urbanMSP

I saw the Ritz all the time when I went to the library (in the left in that photo for the younger folks) in the 80's. They shut down the hotel and soon cleared the site to make way for big developments like IDS II. And there you have it. A few decades of sitting empty.

https://www.google.com/search?q=vdara+p ... B319%3B450

What if was something like Vdara in Los Vegas! That would be iconic indeed.

In a similar vein to Vdara: the JW Marriott in Indianapolis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JW_Marriott_Indianapolis

http://www.jwindy.com/gallery

Aaaand back on topic, article from F & C with a lot of definite information:
http://finance-commerce.com/2013/12/min ... n-project/

Wells is going to sign off regardless of and likely before the outcome of the park portion of the suit. All land sales will close by the 27th. Groundbreaking is planned for April, with occupancy starting in late 2015, full completion by the first quarter 2016.

I love that name....Mel Dickstein...

So do you suppose - because of the stadium's design - there will be pressure to limit the heights of potential new buildings along the 5th street side of the park? I'm sure the Vikings would fight against having their 90-foot glass doors looking toward a tall pile of balconies.

What if they charged those balconies for tickets? Boom, 1000 new "seats" to sell tickets to.

With regard to the street running through the middle of the park, I can’t help but wonder if this was just a case of people (the developer/city/county/etc) not talking to each other at all. When they released the renderings for the Ryan project and the stadium within a couple weeks of each other and each didn’t include the other’s project, it really seemed like that had happened. And so now, to maybe obscure that a bit, we’re just throwing the street through the middle of it and moving on.

Unsolicited opinion #4,519: What they could do is scrap the block with the piddly six story apartment building and the two-thirds block ‘o park, and do something like a building wrapping around a public square on the corner of Portland and 4th Street that faces the remaining, full-block park and the Wells Fargo buildings. Throw some restaurants or something else active down there (fountain?) and call it a day.

While we're throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks, how about a man-made water feature, like a pond/lake? I suggest having that feature take up the majority of the block furthest West, or where the apartments that face the park are proposed......give the bridge and tunnel folks somewhere to run around over their lunch break.

This is really off topic but what happened to the Sheraton ritz?

https://forum.streets.mn/viewtopic.php?f ... 340#p41505

And if you go through slide 130, ultimately it was probably torn down for a pipe dream.

I'm done straying off topic.

how about a man-made water feature, like a pond/lake?

Haven't some of the renderings showed a pond of some sort? (Even though of course the money only exists for sod and a few trees)

I agree, this would be nice. Part of the appeal of Government Center plaza on summer days is the water, and that side of the tower is very much an un-natural landscape. Same for Peavey once its restored. It would be great to have skating there in the winter, too.

But of course this application would not be usable square footage for tailgating...

I HOPE they aren't planning to use this park for tailgating! There are plenty of lots on which to do so, or the Vikings portion of the plaza (the third block closest to the stadium).

I think it's pretty clear that tailgating is exactly what the Vikings hope to use that park for. Why else would it be so imperative to knock down the Strib building, put nothing but grass on top of an engineered-to-hold-a-building underground parking ramp at the LRT station, and close down Park and Portland? The Vikings didn't get their acres of parking lot in Arden Hills for tailgating, so they're going to do it here.

yeah they clearly show game day tailgating scenarios in the renderings of the park.

I doubt there will be space for people to pull up their gaudy purple painted campers. But there's no doubt it will be used for a corporatized "tailgating experience" managed by the Vikings.

Of course, if that tailgating/railgating revenue was directed towards park programming for the rest of the year rather than going to the Vikings organization, that would be neighborly of them....

I think it's pretty clear that tailgating is exactly what the Vikings hope to use that park for. Why else would it be so imperative to knock down the Strib building, put nothing but grass on top of an engineered-to-hold-a-building underground parking ramp at the LRT station, and close down Park and Portland? The Vikings didn't get their acres of parking lot in Arden Hills for tailgating, so they're going to do it here.

At the modest price of a one-time, $1m donation. If the park is a slam-dunk the other 357 days a year, then I won't complain too much. But if the Vikings' needs influence it too much to be open/grassy/whatever just for the sake of a tailgate party and the park fails in part due to design, I'll be frustrated.

Unsolicited opinion #4,519: What they could do is scrap the block with the piddly six story apartment building and the two-thirds block ‘o park, and do something like a building wrapping around a public square on the corner of Portland and 4th Street that faces the remaining, full-block park and the Wells Fargo buildings. Throw some restaurants or something else active down there (fountain?) and call it a day.

I totally agree, but this makes too much sense.

On topic, Wells Fargo has FINALLY publicly confirmed full commitment:
http://www.startribune.com/business/236591111.html

But for real, when will this rendering be updated to show the park split into three separate ones?

Here is one...kind of.

http://blogs.mprnews.org/stadium-watch/