urbanMSP

Hey, when you find something that works for you...

Well, at least we got the better version!

The ING building is quite popular among normal people; I've had several people tell me they thought it was the prettiest building in town. It'll never be torn down.

Wasn't it featured in Mary Tyler Moore too? I love ING, it's a beautiful historic building with some great architecture

I think you might be thinking of the former Midwest Federal building seen here. http://johnweeks.com/tour/mtm/index.html

There was a good article in last week's print edition of the Business Journal about downtown's office high rise potential.

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/p ... sites.html



Insert skyscraper here: The downtown Minneapolis sites with the most high-rise potential
Jul 4, 2014

Nearly 15 years after the last new office tower joined the skyline, the Minneapolis office development market finally is generating buzz about a new skyscraper. Three of the most likely developers have started picking sites and floating plans to spark the interest of a major tenant.

But therein lies the rub: There aren’t any major tenants as far as the eye can see that need new space. Existing major downtown employers seem set for years, with Wells Fargo & Co. moving thousands to new digs by the Minnesota Vikings stadium, Xcel Energy Inc. building a new headquarters, and [...]

And the old Northwestern National Life building is a masterpiece, even though it permanently severs Nicollet Avenue.

They could always tear down the colonnade and rebuild it on the east face of the building instead, allowing a Nicollet Mall extension. Probably not going to happen, but not impossible either.

Or hopefully with a redevelopment of the block north of the Library, we can preserve a "cutoff" ROW/easement from 3rd/Nicollet to Washington/Hennepin. This seems to me like it would be the natural routing for a streetcar between Nicollet Mall and the Hennepin Bridge anyways.

ING building:


Personally, I like it.

Be glad it wasn't this:

That's actually pretty likely Matt. Nicollet Mall will terminate at 3rd Street, with bus/streetcar ROW running diagonally to the Washington/Hennepin intersection. That way the east half of the "Nicollet Hotel block" could be more easily adjoined to Cancer Survivors Park (we gotta do something about that name...)

It fits, though. It survived the cancerous proliferation of surface parking lots in the Gateway.

I'd be surprised if we see something significant this decade. Xcel's 12,000 employees plus thousands of contractors/hired engineering firms are spread around the country, thus only building the new 9 story building. Wells Fargo is building the two 18 story buildings, which I assume will open up space they currently occupy downtown. If Target didn't build anything, when conditions seemed optimal in 2011, after this comment, "Due to continued, steady growth, Target has outgrown the company’s available downtown Minneapolis space," then they never will. Can save too much by going to the suburbs. (http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/b ... l?page=all)

Realistically who else has the potential to build something short of a company relocating? Most of the large companies are already set in their locations. (Best Buy, United, U.S. Bancorp, 3M, General Mills, Supervalu, Ameriprise, Medtronic, etc.) Get ready for another 28 story box on the Ritz block. /negative /realistic?

once again, thanks target for your "cheap campus in brooklyn park".

I could maybe see US Bank consolidating their Richfield employees downtown, but what I've heard is that realistically they will just move them out to Portland. You're right though, most of the largest employers already have suburban office campuses in addition to or instead of downtown locations. Its nice though that Wells Fargo is choosing to consolidate downtown. Any large movement at this point would come from mergers or acquisitions, which are hard to predict and can hurt as well. The one I could maybe see in the near-term is TCF being acquired, either by a second big 4 bank looking to enter the market or by US Bank (significantly less likely). A lot would depend on the circumstances though, and it could lead to expansion at the Plymouth office park, a new downtown location, or losing those jobs altogether.

ING building:


Personally, I like it.

Be glad it wasn't this:

I really like our ING building - one of my favorites downtown, honestly. And while I'm glad that other building isn't sitting in Minneapolis, it *is* pretty freaking awesome in an abstract way.

If TCF is acquired by Chase/BofA/Citi, it would be a nice gesture for them to announce a new signature tower at the same time.
USB appears to be hiring a lot of people locally (I have many colleagues who have ended up there).

What I don't understand is that it seems like almost every coastal city and/or major city in this country is expanding office space in their downtowns, yet Minneapolis and the Twin Cities support one of the highest concentration of large companies and don't have much of any activity going on.

Most major coastal cities have natural land barriers that limit where they expand.....so usually its up. There are almost no natural land barriers in MPLS. Plus.......land is cheaper in the suburbs...money, money, money.

That ING building would look fabulous in place of Riverwest. More pics: http://funnilogy.blogspot.com/2011/09/a ... lding.html

Insert skyscraper here: The downtown Minneapolis sites with the most high-rise potential
Jul 4, 2014

So even when we're being optimists we refuse to eclipse to big 3