urbanMSP

Uptown is dead.

So many projects that were stuck in the backlog suddenly appear to be moving forward all at once. Posted it elsewhere today, but I think it's really going to be a banner year for Minneapolis housing developments.

And as always, more Snow Kreilich projects getting built is a good thing.

The amount of housing starts in the two core cities declined slightly but was still the third highest (after 2019 and 2020) in years. Minneapolis has seen a meaningful drop in housing starts in this period, while St. Paul has seen a big increase. But those trends may not continue into 2022, because...

I have an unprovable theory that people underrate the value of policy signals, beyond the value of a policy itself. Minneapolis has been drawing national attention to itself for years as a place that is encouraging denser development with less parking. I don't think that developers are flooding to t...

Go to the Desert Botanical Garden.

Lotta good hikes around Phoenix, Piestewa Peak is probably the one I'd recommend, since it's relatively centrally located and not especially strenuous, but gets you up high enough to have good views.

I shared on Twitter a thread about the latest 2021 housing starts data from HUD and what it says about development in the Twin Cities. HUD's numbers for the year are preliminary, and may still be revised, but now that we've got twelve months of data we can make some comparisons. Key Points: - 2021 w...

I thought MAK's comments were interesting. I am glad that she unequivocally supported the bikeway. To me, that is the most critical part of the plan for a couple reasons. 1 — There are always strong "just bike on an adjacent street" and "nobody bikes during the winter" voices, an...

If the Post Office ever vacates one of their riverfront buildings, my dream is that someone turns it into a really fancy spa/bathhouse. Sort of a Therme Vals operation. Not a museum, but a big attraction certainly. Imagine soaking in a big warm pool in an art deco room with windows out onto the Miss...

I'm gonna buy an origami kayak, take it on the Green Line, get off at West 21st Street Station, and launch at Cedar Lake beach.

With a lot of design concepts borrowed from the great Mapping Twin Cities effort by Kyril Negoda and team (the Tumblr is down, but you can still see their work here , I've been building my own MSP transit map from scratch. I'd love your feedback at this stage: https://i.imgur.com/SqLuFXU.jpg (Click ...

A 2027 opening date is really wild. I don't really get how it's possible. Civil construction is supposed to be complete in July of 2025. Then there would be at least eighteen months of systems construction and testing, with the line opening sometime in early 2027. This five year timeline, starting t...

Here's my official guess: Saturday, March 14th, 2026. Was suggested to me that the 34 month delay might include the testing period, and so this might open around August 8, 2025 instead. It's not clear to me from the memo, but I definitely hope so. I was reminded that some parts of the project, espe...

The memo says, "The Council and LMJV have agreed that an additional approximately 34 months is needed to complete the work..." I assume that means 34 months from the originally expected October 2022 completion date. That would mean completion in August 2025. With additional months for test...

More news from Robbinsdale: https://www.hometownsource.com/sun_post/community/robbinsdale-asks-for-no-build-option-in-ongoing-blue-line-studies/article_9b456304-7e14-11ec-8038-4bf7d0ee5705.html . Key quote from the City Manager: In the resolution, the Robbinsdale Council expressed its disapproval of...

Metro Transit recently put out their Zero Emission Bus (ZEB) plan, and it makes for some interesting light reading.

Minneapolis/STP Business Journals is reporting that a developer has purchased the former Industrial Lighting Supply building on N 2nd street (right across from the street from the new West Elm) and will be converting it to lofts and commercial space. https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2021...

As church attendance falls pretty much across the board, more and more churches are starting to re-assess their real estate. As tempting as it often is to sell the property off, I like it when churches often try to take an active role in redeveloping their property with an eye towards a social missi...

This has won an award from AIA New York: https://www.aiany.org/architecture/featured-projects/view/minneapolis-public-service-building/ More importantly for this forum's interests, the citation includes some glamour shots of the building. Photo credit is to Corey Gaffer. https://46u0j30o449zq8181dfu...

Minneapolis has a lot of adopted plans and policies resulting from years of work by the public, staff, and multiple cycles of elected officials that all point in the same direction: - The city has adopted a modal priority framework that puts bicycles above cars. - The city's adopted street design gu...

That rendering really says it all, huh?