urbanMSP

Maybe it's too much to hope for, but it sure would be great if the closure of the Hennepin CVS led to its quarter-block surface lot being redeveloped into a third Laurel Village tower, or even another low-rise.

Skyscape location is not on this list of closures put out by CVS today:
https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/3649440002

Sign up on CVS Skyscape location that says closing May 31.

And if you see my reflection in the empty retail space
A feloney brought me down...

Just received an advertisement on Instagram to apply for a position at Joe & the Juice's upcoming location in Minneapolis. Anyone know anything about this or where it might be going?

Just received an advertisement on Instagram to apply for a position at Joe & the Juice's upcoming location in Minneapolis. Anyone know anything about this or where it might be going?

Looks like it might be at the airport, per their website.

This is hilarious since I'm in Norway right now and I've seen them everywhere since the first one in Iceland.

Quoting a post from the TC National & Global image topic...my response got long-winded & OT, so I'm posting here instead...

I think that just means we don't have a lot of traditional touristy stuff like historical sites, entertainment districts, really famous museums, amusement parks, etc. After all, our top tourist site is a mall.

The more I've traveled to other US cities (hell even just small midwestern cities), I've come to realize that our lack of tourism is another contributing factor as to why downtown Mpls' retail/storefront scene sucks so bad. Obviously the biggest contributing factors are the skyways and bad buildings that fill whole/half blocks and don't actually have a single storefront to speak of. But the role of tourism (lack thereof) in our downtown sucking shouldn't be ignored either. Cities several magnitudes smaller than Minneapolis have blocks that make me weep for how terrible downtown Minneapolis is. Freaking Mankato has a few blocks of downtown retail that put Minneapolis CBD to shame...and I suspect the same is true of most college towns of 25k+ population.

The storefront situation in the CBD/Gateway area feels borderline unfixable. We've added thousands of new residents to the periphery of downtown (though just a few hundred to the core CBD), probably over 1,000 new hotel rooms downtown, but the state of active storefronts in the CBD seems to have not improved one iota. Why is that?

I have increasingly come around to the idea (ok, my own idea) of giving public subsidies to get building owners in the core CBD to add retail storefronts on blocks where there are none today. Example: Baker Center just did a massive multimillion dollar renovation, added a nice lobby/entrance, but did not add any ground level retail space. There should be a city grant program that would have incentivized them to do so. One of the principal roles of government is to address 'market failure', and I would absolutely describe the lack of storefronts in our CBD as market failure (to be fair, largely resulting from 50+ years of zoning code failure not requiring street-level retail). We can start to fix the problem, but it is going to take significant public dollars, without question. Imagine if just one in every 10 skyway businesses moved down to a street-facing storefront...or even a measly one in 20! It would be nothing short of transformative for downtown Minneapolis.

Baker may not have added any ground level, but they do actually have ground level retail and half (or more) of it is empty.

I don't think it's as bad as you think, and they are working on it. The Andrus and the Dayton Project should help quite a bit in the downtown core. Also, when the Gateway tower is completed it should add quite a bit to that end of Nicollet and should spur retail to fill into 365 Nicollet and the adjacent tower planned on that lot. I know the situation isn't perfect now, but it seems to me Minneapolis is taking the correct steps. (This isn't even including the major progress we've seen in North Loop and Downtown East.)

In regards to your comments about tourism I agree somewhat, but again Minneapolis is taking the correct steps. I was just running downtown yesterday and there is some huge youth event going on where there are thousands of kids and their parents from around the country here.

The Moxy hotel and it's bar is now open in the Ironclad building downtown. Walked by yesterday and they had it completely open to the outside, looks to be a great addition to the area.

In regards to your comments about tourism I agree somewhat, but again Minneapolis is taking the correct steps. I was just running downtown yesterday and there is some huge youth event going on where there are thousands of kids and their parents from around the country here.

There are SO many kids. It's weird.

There is a national Lutheran youth conference taking place. I talked to some people from Montana this morning. Over 20k kids in attendance. I guess last night they took over US Bank Stadium, and today they are at the convention center.

