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Re: IDS Center

Posted: August 29th, 2014, 3:38 pm
by Wedgeguy
The Foshay and the Rand towers could be said to do the same thing 80 years ago too. But you have to build up to keep compactness and density.

Re: IDS Center

Posted: August 31st, 2014, 12:37 am
by Smoothuser
The IDS seems like a more jarring change. There were already some comparably tall buildings when the Foshay was completed.

https://i.imgur.com/XmiuMHM.jpg
Some sources say this is 1945, others 1930. I don't know how much the skyline changed between those years though. Maybe for its time the Foshay was a big change.

Compared to this: https://i.imgur.com/Ct20W8Q.jpg or this: https://i.imgur.com/o9qPfYt.jpg (some forced perspective here) the IDS looks so futuristic in that 70's artistic vision of the future. I suppose with a newer design, the glass stands out that much more against the concrete. http://image.hclib.org/mplsphotos/Jpegs/M4643.jpg

Re: IDS Center

Posted: August 31st, 2014, 1:53 pm
by TroyGBiv
The Foshay was really big news being the tallest building between Chicago and the West Coast and the IDS was downtown... stood out from every point of view... in every way... modern, glass, faceted curtain wall. It was a symbol of modern thinking here, it meant that we were looking forward. I know that sounds kind of silly - but it was the time of Mary Tyler Moore and modernist thinking. We honestly embraced progressiveness. The IDS still faced criticism for being too modern and sticking out from the downtown. But that building hasn't changed one bit and it still looks great and people now love it (thanks to City Center) ... I think that this city is ready to grab that kind of idealism again...

Re: IDS Center

Posted: August 31st, 2014, 3:26 pm
by Wedgeguy
The leadership of the Dayton Bros is missing today. I feel there is no wanting to be the best city in the midwest by our leaders, even though they say the words. They do not have the drive to follow thru and get major accomplishments done. I will say what is going on in DTE is a major step in the right direction. Rybek finally did the leadership things to get the DTE done. But there has to be a better comprehensive plan and true leaders to get things moving and not bogged down with indecision. I feel we are now coming out of 20 years of indecision by city and business leaders. The times are a changing. Workers want to be downtown. We have to be ready to work to make that happen and not let it slip away for another 15-20 years.

The IDS is a statement of what truly great design is and how it can change a city. It has stood the test of time and has fared much better than office towers that were built after it. Let's hope Opus can show some of that Drive and have a truly fantastic and functional building that will become the centerpiece to the north end of the DT core and a gateway from the North Loop

Re: IDS Center

Posted: August 31st, 2014, 4:40 pm
by John
Let's hope Opus can show some of that Drive and have a truly fantastic and functional building that will become the centerpiece to the north end of the DT core and a gateway from the North Loop
Yes, The Ritz Block could become a major placemaker that connects the renovated Nicollet Mall with the development boom going on along the Washington Ave corridor from DTE to The North Loop. An amazing and once in a lifetime opportunity.

Re: IDS Center

Posted: August 31st, 2014, 7:21 pm
by Minneboy
The leadership of the Dayton Bros is missing today. I feel there is no wanting to be the best city in the midwest by our leaders, even though they say the words. They do not have the drive to follow thru and get major accomplishments done. I will say what is going on in DTE is a major step in the right direction. Rybek finally did the leadership things to get the DTE done. But there has to be a better comprehensive plan and true leaders to get things moving and not bogged down with indecision. I feel we are now coming out of 20 years of indecision by city and business leaders. The times are a changing. Workers want to be downtown. We have to be ready to work to make that happen and not let it slip away for another 15-20 years.

The IDS is a statement of what truly great design is and how it can change a city. It has stood the test of time and has fared much better than office towers that were built after it. Let's hope Opus can show some of that Drive and have a truly fantastic and functional building that will become the centerpiece to the north end of the DT core and a gateway from the North Loop
A lot has changed since 1974. It was around that time when MN was on the cover of TIME as being the best. The Twin Cities demographics have changed a lot especially with the burbs having expanded as they have and gotten more conservative with public money as have many businesses.

Re: IDS Center

Posted: August 31st, 2014, 7:30 pm
by TroyGBiv
It would be great to have that excitement back - to want to make big statements and to have home town pride. But now so many corporations are not married to any place...

Re: IDS Center

Posted: August 31st, 2014, 7:36 pm
by Anondson
That, and so many corporations are marrying themselves to their suburban places and losing any link to the public institutions in the core.

Re: IDS Center

Posted: September 1st, 2014, 3:29 am
by aeisenberg
I should just ignore these, posts, but:
The leadership of the Dayton Bros is missing today. I feel there is no wanting to be the best city in the midwest by our leaders, even though they say the words. They do not have the drive to follow thru and get major accomplishments done.


