urbanMSP

I was very pleased when I attended my first neighborhood meeting here after moving to the area from Whittier, near the Wedge. Very smart and reasonable group of people on my new neighborhood board!

Can I just say again how envious I am that this area has a local government with such vision? NIEBNA for Urbanists of the Year!

Agree. And the developers are willing to engage with this neighborhood to achieve a better result. So different than a developer like Jim Stanton , for example, whose comments about his condo proposals are always so focused (and defensive) about increasing the parking ratio. Never a single mention about the design aesthetics and its contribution to the community .

Not to defend Stanton, but don't you think he's been around long enough and seen how negative some of these neighborhood groups can be that he doesn't want to engage them for fear of opening the perverbial can of worms?
I agree that this neighborhood has some great leaders who understand what it will take to keep the area relevent and popular; that's a win-win for everybody!

Not to defend Stanton, but don't you think he's been around long enough and seen how negative some of these neighborhood groups can be that he doesn't want to engage them for fear of opening the perverbial can of worms?

Yeah , you may have a point. Some neighborhood groups can be quite hostile to developers. NIEBNA embraces increased density.

Take it for what it's worth, but I assume this is for the Superior Plating site:

https://www.bidclerk.com/project/2960659.html

Take it for what it's worth, but I assume this is for the Superior Plating site:

https://www.bidclerk.com/project/2960659.html

I still don't see how they get over even 20 retail spaces built in this project. We know multi-level does not really work in this city.

Yeah, I'm going to continue to be super skeptical of that "100 shops" figure until I see it reported by a second media source (besides KSTP) and/or by the developer.

Where does this BidClerk site source their information?

Where does this BidClerk site source their information?

UrbanMSP.com, obvs.

Isn't it reasonable to get 20 retail bays along 1st and 4th? Or are they possibly talking about both phases?

Regardless, it's a silly high number. For comparison, how many retailers are in IDS (skyway and street level)?

Unless they're planning a mini- regional mall here, "100" shops seems totally whack (so much so that I find it worthy of using that term). If that was truly in the cards, I feel like the media would be all over that by now...

This neighborhood has incredible capacity for additional residents, well beyond the 450 units proposed on these two blocks and 200 proposed over on the Washburn-McReavy site. Even if we do add 1,000-1,500 new residents to "downtown NE" over the next 5 years, I still think 1st Ave remains an inferior location for retail, and Hennepin will continue to be the primary retail corridor. 1st Ave:Lagoon :: Hennepin:Lake

I mean red 20 has something like 7 right? It's not exactly in the main drag, a little detached to the North. This is also the main retail centers for the U, I can see the entire area between 1st and central being extremely packed with retail.

If there's any place where more retail density would be demanded, it would be the bank blocks (and eventually the Surdyk's lot). You're right, Hennepin is the natural corridor for more retail. But we'll see what this project has.

Red has I believe 6 and they span 3 different streets. Unless they are planning on some kind of interior mall, by the time you get a few residential lobbies, a few areas set aside or cars to go in and out of the parking. You don't have that many feet of space left for stores to have over 20 to 30 at the most. Just count the businesses on Hennepin per block and then take that over to First Street for 2 block when both phases are complete. You would be lucky to get 10 to 15 store fronts with out the need for lobbies and driveways.

Hennepin is the natural retail corridor. If they make first a 2 way then that will lose a good portion of its drive by traffic count.

I mean red 20 has something like 7 right? It's not exactly in the main drag, a little detached to the North. This is also the main retail centers for the U, I can see the entire area between 1st and central being extremely packed with retail.

I don't know that this area ever was, has been, or will be the main "retail center" for the U. Dinkytown and Stadium Village (plus Seven Corners) kind of have a lock on that, don't they? I didn't ever venture into the area until I had a car at the U for the occasional stop at Lunds for better produce than Target could supply. Now I've lived nearby for three years and frequent places, but there just isn't really much of a college crowd. Take out some of the bars and Lunds (which, based on the parking lot and general foot traffic, is typically much more affluent than U students) and you've got very little, especially retail, to appeal to college students. Everything is a boutique.

Unless maybe they are talking really mini retail spaces...like Midtown Market-esque. Tiny news stand like spaces to lease to small vendors?

I was wondering if they were trying to cater to the artists in this area and having small studio spaces spread between more mainstream retail.

Is it possible they are talking about spaces for a farmers market???

All I can say is no,no, no to another multilevel retail development in this area. The area's strength and charm is the small, largely independent stores at street level that create a great pedestrian/shopping experience. Riverplace/St. Anthony Main previously failed at their attempts to creating an indoor/multilevel retail/entertainment destination (and they are located along the riverfront - which in my opinion is much more attractive than the site being developed).

My money is still on typo. If there was anything beyond your standard mixed-use building planned here, we'd have heard about it by now.

Same here. I think someone added an extra zero at the end and everyone in the media has simply reprinted the original number without questioning it. I think 10 shops is a good number of this development. Most projects that do have retail at street level only have 2-3.

If/when this project gets built, it will put a lot of redevelopment pressure on the two half blocks owned by US Bank and Wells Fargo. With a little more work, this part of town could become more appealing that Uptown.