urbanMSP

My personal preference on building design is for one strong design idea or concept to shine through, but this building just reads as incredibly vernacular to me. Doubly so if they go through with plastering that RBC logo on top, which some of the renderings had. At street level, it is totally clear this thing is a mashup of both materials and design styles. The good side of this imo is that every architecturally-prominent building needs a bland one nearby to use as a foil--I believe Wells Fargo, Capella, Carlyle, and a few other towers above a certain height will shine brighter as a result of the gateway tower. At street level, I'm especially struck by how well the abstract library design fits in now that it is not fully exposed to the North and East.

Couldn't get a decent picture with the rain and fog, but the RBC sign went up today. It's maybe 15'x15', so it's pretty unobtrusive 500' up.

Nothing says 'gateway to Minneapolis' like the royal bank of canada. Agreed that the signage it is small now that it is up, but no doubt they will light the sign to really make it pop. For me it cheapens the experience of the building and skyline. I thought Minneapolis had some sort of ban on this--I recall a dust up over signage related to the wells fargo towers on Portland.

Nothing says 'gateway to Minneapolis' like the royal bank of canada. Agreed that the signage it is small now that it is up, but no doubt they will light the sign to really make it pop. For me it cheapens the experience of the building and skyline. I thought Minneapolis had some sort of ban on this--I recall a dust up over signage related to the wells fargo towers on Portland.

The developer threatened to cancel the project if Minneapolis didn’t make an exception.


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Must be a good developer then. They designed, sold, and built a building that looks exactly like a bottom line. The city got gooped on this one.

Yeah, I saw it today and it looks smaller than I thought it would. I'll take it if it moved the project forward.

Didn't get a picture, but the crown lighting was on last night. Looked nice.

RBC Gateway - 12/30/2021 - Viewed from 3rd Floor of MIA and Washburn Fair Oaks Park

3 things:

1) The lighting on the crown has been on for a couple weeks now, and I have to say it looks fantastic!

2) ..But, it's unfortunate that they didn't light the Washington(NE) side of the crown. It looks weird to me having that side dark. I assume the reason is that there is a balcony right below and whatever billionaire who will live there wouldn't want that

3) According to eyeball observation, it appears they turned down the brightness on the crown lighting within the last couple days. It looks much better this way. Before, it was easily the brightest tower downtown, and that felt wrong. Now it feels to be an appropriate brightness.

Opens Monday to tenants. 4 seasons in June

Opens Monday to tenants. 4 seasons in June

Heard that the skyway opens too, anyone know if the cafe and restaurant will be open? I fly back into MSP on Monday, might have to check it out on the way home on the Blue Line.

Skyway as well will be open. I think those open when 4 season does this summer
https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... onday.html

Forbes takes a look at the Four Seasons: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestrav ... 5776884536

So I was curious, Four Seasons Minneapolis is taking reservations for June. $525 a night for the standard room.

If you push it out to late in the year the cheapest room can be had for $400

Like, how well will that do in this market? I kind of want to spend one night there to experience the building and hotel, but even $400 is pushing it.


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They've been running hotels in a lot of peer-ish cities for a while. st louis, denver, baltimore, seattle, etc. Not saying things are exactly the same here but this isn't an untested model.

Like, how well will that do in this market? I kind of want to spend one night there to experience the building and hotel, but even $400 is pushing it.
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Four Seasons is all about luxury and exclusivity, it's not for the price-conscious.

This might be a naive redneck-type comment, but since this proposal was announced I thought just having the hotel here might increase the number of people from the coasts bopping in for a North Loop-focused weekend? It's kind of a different category compared to a Marriott.