urbanMSP

I believe that was talked about under Hotel news. YEs the apartment deal fell thru and they are now looking at a hotel.

I expect this hotel project to heat up soon..From what I hear, it's going to be fancy; rival the Westin (F&M Bank) and W Foshay for best historic renovation to hotel. Not sure of the brand though.

There's great demand for a high-end hotel with easy access to Barfly.

There's great demand for a high-end hotel with easy access to Barfly.

The kids love dubstep.

There's great demand for a high-end hotel with easy access to Barfly.

The kids love dubstep.

Perfect.

Looks like they want some money, but are proceeding with the hotel plan:

Plymouth Building (12 S. 6th Street)
Projected Metropolitan Council TBRA Request: $500,000
Projected Hennepin County ERF Request: $350,000
The developers, Plymouth Building Holdings LLC and Heartland Realty Investors, intend to renovate and restore this 101-year-old, 262,558 square foot commercial/office building (on a 0.85 acre site) and convert it into a hotel, possibly with associated commercial space on the main (street-level) floor. The total project development cost has yet to be determined. Grant funds, if awarded, will be used primarily for the abatement of asbestos and lead-based paint. A City ‘Trillion BTU’ loan of $150,000 for energy efficiency improvements to commercial properties will be repaid in full at closing and will be available for re-lending through the City’s small business loan programs. The Plymouth Building site is zoned B4-2 with the Downtown Parking Overlay. It is classified as a hotel with commercial uses, which is a permitted/conditional use in that district. In general, the project design is supportable, but there may be changes recommended by staff during the public hearing review and approval process. The site is located in/on the Downtown Growth Center, in a Transit Station Area, and along the Hennepin Commercial Corridor as identified in The Minneapolis Plan for Sustainable Growth. The future land use map in The Minneapolis Plan for Sustainable Growth designates the site as Commercial, which generally supports hospitality uses. A hotel with ground-floor commercial uses would be an appropriate use along this stretch of Hennepin Avenue.

I'm really excited to see this great building transformed into a new hotel. Will bring in a new layer of people and activity to Hennepin Ave right in the downtown core. My hunch is the area around it ( including Block E and the vacant lots along Hennepin to the north) are becoming more desirable and closer to being redeveloped. It will be fun to watch!

Especially with a light rail stop so close. Funny how things come full circle. Back in the day there were several grand old hotels located along Hennepin closer to the old gateway area.

I'm glad to hear that there are plans to reuse this building. It's had a major presence on Hennepin ave for ages. Is it too much to ask for them to restore the original facade? The 1930's renovation was very ham-fisted, and quite honestly the present exterior is no thing of beauty. Unfortunately, it seems like really heroic restoration efforts are not as common in Minneapolis as in other cities.

Part of its designation relies on the fact that the buildings curtain wall system allowed portions of the facade to be removed and replaced.

Yeah, isn't this historic in part because of the innovative engineering that went into it?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

Part of its designation relies on the fact that the buildings curtain wall system allowed portions of the facade to be removed and replaced.

Yeah, I read that report, but I think it was a bit puffed up. You can do that kind of remodeling to any building - basically just knocking off applied ornament.

Plymouth Building to be converted into a Conrad Hotel.
http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/n ... lding.html

That is great news! I am sure they will snag a lot of business from the Mayo across the street...even with the Graves 601 attached.

How many high end hotels can we handle before there is a glut, if there is not already one.

This market was WAAAAY behind with high end hotels...it is just now catching up. We didn't really have any upper upscale brands at all 15 years ago...

Sweet. A Conrad is great news.

Wow, nice. It's almost hard to keep up with all the good projects and proposals going on downtown.

I had the same thought earlier. As far as development goes, the seemingly endless stream of good news coming out of downtown Minneapolis is a surprise to everyone. Obviously there's been an apartment boom underway for a couple of years now, but the recent announcements about developing the Strib blocks, air rights on the parking ramp, Target Center and Block E renovations, etc. are all very exciting. The Green Line and The Interchange open in just a few months. Xcel and Be The Match will start work on their new HQ buildings. Dock Street Phase 2 should be announced soon, and Hines' North Loop office building proposal can't be far behind.

If we can get some additional sales tax revenue for transit this legislative session, I'd expect the hits to keep on coming. 2 more LRT lines, BRT, streetcar, all converging will put an exclamation point on downtown Minneapolis as the thriving heart of our metro area. However, without more transit, and a lot of it, and soon, it will eventually put a damper on further downtown development because we will have a greater need for parking (which not only drives up development costs, but takes up entire blocks of downtown real estate).

/off-topic

So obviously the building looks ok as is, but does anyone think that with the money of a hotel chain like this behind it, we might see a renovation of the ornate ceramic detail on the building? it would certainly fit the brand...