The Commons - Downtown East Park

[acs]

New renderings/details were presented to the planning committee last night, per the strib:
http://www.startribune.com/new-renderin ... 322517041/

My favorite tidbit so far:

City staffers said the Minnesota Vikings intend to build a plaza between U.S. Bank Stadium's front door and the park. This plan would involve sloping the grade in order to remove the large height gap between the parking garage roof (under the lightrail station) and the street level on Park

This will go a long way towards integrating the stadium with the park via the LRT block. I'd love to hear more details on this part.

[MNdible]

Here are some additional images from the city's package about the park. [PDF]

You can see some line work on the site plan which suggests some of the work that will be happening on the LRT plaza block.

[BoredAgain]

One thing that I really love about the design is that all of the elements (paths, water feature, plaza, etc) are continuous across Portland so that if/when the road is eventually closed, they can all be connected for a seamless whole.

[PhilmerPhil]

[trigonalmayhem]

Finally a realistic rendering!

[min-chi-cbus]

Hahahaha! That's awesome!

[Wedgeguy]

Noticing today that the ground floor of the apartment building will have 3 different levels. But the second,(residential floor and above) will all be at the same levels. I wondered how they were going to deal with the elevation changes along 5th.

[PigsEye]

Why would anybody creating a rendering of the park that showed a car running somebody over? Care to explain your motivation behind creating this... this... piece?

[karlshea]

Because Portland Ave will still run through the middle of the park and everyone here wanted it to be closed.

[HiawathaGuy]

Because Portland Ave will still run through the middle of the park and everyone here wanted it to be closed.

While that very well might be true. Should the park be filled with as many people as depicted in this rendering - Portland will be closed. Anecdotally, several other far more busy parks in the city have roads that run through/alongside them. I've never seen anyone run over by an SUV at those. I'm thinking Minnehaha, Calhoun, Harriet, River Road...
Haters will always hate.

[LakeCharles]

Those parks are huge in comparison though. Minnehaha Falls Park is almost 200 acres. The commons will only be a couple acres. So the fact that a road goes through one doesn't seem relevant to the other.

[trigonalmayhem]

Just because you've never personally witnessed a person being run over doesn't mean it never happens. In fact, it happens with regularity.

[HiawathaGuy]

Those parks are huge in comparison though. Minnehaha Falls Park is almost 200 acres. The commons will only be a couple acres. So the fact that a road goes through one doesn't seem relevant to the other.

I'm talking about the acreage where people actually congregate and spend their time. Sure Minnehaha might be larger, but most everyone is near the roadway to get to/from the park or go to DQ. Ditto for River Road along the Stone Arch. That road isn't nearly as busy, but it certainly gets busy on the weekends in summer. How man people have been hit?

It's foolish to somehow use the total acreage of a park to justify this inaccurate statement/belief that Portland will be this horrible clogged road. If the pedestrian traffic warrants it, the road will be closed. Otherwise, it'll be like every other busy park in the city. Pedestrians and drivers will need to be alert and paying attention. Period.

[HiawathaGuy]

Just because you've never personally witnessed a person being run over doesn't mean it never happens. In fact, it happens with regularity.

I'm not saying I don't believe you. But prove it.

There was zero political appetite to close Portland through the Commons.
End of story. Making up stories about people being run over by an SUV when the park is packed seems disingenuous.

[EOst]

Pretty sure that's a rendering of a Vikings game day, when Portland through the park would be closed anyway. But, you know, carry on.

[acs]

Pretty sure they are going to close park, portland and chicago on vikings gamedays. So you know, the most heavy traffic days possible for the area. Yet, we can't close them the other 357 days when there will be less traffic?

[Wedgeguy]

Portland is staying open, get over it, end of story. If not, then lock this pages until the work starts so we can deal only with what is actually going to happen.
Maybe because the games are on a weekend when the normal city traffic is not using the street for people to get around! Please lock,

[HiawathaGuy]

Looks like the old Strib building is quickly disappearing!
Only the Portland and 5th Street portions left.

[EOst]

Pretty sure they are going to close park, portland and chicago on vikings gamedays. So you know, the most heavy traffic days possible for the area. Yet, we can't close them the other 357 days when there will be less traffic?

It is, of course, entirely coincidental that those days will have a dozen cops will be stationed at intersections to guide traffic.

[Archiapolis]

Portland is staying open, get over it, end of story. If not, then lock this pages until the work starts so we can deal only with what is actually going to happen.
Maybe because the games are on a weekend when the normal city traffic is not using the street for people to get around! Please lock,

Yeah, don't criticize stupid decisions about a controversial park on an urbanism forum because they have already been made and can never be changed. Please only talk about the actual design/construction which has NOTHING to do with streets that run through it.

On a related note, does anyone know the status of the Kmart on Nicollet? Asking for a friend...

Please lock!