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Re: 2601 Lyndale Ave S (vacant lot, former hardware store)

Posted: January 11th, 2016, 6:03 pm
by EOst
I'm (t)here! Taking up a parking spot too. ;)

Re: 2601 Lyndale Ave S (vacant lot, former hardware store)

Posted: January 11th, 2016, 6:44 pm
by PhilmerPhil
The floorplan of the grocery store is an awful lot like the archetypal Aldi layout.

Re: 2601 Lyndale Ave S (vacant lot, former hardware store)

Posted: January 11th, 2016, 6:46 pm
by grant1simons2
Look hard at this picture.

Image

Source: @Wedgelive

Re: 2601 Lyndale Ave S (vacant lot, former hardware store)

Posted: January 11th, 2016, 7:12 pm
by PhilmerPhil
Image

Rex 26, 2601 Lyndale Ave S

Posted: January 11th, 2016, 7:40 pm
by grant1simons2
Time to rename this to "Rex 26" apparently :ugeek:

Re: 2601 Lyndale Ave S (vacant lot, former hardware store)

Posted: January 11th, 2016, 7:54 pm
by mattaudio
Whittier neighbors, board members, and board chair are insufferable. Per WedgeLive.
This project looks great.

Re: 2601 Lyndale Ave S (vacant lot, former hardware store)

Posted: January 11th, 2016, 7:56 pm
by PhilmerPhil
*Whittier

Re: 2601 Lyndale Ave S (vacant lot, former hardware store)

Posted: January 11th, 2016, 8:00 pm
by EOst
25' curb cut on Lyndale for the garage, loading dock for the "national retailer" (rhymes with Baldy) off the alley. Wish the garage entrance were on 26th, but it looks like it would be hard (I didn't ask).

The upper portion is U-shaped with a deck/community space, currently facing the alley (east). The developer was interested in flipping it around to have the amenity deck face Lyndale, but he mentioned that city guidelines would discourage that; the people who mentioned it seemed to prefer it facing Lyndale (though many wanted it to go all the way down, no matter how many times he said it wouldn't work).

General response as you'd expect: people seemed pleasantly surprised by the four (59', maybe five == 70' if neighb. supports) story height, lot of pushback against "national retailers" and chains, vocal concern from an old guy about the horrible traffic nightmare it would inevitably cause, and that guy from the 26th/Stevens meeting venting about his own demons.

Honestly, not the craziest meeting I've been to.

Re: Rex 26 - 2601 Lyndale Ave S

Posted: January 11th, 2016, 8:25 pm
by mattaudio
Make 26th Street two-way, which would allow for parking access on 26th.

Re: Rex 26 - 2601 Lyndale Ave S

Posted: January 11th, 2016, 9:02 pm
by Condo_Dweller
The developer said they want the height to be 59 feet, instead of the current allowable 56 feet. The extra three feet is to accommodate the retail level which will be a national chain. The retailer will be known Friday. He was under non- disclosure until then. He did day it was not Trader Joe's. If I had to guess it will be a CVS/Walgreens, but we will know Friday.

Re: Rex 26 - 2601 Lyndale Ave S

Posted: January 11th, 2016, 9:09 pm
by Wedgeguy
The developer said they want the height to be 59 feet, instead of the current allowable 56 feet. The extra three feet is to accommodate the retail level which will be a national chain. The retailer will be known Friday. He was under non- disclosure until then. He did day it was not Trader Joe's. If I had to guess it will be a CVS/Walgreens, but we will know Friday.
My only problem with CVS and Walgreen's is that they already have stores less than a mile away that are on even busier streets, Can't see Walgreen's closing their store on Hennepin for one on Lyndale that I think there would be issues about being open 24 hours. CVS has a space with great parking and right on the corner next to Cub which would help with people who could easily decide they can pick something up there before or after shopping at Cub. I can't see Aldi's without a sea of parking next to it. Maybe this will be S MPLS Fresh Thyme to take on TJ.

