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Re: New City of Minneapolis Office Building

Posted: October 6th, 2017, 1:22 pm
by SurlyLHT
I'm not sure how tall the ramp is. I just tried counting the floors and it may be up to 8. Thus, I don't quite see what this building is going to add if it is 7-10 stories. Retail space on the ground level and rerouting the skyway through the new building so that we have a climate-controlled connection would be nice however.

Re: New City of Minneapolis Office Building

Posted: October 6th, 2017, 2:37 pm
by grant1simons2
Well for one, a city isn't all about height. Not having cars nearly hitting pedestrians all day is a plus. As is a more active street front. And a lot of other aspects. The height of the new building, even at 7 stories, will surpass the height of the ramp. Office spaces need more height.

Re: New City of Minneapolis Office Building

Posted: October 6th, 2017, 3:13 pm
by SurlyLHT
Unless the city purposefully makes strides we'll most likely end up with a building that only marginally better than the ramp. The project isn't going to be large enough to significantly affect the area and at the same time it's boxed in by the other ramp, surrounding buildings and a busy street. It'll be great if it could interact with the plaza but there is an entrance to a parking ramp along and etc. separating the two.

Re: New City of Minneapolis Office Building

Posted: October 6th, 2017, 3:37 pm
by Nathan
The ramp is definitely a great example of post modern architectural detail. The geometrics and color are really fantastic. I'm torn because I also really enjoy that ramp and have photographed it many times... but hate the single use structure that it represents. I definitely would gave preferred the other ramp on the block to have been demolished if half of the block has to remain parking.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BE4tpTOg0j4/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BE4t7JRA0kr/

Re: New City of Minneapolis Office Building

Posted: October 6th, 2017, 3:48 pm
by amiller92
Unless the city purposefully makes strides we'll most likely end up with a building that only marginally better than the ramp.
The building will have people in it and won't have cars going in and out all the time. That's more than marginally better.

Re: New City of Minneapolis Office Building

Posted: October 6th, 2017, 4:10 pm
by PhilmerPhil
That parking ramp has also been a de facto indoor skatepark since at least the 90s. It has really unique terrain on the ground floor that can't really be found elsewhere in the city, and security has been very lax about people using the space in such a manner. Skaters have been congregating there on rainy nights, early spring weekends when the ground is still wet outside, or just as a warm up spot for a downtown skate session on a regular summer evening for decades. It'll be sad for the skate community to lose that sheltered downtown gathering space.

I realize this means little to 99.9999% of the population, but just felt the need to share my experience with the ramp.

Re: New City of Minneapolis Office Building

Posted: October 6th, 2017, 5:59 pm
by karlshea
I'm not a skater but I always really enjoyed hearing them in there every time I walked by. Even as a layperson I could see it would be fun to skate on.

Re: New City of Minneapolis Office Building

Posted: October 6th, 2017, 9:35 pm
by mattaudio
It may be 99.9% parking, but it is a Minneapolis Mixed Use Parking Ramp! That means it has a bail bond office tucked into one corner of the ground level.

Re: New City of Minneapolis Office Building

Posted: December 5th, 2017, 7:01 pm
by bapster2006
250-300k sq ft. 9-10 stories.
Public design meeting next Monday 5pm Mill City Museum.
Demolition of parking ramp in June.

Re: New City of Minneapolis Office Building

Posted: December 5th, 2017, 7:07 pm
by Silophant
Update: the closing on the ramp swap is in two weeks, and demo of the ramp is scheduled for June.
There's an public meeting about it at the Mill City Museum next Monday. Doors at 5, presentation at 5:30. There will be design concepts there. Tidbits they have so far:
- 9-10 stories, 250-300ksf
- internal skyway connection replacing the outdoor section in the existing ramp, with a obvious public street connection at the 5th St corner.
- Publicly reservable meeting rooms and a retail space on the first floor.


Edit: Hi, bapster!

Re: New City of Minneapolis Office Building

Posted: December 5th, 2017, 7:20 pm
by Anondson
9-10... eh, better than the 5-story Thrivant Lot across the street. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I hope serious thoughtful design is put into the obviousness of the skyway public entrance, needs to be an example to other building owners for wayfinding the skyway from the street.

Since this will have a facing towards the government plaza, I would like to see the side facing the plaza be very complementary.

Re: New City of Minneapolis Office Building

Posted: December 5th, 2017, 7:43 pm
by Silophant
I'm optimistic on that score. The architect presenting mentioned a few times that the city is focused on it being a 50-100 year asset, and being connected to the city and the public realm.

Re: New City of Minneapolis Office Building

Posted: December 11th, 2017, 9:51 am
by Silophant
Reminder, the community meeting for this is tonight!

5pm at the Mill City Museum. Presentation starts at 5:30.

Re: New City of Minneapolis Office Building

Posted: December 11th, 2017, 8:53 pm
by Silophant
Mostly a public input meeting tonight, but they did have some preliminary plans to share:

Ground Level layout:
Image

Skyway Level layout:
Image

And a massing image that I took a remarkably blurry pic of:
Image

Re: New City of Minneapolis Office Building

Posted: December 11th, 2017, 9:30 pm
by grant1simons2
Forgot that Henning Larsen is a part of this project. That firm is 100% unf

Re: New City of Minneapolis Office Building

Posted: December 11th, 2017, 10:37 pm
by Silophant
Yeah, there were several pictures of Harpa during the presentation. Not that the city has pre-financial-crash Iceland money, but I'm confident that this'll be an impressive building.

Re: New City of Minneapolis Office Building

Posted: December 11th, 2017, 10:50 pm
by seanrichardryan
MPD will have a presence in this building?

Re: New City of Minneapolis Office Building

Posted: December 12th, 2017, 10:05 am
by amiller92
That firm is 100% unf
Okay, I'm old so you're going to have to help me out here. I'm taking from context that this is good, but I don't have any idea what it actually means.

Re: New City of Minneapolis Office Building

Posted: December 12th, 2017, 10:35 am
by SurlyLHT
It's interesting that City Hall won't have a great skyway connection to the new building. It'll be much quicker to get between the two by walking outdoors.

Re: New City of Minneapolis Office Building

Posted: December 12th, 2017, 10:36 am
by MN Fats
Were you expecting a new tunnel connection?