Maverick - 100 Hennepin Avenue S

[sushisimo]

Take another look at the parcel. What else are you going to put on that narrow parking lot? A busy Whole Foods and Nightlife stumbling by and/or up to your door? I think that's some strange projection.

[Silophant]

Maaybe you have a point about the nightlife, but I'm not convinced that an upscale grocery store is a huge source of unruly pedestrian traffic. Certainly the downtown Lunds isn't.

[mattaudio]

It's not that complicated, we just need to ensure that townhomes aren't stuck being townhomes. At 10th/Marq, the townhome living space should be convertible to storefronts/livework. Here, the tuckunder garages should be able to be opened to the sidewalk, allowing for that space to be livework/microretail.

[Seth]

The townhomes are my favorite part about this project. I'd love to see more of that scale of development scattered throughout the city where it makes sense. That stretch of 1st is also relatively quiet in my experience. There might be some weekend nightlife noise, but most of this area is people heading back to their cars.

My only gripe is that as one of the first things people entering the city will see, there's fairly little interest happening on the main portion to greet you. 222 actually made a decent effort with their corners in that regard. Would be cool if this project did something similar.

[mister.shoes]

The townhomes on 1st don't bother me too much. That's a pretty sleepy street, relatively speaking, and they'll be just fine—especially if the live/work conversion Matt speaks of can be done.

The townhomes on Hennepin are a different story. Those seem out of place to me.

[sushisimo]

There isn't any aggressive nightlife in this area. These townhouses do have a 1st Ave. address, but the bar mess doesn't cross Washington really. Save maybe for The Tangiers (I've only been twice, seemed controlled enough). Otherwise, you have $50k wedding reception guests from Aria, Jetset and Marvel Bar patrons (not the wild type), and sushi diners from Origami.

[Nathan]

Wait, does everybody really like this? The first floor faking hennepin is wonderful, but from there and up it looks so confused. What is it trying to be the placement of materials and colors is so splotchy and crazy I'm just trying to figure out what they were thinking. The 1st Ave town homes are nice, they are aesthetically pleasing, though I am sad that little yard is leaving. Lots of my friends and I enjoy that space. Oh well, hopefully we can replace more green space in this area soon. Functionally I like this project, it's just definitely not the first thing I want to see coming over the bridge into downtown are some confused infill buildings. They make no statement whatsoever.

[go4guy]

1st is always quiet, so these townhomes are perfect there. And in my personal opinion, i would not have the garages be able to be live/work. Makes it much harder to convert those to condos from a lending perspective. I dont mind the townhomes on Hennepin either, as there isn't much activity down that far. I do wish the middle portion had a different design to break up the block even more. Maybe no balconies and a different material so it almost appears to be 3 different buildings as you are driving by.

[xandrex]

If they could tone down on some of the materials, I'd rather like this. The townhomes on Hennepin seem much more appropriate than they've been proposed elsewhere (looking at you Marquette & 10th) and the First Avenue ones look sleek.

It would be nice if they'd also make the First Street retail a bit more prominent. It seems like its hidden away from Hennepin. Given that the aren't isn't exactly hopping there during business hours, it would be nice to maximize exposure for people on both streets.

[John]

Wait, does everybody really like this? The first floor faking hennepin is wonderful, but from there and up it looks so confused. What is it trying to be the placement of materials and colors is so splotchy and crazy I'm just trying to figure out what they were thinking. The 1st Ave town homes are nice, they are aesthetically pleasing, though I am sad that little yard is leaving. Lots of my friends and I enjoy that space. Oh well, hopefully we can replace more green space in this area soon. Functionally I like this project, it's just definitely not the first thing I want to see coming over the bridge into downtown are some confused infill buildings. They make no statement whatsoever.

Read the CPC COW agenda from the previous page and they do address some of the issues you raise.

I do really like this proposal for what it is , but once again we are taking one of our most prominent downtown sites and turning it into what really should be a side street "infill" project. It's really a poor use ( and underutilization) of valuable downtown property that has civic importance. You see this over and over again in this town.

[twincitizen]

It's also a full city block that has been vacant for 50 years (Hennepin half cleared in '64), aside from the parking ramp (built '82).
So basically completely vacant for FIVE DECADES.

[sushisimo]

Yeah, this was the last chance to excite people coming across the bridge. The only thing left now is dancing showgirls and a tuxedoed guy handing out I ♥ MPLS pins and York peppermint patties to cars at the stoplight by the Federal Reserve.

[PhilmerPhil]

What percentage of people get their first impression of Minneapolis after crossing the Hennepin bridge?

[spearson]

Last chance to excite people? You have to be blind to not be visually excited coming across the bridge.. it's not like an entire skyline doesn't dominate your entire field of vision.

[amiller92]

What percentage of people get their first impression of Minneapolis after crossing the Hennepin bridge?

None? Given that to get to that point, you've been travelling through Minneapolis for awhile.

Or if you mean first impression of the downtown core, then, "not very many" as there are a lot of far more likely entry points for first time visitors, who likely come into town on the interstate or the train from the airport.

[Daboink]

It's also a full city block that has been vacant for 50 years (Hennepin half cleared in '64), aside from the parking ramp (built '82).
So basically completely vacant for FIVE DECADES.

Well let's be thankful that 50 years of empty is being filled in with mixed use and will be hiding that ramp. Had this been developed 15-20 years ago it likely would have served a single purpose and provided zero sense of place at the street level. Better late than never.

[Nathan]

What percentage of people get their first impression of Minneapolis after crossing the Hennepin bridge?

It's a gateway into the city no matter how snarky you want to be about it. I didn't say the "very first" time you come into the city, I said coming into the city. I personally drive over the bridge from that area a lot when I'm giving people tours of the city.

[John]

What percentage of people get their first impression of Minneapolis after crossing the Hennepin bridge?

It's a gateway into the city no matter how snarky you want to be about it. I didn't say the "very first" time you come into the city, I said coming into the city. I personally drive over the bridge from that area a lot when I'm giving people tours of the city.

Yes, It's most certainly a gateway and this is one of the best development sites downtown. This really should be more than yet another stick built Dinkytown apartment project. Something more on par with Latitude 45 would work better here.

[grant1simons2]

Updated Renderings

https://o.twimg.com/2/proxy.jpg?t=HBgta ... 2oTZLrcwJw

[bubzki2]

A crown or a cornice or ... something seems missing.