urbanMSP

Just being in the right email chains...

The city sent out a letter to Duval today. Social media is already buzzing about it.

https://twitter.com/VogeMN/status/558676651249520640
https://twitter.com/mplsgilyard/status/ ... 1159464960

I would have thought Doran's would have been the first to go. Well, this bites. My hope now is that UP gets the nod, because the others are very underwhelming.

Hope city staff is transparent about what they found lacking. Hope there was a dialog offered for Duval to show his cards as clear as business would let him.

The Journal article does a good job explaining. Seems legit - even though I'm sad.

It sounds like when the city asked for clarification Duval just did a bunch of hand waving that basically amounted to "no really look how awesome I am."

I'll be honest I'm a little sad it's out of the running but not as sad as I'd be if they city chose Duval and then he couldn't deliver, leaving an empty hole in the ground or a half built tower or something.

Also sad, but like FMP said, this is waaay too big of a thing for the city to take a risk on Duval if they aren't sure he can deliver.

They better go with United Properties now, though.

I'm not sure how well it resonated with you all, but I really liked the TV studio idea. I hope United Properties (assuming they are in the driver's seat now) picks up on it and brings in KARE11. As posted in the downtown general topics yesterday, a charter school has been announced for downtown at a different location. United had talked about possibly including a charter school in their proposal, so I'm guessing that's now off the table.

United just announced the sale of the under construction Be The Match building, which was a surprise. They were expected to hold that building long term, considering its proximity to the ballpark. Perhaps they are freeing up equity for this big project, should they be chosen.

36 stories is still pretty tall for this location, though it'd obviously be cool if they went a bit higher.

UP or bust at this point. It would be better to leave as a parking lot and rebid in the future than have Doran or Mortenson bland proposals built.

Ugh. I'm not a height-er at the core, but this felt like *the* spot that was worthy of setting a new standard. Whether Duval's proposal would've come to fruition, who knows, but I just cringe at the thought of underwhelming Nic-on-Fifth-like developments taking up some of the last remaining prime spots.

After reading the interview, and the proposal, I totally expected this outcome.

Yep - can't argue with finances. If Duval couldn't even prove that they have that, I wonder how quickly this tower would've been "downsized" to 30 stories after approval?

Good point!

This shows how little faith I now have in the city of Minneapolis from ever truly embracing the future. Same old ideas with no vision beyond the usual. What happened to dreaming, imagination, and creativity. While I understand reservations, it is truly a disappointment IMO. If anything, Duval gave more information regarding the team that they have put together and even offered to meet with the city to generate confidence. It is all very frustrating and sometimes there are WAY to many regulations regarding zoning/criteria in this city. Just my two cents.

Duval needed to "walk the talk" and he didn't. And there is no one to blame but himself. His tower proposal was really the only one that made an impact and reinforced Nicollet Mall as the center of energy downtown. Well now they have three nondescript mediocre proposals to choose from. Hooray for our city's planning process! Business as usual in these times. They should really just re-grout the tile pavement on Nicollet Mall and forget about wasting time and money to renovate it. It's rapidly losing it's stature as a unique focal point and destination.

This shows how little faith I now have in the city of Minneapolis from ever truly embracing the future.

Yes, it's all the city's fault for a developer who overpromised and then couldn't deliver. "Dreaming, imagination, and creativity" doesn't get steel and glass out of the ground.

They should really just re-grout the tile pavement on Nicollet Mall and forget about wasting time and money to renovate it.

I agree with this one sentence of your post at least.

Such drama... yes, the Duval proposal was exciting and cool, and it would have been wonderful it had gotten built, but this hardly constitutes the end of life as we know it. As far as maintaining the Mall's stature as a destination, how about more retail - that's what it needs more than anything

I am surprised about this - Duval has what appears to be major experience at Portman... but the details he left vague are a sign that he may not have been able to pull the development off... Minneapolis has had many developments that sat for years without ever getting off the drawing boards... but just the same - I wish I were excited about one of the other three proposals....