??? Follow-thru with examples, please.
I will say what is going on in DTE is a major step in the right direction.
Is DTE somehow not a major bleeping accomplishment?
Rybek finally did the leadership things to get the DTE done.
But tragically wasn't great enough for supporters to learn how to spell his name.
But there has to be a better comprehensive plan and true leaders to get things moving and not bogged down with indecision. I feel we are now coming out of 20 years of indecision by city and business leaders. The times are a changing. Workers want to be downtown. We have to be ready to work to make that happen and not let it slip away for another 15-20 years.
Again painting with an overly wide brush without citing a single example.

Re: IDS Center

Posted: October 17th, 2014, 1:41 pm
by mattaudio
Lileks on IDS
"Streetscapes: How history shaped the IDS tower in Minneapolis"
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/279589292.html

Re: IDS Center

Posted: October 31st, 2014, 4:41 pm
by MNdible
Looking at the IDS today, I was wondering if anybody recollects that the windows have been replaced en masse (aside from the occasional one that fails or is broken). If not, they're now over 40 years old, which is ancient for glazing technology.

They currently have a somewhat inconsistent reflectivity pattern across the face of the building, which suggests to me that they may be in the process of failing.

Re: IDS Center

Posted: October 31st, 2014, 4:56 pm
by Minneboy
If they ever did replace the glass en masse, I wonder if a different color of glass would be a consideration. I hear the howls already.

Re: IDS Center

Posted: October 31st, 2014, 5:07 pm
by FISHMANPET
Clad it in red. IDS Tower Sponsored by Target!

Re: IDS Center

Posted: November 10th, 2014, 2:29 pm
by Didier
This is from a different thread, but is more on-topic here:
Who built the IDS and where are they now?
It was a combined headquarters tower for Dayton's (now Target) and Investors Diversified Services (now Ameriprise.) They both have their own buildings downtown now.
I've wondered about this. So presumably they are leaving the name until a tenant takes enough space to demand the naming rights? Or is there some other reason why this building continues to be named after an obsolete company name?

Re: IDS Center

Posted: November 10th, 2014, 2:33 pm
by mattaudio
I doubt this will ever be called anything but IDS. Why? IDS is the premiere address downtown. There are tons of law firms, agencies, etc in the tower. I don't know if there are any true large scale tenants. To these tenants, being in the IDS has value even if the tower is named after a company that was absorbed/renamed over three decades ago.

Re: IDS Center

Posted: November 10th, 2014, 2:36 pm
by Didier
Sure, but really? The Sears Tower probably said the same thing.

The IDS Tower is certainly iconic in our city. It's the first skyscraper and still the tallest, and it's probably the only name most people actually know. But it just seems more likely that the name is still IDS because there isn't a compelling (i.e. $$$) reason to change it yet.

I'm curious if it is that, or if there's something actually in place preventing them from changing it.

Re: IDS Center

Posted: November 10th, 2014, 2:53 pm
by Minneboy
Has the Empire State Building been called anything but? The IDS has the same meaning to Minnesotans, at least until something taller comes along and I can only hope it's even better. Maybe something in green and we can call it the Jolly Green Giant.

Re: IDS Center

Posted: November 10th, 2014, 3:07 pm
by MNdible
There was a conscious decision, back when IDS moved out and changed their name to American Express Financial Advisors, to keep the name IDS. Nothing is forcing them to keep that name -- I'm sure if somebody came in and offered to lease half the building, they'd give them naming rights. But as noted above, the fact that there are no very large users in the building -- mostly law firms and advisors taking a couple of floors at the most, and the fact that IDS the company no longer exists, makes it easy for them to keep using this recognizable name.

Re: IDS Center

Posted: November 10th, 2014, 3:26 pm
by mamundsen
I doubt this will ever be called anything but IDS. Why? IDS is the premiere address downtown. There are tons of law firms, agencies, etc in the tower. I don't know if there are any true large scale tenants. To these tenants, being in the IDS has value even if the tower is named after a company that was absorbed/renamed over three decades ago.
My sister in law works for the building management at IDS. She tells me that one of the difficulties is that there is NOT one large tenant, rather many small office spaces.

She has never mentioned if they would prefer it one way over the other. It is what it is.

Re: IDS Center

Posted: November 10th, 2014, 4:20 pm
by EOst
I think the Sears/Willis Tower fiasco in Chicago has pretty clearly shown the limited value of getting the rights to rename an iconic building. Even if there were someone interested in renaming the IDS Tower, I suspect their calculus would be affected by the fact that no one would really use the new name.