University of Minnesota - News & General Topics

[Silophant]

The University just bought the strange hexagonal "TV building" adjacent to Prospect Park station, to be used as office space for staff displaced by other construction projects. The deal includes the adjacent ramp and that last undeveloped surface lot between 4th St and the LRT tracks. I can't see them demoing the ramp anytime soon, alas, but hopefully they sell off the surface lot for redevelopment sooner rather than later.
Locked BizJournals article

[seanrichardryan]

Unlocked F & C article- https://finance-commerce.com/2020/04/un ... ing-space/

Regent Thomas Anderson said he sees the U of M going “to the south and east and up University [Avenue]” when it comes to acquiring property.

“If we could print our own money, we’d be buying all this property,” Anderson said.

[HiawathaGuy]

The University just bought the strange hexagonal "TV building" adjacent to Prospect Park station, to be used as office space for staff displaced by other construction projects. The deal includes the adjacent ramp and that last undeveloped surface lot between 4th St and the LRT tracks. I can't see them demoing the ramp anytime soon, alas, but hopefully they sell off the surface lot for redevelopment sooner rather than later.
Locked BizJournals article

What surface lot are you talking about, the one just to the south of the ramp and east of the building??? Doubt that can be developed. The yellow is the property line and the red oval is the lot to the east.

[alexschief]

Highest and best use: food truck corral.

[seanrichardryan]

It's the parking lot across 4th, between two apartment buildings across from thr University Garden lot.

[seanrichardryan]

This one-

[Anondson]

When does property purchased by the University of Minnesota get removed from tax rolls?

[HiawathaGuy]

This one-

Ah, well that one is already owned by the University of Minnesota - so perhaps with this new purchase, they'll be inclined to sell this last surface lot to a developer?

[Didier]

The dream scenario would be redeveloping the parking ramp. Besides it being a parking ramp, this one is particularly ugly while also on a particularly promising corner.

[alexschief]

The dream scenario would be redeveloping the parking ramp. Besides it being a parking ramp, this one is particularly ugly while also on a particularly promising corner.

It's probably one of the top five worst parking ramps in the city.

It would be wonderful if the University were a leading force in their corner of the city for redevelopment that promotes density, reduces car-dependency, and raises the bar on urban design. Unfortunately the U's past forays into development have often been as backwards-looking as not, so I don't have high hopes with this one.

[Silophant]

In "University continues to gobble up the East Bank because, hey, why not?" news, the owner of the five-building Classic City Apartments complex at Huron and Essex has been marketing it nationally for sale, and the U, concerned that it's zoned Transit 30 and thus might get a significant development, is looking at swooping it and buying it to maybe build clinics or something on in the future. The University will then "determine whether to maintain it as housing or transition to parking".

Details start on page 190 of this tremendous pdf.

Also, they're trying to sell the UMore Park property in Rosemount again.

[HKM]

In "University continues to gobble up the East Bank because, hey, why not?" news, the owner of the five-building Classic City Apartments complex at Huron and Essex has been marketing it nationally for sale, and the U, concerned that it's zoned Transit 30 and thus might get a significant development, is looking at swooping it and buying it to maybe build clinics or something on in the future. The University will then "determine whether to maintain it as housing or transition to parking".

Details start on page 190 of this tremendous pdf.

Also, they're trying to sell the UMore Park property in Rosemount again.

It's linked on page 28 but the Classic City property is part of the ($500 million) "Future Clinical Campus Project" on the map found here: https://www.mndaily.com/article/2020/01 ... pment-plan

[Didier]

About the fieldhouse then.

[go4guy]

They just renovated the field house, and women's track and field is still going strong at this moment. I am sure a lot of high schools also use the field house for meets. Hate to say it, but it isn't going anywhere.

[Didier]

I was mostly kidding. The U suddenly has a lot of facilities for a women’s tennis and track team though.

[SurlyLHT]

If they made the Fieldhouse more open to the public it'll be pretty popular with our rather large the running community. Much better place to run than US Bank Stadium. Twin Cities in Motion also uses it for kids event. I also might be biased given how hard it is to find a track let alone an indoor one.

[talindsay]

The Fieldhouse is available to members of the U's rec center whenever it's not in use for IA, but I'm often the only one or one of just a few using it, while the horrible rec track on the upper floor of the main rec center is crowded. I'm not sure if people don't know it's there, or if they're intimidated by it, or what, but it's really nice for winter speed work.

[blo442]

The U is developing a new Campus Master Plan this year-I was emailed a survey today asking about priorities for campus spaces and mobility. The draft plan will supposedly be released this summer, which may be of interest to some people on this forum.

more info: https://z.umn.edu/campusmasterplan

[Cat349F]

The renovation of Pillsbury Hall should be complete by the end of the month.

[gopherfan]

I somehow missed that the University was constructing an addition to Institute of Child Development, Carmen D. and James R. Campbell Hall.

Vertical construction is starting to alter the skyline of the Knoll Area. It caught my eye on Saturday to see a new building going up.

https://news.cehd.umn.edu/campbell-hall-groundbreaking/
https://news.cehd.umn.edu/jim-and-carme ... velopment/