 7 Corners Hardware one (as it should...it's a parking lot, at least the other has buildings on it, even if vacant).

bptenor
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Re: Seven Corners Gateway Site

Postby bptenor » October 16th, 2014, 8:51 pm

Well, I certainly hope they still build as much as they originally intended on the 7 Corners Hardware site, since the store closed in the process of that deal. What a shame if they build something more watered down and a beloved hardware store closed in the process (even though it sounds like they were looking to sell sometime soon anyway).


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