But will be glad to see something there besides weeds and or a sea of asphalt for the French Meadow.

Re: Rex 26 - 2601 Lyndale Ave S

Posted: January 11th, 2016, 9:13 pm
by EOst
Guys, it was there on the handout under a (very thin) layer of whiteout.

Re: Rex 26 - 2601 Lyndale Ave S

Posted: January 11th, 2016, 9:57 pm
by David Greene
There's something "off" about this to me but I can't put my finger on it exactly. It reminds me of a '60's motel in Miami. Maybe it's all the white and the weird striations above the corner balconies. Those flat corner windows aren't great, either. Not horrible but it seems like we should be able to do better.

Re: Rex 26 - 2601 Lyndale Ave S

Posted: January 11th, 2016, 10:20 pm
by Anondson
A (rhymes with baldy) would be just fine. A discounter that has something of a following among the budget strapped.

Re: Rex 26 - 2601 Lyndale Ave S

Posted: January 11th, 2016, 10:24 pm
by Wedgeguy
A (rhymes with baldy) would be just fine. A discounter that has something of a following among the budget strapped.
Beats having to deal with Franklin or Lake street to shop there. I think they will do fine there. Just so we don't have grocery cart spread all over the neighborhoods.

Re: Rex 26 - 2601 Lyndale Ave S

Posted: January 11th, 2016, 10:29 pm
by Nathan
There's something "off" about this to me but I can't put my finger on it exactly. It reminds me of a '60's motel in Miami. Maybe it's all the white and the weird striations above the corner balconies. Those flat corner windows aren't great, either. Not horrible but it seems like we should be able to do better.

I think what you're seeing is what I was noticing. It seems like these neighborhoods have the developers so screwed and scared that they are bringing the most vague incomplete generic good looking illusion of the project forward. So there's less detail to complain about and they can say it's preliminary.

Re: Rex 26 - 2601 Lyndale Ave S

Posted: January 11th, 2016, 10:32 pm
by grant1simons2
To avoid hearing things such as, "That brick color is all wrong, looks horrible."

Re: Rex 26 - 2601 Lyndale Ave S

Posted: January 11th, 2016, 10:46 pm
by TroyGBiv
Guys, it was there on the handout under a (very thin) layer of whiteout.
That is hilarious! You can see ALDI very clearly! My thoughts on this (I live five blocks away) are that this is a very rough rendering... why go too far knowing that the community types are going to always hate the first version of anything they see... they need to feel like they have had "input" no matter what the design looks like.... This rendering is a place holder and didn't cost too much to have done for this meeting. The scale seems great to me - this is a very dense neighborhood and we rely heavily on transit. The household income in that area is lower and an ALDI would be a huge benefit for many of our Whittier families. There is a high number of students at the Whittier Arts Elementary who rely on getting meals at school so this type of quality/value grocery would be great! I would rather see an Aldi than a Walmart. I am actually surprised by this project - I didn't think they would be this ambitious! The next round of renderings will help to better envision how this will fit in at that intersection.

Re: Rex 26 - 2601 Lyndale Ave S

Posted: January 11th, 2016, 10:56 pm
by twincitizen
Can anyone comment on the size of the units at all? Was that discussed? I'm having a tough time reconciling ~76-79 units over only 3 residential floors (assuming no units on ground floor), unless it's primarily micro-units.

I feel like they could easily get away with a set back 5th floor here, with little to no resistance. A 5-story building was just approved at 26th & Stevens with opposition basically coming from one super motivated (and ornery) individual. This is Lyndale Avenue...5 floors should be a cinch.

Is the size of the site exactly what we were led to believe earlier: the vacant lot (actually two lots) and two houses to be removed?

Re: Rex 26 - 2601 Lyndale Ave S

Posted: January 11th, 2016, 11:22 pm
by seanrichardryan
Mostly 500 sq/ft units. : Image