urbanMSP

I'm for that.

So, and idea when we will get some more information about the Macy's redevelopment? Maybe in a month or two or are we all just guessing?

Now that Macy's decade-and-change occupation of 700 Nicollet is (finally) over, can't we go back to referring to the building by its rightful name? After all, it was Dayton's for nearly a century.

Sadly Macy's owns the retail name Dayton now... and Marshall Fields and Hudsons... If (when?) Macy's goes out of business the name might then become available ...would be awesome to bring that back... I always thought the two sons of Governor Dayton who created "Askov Finlayson" and who are really pioneers in what retail is becoming should have taken over the retail part of the building...

How can their ownership of a trademark prevent the public from calling a historic landmark (which they now sold off) by its historic name?

My mom still calls it the Dayton's building to this day. Telling her "There's no longer a Dayton's there" she'll just tell you "There's no Macy's there either."

Macy's owning the trademark "Dayton's" may prevent the new building owners from calling it the Dayton's building, but not the public.

Trademarks mean no signage, no marketing, no branding, no promotional materials.... nothing... we can cll if Daytona if we want... but it has no value, no legal standing.... nothing moving forward.... Macy's owns it... when Bruce Dayton (who died last year) created a book story chain decades ago... he couldn't use the Dayton name... he ended up calling it B. Dalton..... one letter way from Bruce Dayton..... but all the difference in the world.

I thought he was just saying informally, on here, rename the thread, kind of "Let's call it the Former Dayton's Building." I don't think anyone is asking for signage or marketing... come on guys. Why must it always be taken over the cliff if someone suggests something???

Trademarks mean no signage, no marketing, no branding, no promotional materials.... nothing... we can cll if Daytona if we want... but it has no value, no legal standing.... nothing moving forward.... Macy's owns it... when Bruce Dayton (who died last year) created a book story chain decades ago... he couldn't use the Dayton name... he ended up calling it B. Dalton..... one letter way from Bruce Dayton..... but all the difference in the world.

Trademarks always have a scope (quick search of the PTO database shows something like 221 trademarks containing the word "Dayton" - there's a largish city with that name after all).

I didn't specifically see one owned by Macy's, but I'm no expert at searching (or really at trademark at all), but what can be done to call the building Dayton's depends entirely on the scope of what Macy's owns. It could be as narrow as use of that name for department stores, or it could be broader.

My gut says if they were turning into offices or housing and calling it Dayton's, they could probably get away with it. If it's going to have retail, maybe not.

Also, if they aren't terrible corporate citizens and understood that the name Dayton's has absolutely no value to them and has a lot of value to the City of Minneapolis, perhaps they'd just not be dicks about it.

I wan sent taking anything over the cliff... I worked for Target Corp in Marketing. Any development that is going to have retail will want to market it... problem is that the Dayton name is owned by Macy's. We can informally call it what we want... I still call it the Dayton building... but - all Dayton heirs cannot use their name in a retail operation... it sucks but it is just the way it is. For me, I hope that they restore the building and make it a spactacular retail and food hall space. I'm not trying to be a downer - these issues are decided by businesses not people unfortunately.

The Daytons trademark is owned by Macy's holding company.

I think you're missing the point. The idea was simply that this building is no longer affiliated with Macy's, so there's no reason we need to refer to it as "the former Macy's building."

We should call it "the former Marshal Fields building," wasn't it that for about 5 minutes a while ago?

We should call it "the former Marshal Fields building," wasn't it that for about 5 minutes a while ago?

Yes it was:

Sadly Macy's owns the retail name Dayton now... and Marshall Fields and Hudsons... If (when?) Macy's goes out of business the name might then become available ...would be awesome to bring that back... I always thought the two sons of Governor Dayton who created "Askov Finlayson" and who are really pioneers in what retail is becoming should have taken over the retail part of the building...

The name "Dayton's" is owned by the Target Corporation, as is "Hudson's".

Daytons.com
Hudsons.com

both redirect to Target.com. I have heard from several people that you can still see traces of the old name, in the form of "DHC" (Dayton Hudson Corporation) in some of the systems, particularly when you log in to your computer.

Dreaming: Perhaps it would be fitting for the Target Corporation to lease that space they used to own for their offices. It would be a nice connection to the company's roots.

Has anyone else noticed that they changed some of the ground floor window displays recently? Could something be happening in the next few months before a certain large event this winter????

Hopefully they do something with the building. Walking through it on the skyway level it smells and feels like an attic. Given it's location on the mall and the caliber it still holds in Downtown Minneapolis I'm sure they'll use it for something.

Walking through it on the skyway level it smells and feels like an attic.

Fun fact: in the 1970s, they used to have a department called "Grandma's Attic".

I was walking through on the second floor this morning and there were several men checking in with a security guard at the main elevators. They had, what appeared to be, large drawings or some sort of schematics under their arms as they entered. Sorry, not much info, just sharing what I saw.

Man I really miss that 12th floor lunchroom. I can't find a good replacement for their buffalo chicken sandwich with delicious fries.

I really hope they activate this space for the Super Bowl. It seems like it'll be easy to set up some temporary stuff at least on the ground and skyway levels given that Macy's left them with open floor space.