The more I've traveled to other US cities (hell even just small midwestern cities), I've come to realize that our lack of tourism is another contributing factor as to why downtown Mpls' retail/storefront scene sucks so bad. Obviously the biggest contributing factors are the skyways and bad buildings that fill whole/half blocks and don't actually have a single storefront to speak of. But the role of tourism (lack thereof) in our downtown sucking shouldn't be ignored either.

I think Minnesota recreational activity being so focused around lakes/cabins/camping/etc has something to do with this too. When the weather is nice, lots of people leave town. Plus, there isn't really a central entertainment area that draws in a wide range of people the way there is in some other cities (Baltimore's Inner Harbor, KC's Power and Light District, etc).

If there's a nice day, then the hotspots are places like the Chain of Lakes or Minnehaha Falls, not downtown.

If there's a nice day, then the hotspots are places like the Chain of Lakes or Minnehaha Falls, not downtown.

How many non-locals go to those places, though, unless a local takes them? Minnehaha Falls is at least on the Blue Line, but neither is near the hotels and other areas where tourists will spend much of their time.

I feel like Bde Maka Ska sees a reasonable amount of tourism in the summer. You'll notice groups of people speaking German or Italian enjoying the trails or renting paddleboards. Though it's true that people staying downtown for sports or concerts probably aren't making the trek all that often (especially with the riverfront nearby).

When you say that we don't have a central entertainment area, do you mean we don't have an area prioritizing pedestrians? The few blocks of downtown that contain the State, Target Center, First Ave, The Fine Line, etc. would certainly qualify as an entertainment district to me, but that doesn't mean it's the kind of place people go just to walk around and enjoy it.

There is a national Lutheran youth conference taking place.

So there's a cult meeting in town?

I feel like Bde Maka Ska sees a reasonable amount of tourism in the summer. You'll notice groups of people speaking German or Italian enjoying the trails or renting paddleboards. Though it's true that people staying downtown for sports or concerts probably aren't making the trek all that often (especially with the riverfront nearby).

When you say that we don't have a central entertainment area, do you mean we don't have an area prioritizing pedestrians? The few blocks of downtown that contain the State, Target Center, First Ave, The Fine Line, etc. would certainly qualify as an entertainment district to me, but that doesn't mean it's the kind of place people go just to walk around and enjoy it.

Sure, tourists go to areas like that. But when I mean a central entertainment area, I mean something like Canal Park in Duluth -- sightseeing, restaurants, bars, shops, things to do/watch, etc. Walkability is part of it, but it's also about the mix of what's there, and a central location.

Giving a tour here to Italian friends a few years ago, they loved Downtown, the river from and Northeast. They were also completely amazed by our parks, lakes, and the Grand Rounds. I am always meeting tourists in the metro - a recent trip to the Eagan outlet mall was an encyclopedia of foreign languages and nationalities and zI’ve encountered much the same in our parks and down by the river.

Riverplace was an attempt to create a destination entertainment area, but in a city this size, it is impossible to concentrate all of the entertainment into such a small area and there was something horribly artificial about the whole Riverplace scheme. We have many destination arts and entertainment venues that people do travel to visit - the Guthrie, the dozens of other theaters, Mia,, the Walker, and a host of small galleries, the incredible array of sports venues, and on and on.

Shopping, even for tourists, is changing. No one knows exactly where it is all going to land. It takes a willingness to risk a lot and lose a lot to set up a small retail operation. A lot of potential shop owners are highly risk averse right now.. It strikes me as absurd to think that every new building in the Downtrown area should have commercial space. Nicollet was a dense retail corridor at one time and there is sufficient space there for some new form of retail approach to get established there.

perhaps the Dayton project will help turn the tide, and it would certainly qualify as a center point for a n entertainment zone - close to theaters, sports venues, and plenty of hotel rooms, but I think the Dayton project will have a hard time filling it’s retail space and keeping it full. do course, the Black Hole of retailing that is City Center compounds the issue by casing a dark cloud of gloom over any retail efforts in the middle of downtown.