urbanMSP

This tower is better designed than the Gateway. Kudos to Alatus—they are clearly the best developer in town.

That's apples and oranges. A truly mixed use tower like the Gateway is worlds more complicated than a simple apartment building.

I'm talking about the design. I understand that mixed-use projects are more complicated—that doesn't excuse them of poor composition.

Kudos to Alatus—they are clearly the best developer in town.

Definitely agree.

I'm talking about the design. I understand that mixed-use projects are more complicated—that doesn't excuse them of poor composition.

But those two things (design and composition) are very much related to the challenges of a mixed use project. The biggest difficulty is the vastly different floorplate requirements between the three major users. Add to that the need for completely segregated elevator cores for each major user. And while I think the plinth of the Gateway project is its biggest weakness, a review of the floor plans there show the astonishing number of competing and segregated users they are trying to accommodate there.

Don't get me wrong, I quite like the elegance of the Alatus project. But it's much easier to design a clean, unified design when you're starting with an extruded apartment floor plate.

True. It is easier.

Just to chime in here, these are all well and good points, but wanted to point out that design is not only driven by functionality but also economics. In practice, you should be realizing better economic yields with mixed-use than a single-use structure (assuming (1) it wasn't all residential in the first place, at this moment in time, and that (2) you started with essentially an office product/building in Minneapolis) and those economic yields should outpace the cost of the inherit complexity of the mixed-uses in the building that you are discussing. So, there should be something leftover to put into/onto the building to make it the Gateway project, regardless of the design driven by the functionality of the floorplates and complexity. But hey, we're not the developer on this one - I know this is a terribly complex project, obviously from the drawings and also from what I have heard in the grapevine. I hope that UP can pull it all together.

^^Having the stable and wealthy firm RBC sign on as anchor office tenant for The Gateway Project was a huge step in getting that project to move forward. I give UP a lot of credit for their perseverance in working out such a great proposal for this complicated site.

Does anyone remember when this was to break ground? I went through the posts and wasn't able to find my needle in a haystack. I recall reading that it was this time of the year. I live nearby and have been waiting to see barriers go up.

Does anyone remember when this was to break ground? I went through the posts and wasn't able to find my needle in a haystack. I recall reading that it was this time of the year. I live nearby and have been waiting to see barriers go up.

Does anyone know what's up with this one? It's sat quiet for a very long while.

I'm starting to get concerned that this was a backup project in case 200 Central fell through, and now that that's moving along, this won't.

Seems like an awful lot of money to spend on a 'back-up project'

I would second that....

I would second that....

Thanks for the coy answer. So just when does the construction begin

This spring? I’m so ready to see this start.

Alatus has informed me this project will break ground the first part of 2020. The design is the same. They have ran into cost and labor shortage issues.

Labor shortage getting real. I’ve been turned away by a good dozen contractors for a small garage addition. Different level of construction but still...

Follow the Benjamins right?

Alatus seems to have a knack for getting into projects it can’t move ahead. This one they claim a labor shortage for, the Alia Tower lost its financial partner and the monster project in Arden Hills is caught up in the battle between Ramsey County and the locals. Are they going to be able to move anything forward? They have good looking designs for this project and Alia, but good looking designs that can’t get built is a sad situation.

Any rumors out there on this or Alia?