urbanMSP

Work is progressing here nicely although its is a very hard spot to get a look at. No pictures but I did see some concrete pouring, possibly working on the foundation. The existing building has basically been entirely gutted and boarded up for renovation.

Forgot this one last time around. While I'm always pro-getting rid of some parking lot, this does keep quite a bit of the parking lot on the Chicago side.

Leaves room for future development, instead of super blocks!

Yeah, it's owned by someone else... there is definitely a patchwork of ownership over there. If the large lot south of Washington goes one way it will leave that tiny corner lot all by itself so sad.

This one's up to the third story now. Stick after the first floor, of course. This is already doing a great job of psychologically cutting into the parking lot ocean though.

I hope this doesn't get us too off-topic, but does anyone know if there are plans to extend Norm McGrew Pl through to Washington to break up the superblock? Seems like a great idea and would give the building at 903 Washington a very nice curbside plaza/patio for the restaurant there in exchange for parked cars that come right up to the building.

http://goo.gl/maps/ph7V7

There are plans to connect Norm McGrew to Washington in that such a connection is called for in an adopted city plan:

http://www.minneapolismn.gov/cped/plann ... res_fig5_2

But the implementation section of that plan is even more weak and vague than usual, and I'm not aware of any effort on anyone's part to lift their smallest finger to make this even close to happening. We'll have to wait and see if Zygi's benevolence extends to actual streetscape improvements instead of just tailgating space.

Hopefully that old diagonal MILW ROW is preserved for something! Even just open space, it would be cool to connect to Washington. Or maybe a new streetcar connecting from the U to Washington Ave

...but didn't you just post a map recently where you connected 3rd Street back together again? Actually, that would have some implications for the almost-brand-new Hiawatha bike trail extension...

He did. And I ran with it in Photoshop. I made use of that old ROW and took the Hiawatha bike trail into consideration.

I don't think this would interfere with 3rd, since it would just be a streetcar paralleling the bike trail on the proposed map. Another option for a streetcar connection could also be to follow the LRT ROW to midway between Chicago and Norm McGrew, where it could turn north on Chicago and then west on Washington. Here's my streetcar idea, which could use a little tweaking now that I thought up that interchange and the West Bank Circle idea: http://goo.gl/maps/B2Q72

...

Emanuel Housing under construction by spectre 000, on Flickr


Emanuel Housing under construction by spectre 000, on Flickr

I was over here as tailgating was in full swing. Lots of mutants.

A couple years ago I was near the dome during a tailgating bonanza in 20 below........a whole group in purple camoflage snowmobile suits!!

Pic from yesterday: http://d.pr/i/AvAY
I had a better shot but the app crashed and it was too cold to keep trying...

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Looks like the end of the new structure is designed to tolerate another building attached to or very close to the west end. Maybe that extra parking lot (a separate parcel) may go away someday after all.

IMG_2943 by UrbanMSP, on Flickr

Picture from this morning.