365 Nicollet (334' - 30 stories)

[twincitizen]

It says in the file Opus submitted to the city 425-450

Let's back up a bit. What the city has considered at this point was an "Environmental Assessment Worksheet" (EAW), not an actual submittal of plans for the Planning Commission review/approval process. The EAW was necessary due to the large scope of the project (>375 units), to look at other factors besides your typical CPED zoning review. The EAW looks at traffic, water usage, other environmental factors, etc.

Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW): http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/www/gro ... 137997.pdf
EAW Background: http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/cped/planning/cped_eaw

I'm just guessing here, but my take on the higher height numbers (that don't match the floor counts) is that they went with a "maximum development scenario" for the purposes of the EAW. They aren't actually going to build that tall, but for the purposes of the EAW you go bigger, because why not? That way they don't have to re-submit the EAW if they for some reason choose to go up to that height. It seems pretty clear they are building a 30 or 32 story building with a height approximate to MBP's models/estimates (350-360').

P.S. Funny factoid I just realized - If nothing gets built on this block by 2019, it will have been vacant for longer than the Sheraton-Ritz stood on the lot (1961-1990).

[nickmgray]

I think it's quite odd that they are looking to have so little retail. No retail o nthe skyway and minimal retail on the street front. I know that current retail demand on this side of downtown is low, but that all changes with the two developments planned at this intersection. Once everythign goes in, we'll have hundreds if not thousands of new residents and office workers traveling in and out of this area every day. not sure why you would want to force them to walk 2-3 blocks to buy things.

[lordmoke]

CPC CoW Docs showing new orientation:
http://minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/pub ... 140652.pdf

[Silophant]

So... Opus's response to their previous downsized building leasing up extraordinarily quickly is to downsize their next building as well. That makes a certain amount of sense, I suppose.

[mnmike]

So, just like I was thinking from the more recent renderings we saw...seems like they did cut two floors. Well, I at least like that there will be no alley entrance off Nicollet...and presumably Phase 2 would have retail fronting Nic as well, so that would probably put more than 20k sq feet facing the mall.

Oh wait, scratch that. Looks like two 6k spaces maybe...so still 12k.

[grant1simons2]

What's in the bottom right corner? I know it's going to be pre-cast so I'm going to predict they're using something lighter than Nic on Fifth but the same kind.

[MNdible]

The architecture is nothing special, and there are obviously still some tweaks that could be made, but the big urban moves seem much better than the earlier versions that we'd seen.

[xandrex]

It still needs some fixing, but I actually kind of like it with the reorientation. Special? No. But not bad.

[twinkess]

First glance I actually really like the crazy balconies.

[mnmike]

PS, reading the report...at least it sounds like city planners are trying to get them to improve the design a bit. They call them out for not doing underground parking on this huge block, and on the blank wall on the north side just like on Nic on 5th. There are a lot of problems with the base of this, just like Nic on 5th...

[Mikey]

I do like the idea of putting a couple of units on each floor of the Nicollet side of the podium, plus the already mentioned lack of alley access from Nicollet.

Also, there appears to be a skyway-to-street lobby / connection in the edge between phase 1 & 2

[twincitizen]

The second floor includes a skyway along Nicollet Mall that will connect to the building south of the site
at 401 Nicollet Mall. This skyway will be accessible to the general public via an entrance on Nicollet
Mall. Residents of the building will access the skyway lobby via a shuttle elevator in the same location.
The balance of the second floor is parking. The applicant has shown potential for a skyway connection
across Nicollet Mall to the Central Library that could potentially be constructed with Phase 2. The
portion of the Central Library that was designed to accommodate a skyway connection across Nicollet
Mall does not match up with the footprint of the proposed building.

Staff has concerns about the amount of above grade parking and lack of activity along 4th Street and
Marquette Avenue. As designed, floors two through five will serve nearly entirely as a parking podium
along these frontages. Staff encourages the applicant to consider providing underground parking on this
large site to provide more activity above grade on this prominent site in the downtown core.
Preliminary plans for Phase 2 have not been provided but the plans submitted as part of the EAW
showed an above-grade parking podium for the future phase as well. This results in two similarly
designed buildings that incorporate above-grade parking facilities resulting in inactive floors that directly
abut the public streets and adversely impact the pedestrian realm. Thus far the applicant has not
produced any design alternatives to above-grade parking.

As previously noted, staff has concerns about the lack of activity along 4th Street and Marquette Avenue.
While there is a residential amenity space shown on the ground floor, the proposed use for this space
has not been identified. Staff encourages the applicant to provide a use in this location that will activate
the space in the evening hours and on the weekends. Placing the fitness center or other amenity that
receives frequent use in this location will provide important activity at this corner. Staff also encourages
the applicant to consider relocating the residential entrance to 4th Street. Currently the entrance is
facing Nicollet Mall but recessed to a location that would conflict with the existing bus stop on 4th Street.
Moving the residential entrance to the center of the building on 4th Street would provide more
activity along this frontage that will otherwise be nearly completely void of active use.

