urbanMSP

The owners of Ren Square/The Andrus will be coming to the DMNA LUC meeting on August 5th to ask for support for a variance from the Nicollet Mall overlay district requirements for street-level retail. We'll see what their ask is, but it doesn't bode well.

But the new paint on the first floor looks good!

(Honestly, it's been empty so long I might be willing to give in to desperation).

I want to believe that it's just a variance for the 60% of ground floor area for retail, and they want to use the back half for something else and leave the mall-facing part as smaller retail spaces, which would be fine.

Idk. On the one hand, it's been empty forever. On the other, I simply cannot believe that there's no retail use that can work adjacent to the busiest LRT station on the system.

When I was.a kid, all of Nicollet, Hennepin and many of the cross streets between them were packed with retail shops, restaurants, and the wonder that was the Great Northern Market, purveyor of exotic fruits and vegetables and good meats. That was a long time ago. The kind of retail that existed at that time was there, not for a high resident population but for the countless commuters that used the streetcars to get downtown to work.

Much of the type of retail that used to enliven the streets migrated to the skyway level. There just is not a need for two levels of retail spread over the main axis of downtown along with all of the arms that extend out from that axis along the paths of the skyways. I have some hope for street level retail in the North Look, the Mill District and in a few other pockets of high residential density.. The Dayton project may bring back a degree of retail density to the Mall, but that remains to be seen, but to expect street level retail wherever there are new buildings in downtown just seems unrealistic.

The retail market has changed radically. To expect every new or renovated project in downtown to have a significant retail component is absurd in this day and age. People don’t shop that way any more. I love a place packed with little, locally owned shops and restaurants, but it is a limited possibility these days.

I think the main stimulus for growth to retail on Nicollet Mall will be from whatever residential is built up and down it. I don’t think it has reached a tipping point yet.

Is it 60% of linear frontage or 60% of actual floor area? I hope it's not the latter.

We need more retail density, not necessarily more retail floor area. If you have a 15,000 square foot floorplate but want to put in ten 500 sf storefronts (5,000 sf or 33%) that's much better for street life than a single 10,000 sf retail bay (67%) that will sit vacant more than it is occupied.

It's both.

551.940. - Street level retail.

(a) In general. All buildings shall contain retail uses at the street level subject to the following standards:

(1) Retail uses shall include Retail Sales and Services uses and Food and Beverages uses contained in Table 549-1 Principal Uses in the Downtown Districts.

(2) Retail uses shall occupy at least sixty (60) percent of the gross floor area of the first floor and shall extend along at least sixty (60) percent of the first floor façade fronting on Nicollet Mall.

(3) Each retail use is encouraged to have at least one (1) separate entrance from Nicollet Mall.

(4) Retail uses are encouraged to include awnings and canopies to provide protection to pedestrians and to emphasize individual uses and building entrances.

I've got no problem if they want a variance for the 60% floor area (how many buildings actually meet that?), but the 60% frontage is important.

This may get me in trouble, but I'd just like to hear some opinions on this. Don't get me wrong, I'm very empathetic towards the homeless and feel for the horrible situation they're in. But, is it possible this end of Nicollet will continue to struggle because of the crowd that hangs around that area?

This may get me in trouble, but I'd just like to hear some opinions on this. Don't get me wrong, I'm very empathetic towards the homeless and feel for the horrible situation they're in. But, is it possible this end of Nicollet will continue to struggle because of the crowd that hangs around that area?

Yes and No... I think the homeless population likely scares away weekend suburbanites.

When you look at other major cities, San Fran, NYC, Chicago, etc. They have thriving retail in areas with homeless populations. That being said, these cities are much larger population and tourism wise. We can only do so much on the tourism front. We can continue to build housing in the CBD.

This may get me in trouble, but I'd just like to hear some opinions on this. Don't get me wrong, I'm very empathetic towards the homeless and feel for the horrible situation they're in. But, is it possible this end of Nicollet will continue to struggle because of the crowd that hangs around that area?

I think the behavior of the people who pretty much live at the sculpture in front of the library scares some people off. It's constant drinking, gambling and drug use by that group. It certainly doesn't help people feel comfortable to use the library or take advantage of the seating on Nicollet Mall.

Yeah, that area seems to have gotten out of control pretty quickly. I don't have a good answer, but the current situation is definitely not going to encourage anybody to sign a lease down there.

Yeah, that area seems to have gotten out of control pretty quickly. I don't have a good answer, but the current situation is definitely not going to encourage anybody to sign a lease down there.

A lot of Nicollet Mall seems to have gotten worse recently...yesterday I saw people grabbing multiple chairs and lining them up together and then basically building beds out of them. Not sure what the solution is but unless they get a handle on the situation it's going to be hard sell for retail.

I admired the sculpture as they built it, but I've never felt comfortable going beneath it to enjoy or even get a good look at it. Maybe there can be some sort of day center built for people to hang out and use computers and etc instead of the library? Otherwise maybe the police can use no drug and gambling laws to disperse them. I don't know what the solution is..but one is needed.

I admired the sculpture as they built it, but I've never felt comfortable going beneath it to enjoy or even get a good look at it. Maybe there can be some sort of day center built for people to hang out and use computers and etc instead of the library? Otherwise maybe the police can use no drug and gambling laws to disperse them. I don't know what the solution is..but one is needed.

I wonder if removing the seating area underneath the sculpture would help? It's really sad that they built this sculpture but now nobody can go see it because it's been taken over by the homeless people.

I don’t often bike in but coming in this morning I saw something like barriers around it. Do they put up barriers regularly?

I mean, you can go see it though, right? People aren't, like, covering up the sculpture itself.

I don’t often bike in but coming in this morning I saw something like barriers around it. Do they put up barriers regularly?

I switched buses downtown this morning and saw the barriers off to the side (that was around 7 AM)...thought maybe they were planning to do something with them by the sculpture. Guess I'll see on the ride home...

I mean, you can go see it though, right? People aren't, like, covering up the sculpture itself.

You can see it but it you wanted to go into the common area underneath it (to see it close up), you wouldn't feel comfortable doing so - it's basically full of people sleeping, etc.

I mean, I agree that people sleep on the benches, but I have also gone in there to look at it multiple times. They don't bite.