The building also does not appear to recognize the fact that there is significant investment along Marquette Avenue for
busses and a heavily-used transit stop directly in front of the building. Staff encourages the applicant to
pull the building back from Marquette Avenue or, at a minimum, show how it will function in relation to
the bus shelters.

This is far from a slam dunk to pass as is. Still needs a lot of work.

[HiawathaGuy]

I'm very encouraged to see this sort of depth in detail that the City is requesting to see from the developer.
I must say I do really like the turned buildings.

[Nathan]

I do like the new orientation, it gives Nic a good feel, but it makes me think that marq is just going to have a bunch of butts up to it.

[sanguinic]

The sameness of this project, the Xcel office building and the NIc on Fifth, all Opus projects, is not unlike the sameness of the three blocks further south on NIcollet between 8th and 11th (the US Bank Building and the Target buildings, all the work of Ryan) a consequence of having the same developer build on adjacent sites.

[HiawathaGuy]

The sameness of this project, the Xcel office building and the NIc on Fifth, all Opus projects, is not unlike the sameness of the three blocks further south on NIcollet between 8th and 11th (the US Bank Building and the Target buildings, all the work of Ryan) a consequence of having the same developer build on adjacent sites.

Say what you want - but at least from the renderings, the new building(s) do not resemble Nic on 5th. They are 'lighter' in feel, and I like them a lot. They feel more fun, IMO.

[TTT]

The second floor includes a skyway along Nicollet Mall that will connect to the building south of the site
at 401 Nicollet Mall. This skyway will be accessible to the general public via an entrance on Nicollet
Mall. Residents of the building will access the skyway lobby via a shuttle elevator in the same location.
The balance of the second floor is parking. The applicant has shown potential for a skyway connection
across Nicollet Mall to the Central Library that could potentially be constructed with Phase 2. The
portion of the Central Library that was designed to accommodate a skyway connection across Nicollet
Mall does not match up with the footprint of the proposed building.

Staff has concerns about the amount of above grade parking and lack of activity along 4th Street and
Marquette Avenue. As designed, floors two through five will serve nearly entirely as a parking podium
along these frontages. Staff encourages the applicant to consider providing underground parking on this
large site to provide more activity above grade on this prominent site in the downtown core.
Preliminary plans for Phase 2 have not been provided but the plans submitted as part of the EAW
showed an above-grade parking podium for the future phase as well. This results in two similarly
designed buildings that incorporate above-grade parking facilities resulting in inactive floors that directly
abut the public streets and adversely impact the pedestrian realm. Thus far the applicant has not
produced any design alternatives to above-grade parking.

As previously noted, staff has concerns about the lack of activity along 4th Street and Marquette Avenue.
While there is a residential amenity space shown on the ground floor, the proposed use for this space
has not been identified. Staff encourages the applicant to provide a use in this location that will activate
the space in the evening hours and on the weekends. Placing the fitness center or other amenity that
receives frequent use in this location will provide important activity at this corner. Staff also encourages
the applicant to consider relocating the residential entrance to 4th Street. Currently the entrance is
facing Nicollet Mall but recessed to a location that would conflict with the existing bus stop on 4th Street.
Moving the residential entrance to the center of the building on 4th Street would provide more
activity along this frontage that will otherwise be nearly completely void of active use.

The building also does not appear to recognize the fact that there is significant investment along Marquette Avenue for
busses and a heavily-used transit stop directly in front of the building. Staff encourages the applicant to
pull the building back from Marquette Avenue or, at a minimum, show how it will function in relation to
the bus shelters.

This is far from a slam dunk to pass as is. Still needs a lot of work.

Is there any teeth to the city requesting any of these changes they're encouraging them to make?

[twincitizen]

Regarding our collective "only 12,000 square feet of retail" comments/complaints (actually just 6,000 or so in this half), it does appear that they are actually managing to cover the entire Nicollet frontage with retail, minus the "alley" and the two small entrances that lead up to the skyway corridor and to the residential entrance.

If they follow staff's suggestion and move the residential entrance away from the corner of Nic & 4th (pulling it further down 4th) that would allow the retail area to wrap the corner, allowing a slight increase in total space. For the record, I 100% support not having any retail on the skyway level. But for there to not be any retail space on Marquette, or 4th, even just wrapping the corner, is pretty crappy. They're basically proposing two large-format restaurants, or one large restaurant and a medium-ish sized chain retailer not yet represented downtown.

[Architorture]

The changed orientation is a great improvement in regard to the urban context and it's relationship to the library. This looks to be going in the right direction.

[Silophant]

Why does the alley open up to Nicollet at all? There won't be vehicle access there, so why not put another retail space or even a pocket park or something?