The Walkway - (1312 West Lake Street)

[John]

A lot of these developments seem to have this very high 1st floor too (e.g. Lime). I wonder if that's part of the zoning regulations on Lake St or Lagoon?

I'm thinking it has to do with the fire code, in addition to structural strength to support the stick built frame above. Mplser is right, there will be two stories made out of the concrete shell. I remember the plan is to anchor each side of the complex with a restaurant with other retail inbetween.

[thatchio]

It is so they can have restaurant mezzanines if they want. It also gives space for the drain pipes and such that service the overhead apartments, generally. I suppose a developer might pay to increase the first floor as well if they're trying to boost the building up to get better views, but I don't think that's the case here. It costs money to increase the height, so you're building it for market demand mostly.

[Wedgeguy]

if you look at the rendering, it's not just the first floor. there will be 2 floors in that space. correct me if i'm wrong, though.

Will be like Bar Louie in having a mezzanine above the first floor.

[bapster2006]

A date at the Republic (I'm sure you all wanted to know that) and snapped a pic. Three floors of wood.

[bapster2006]

Finally made it up to the Uptown rooftop. As I suspected, downtown is already blocked. Hey, it was bound to happen someday.

[Nick]

IMG_3625 by UrbanMSP, on Flickr


IMG_3626 by UrbanMSP, on Flickr

[John]

^^^It's amazing how fast this is going up. Should be topped out in a few weeks.

[min-chi-cbus]

So is this thing taller than the top of Stella's? If so, Stellas' view went from unbeatable to unremarkable pretty quickly!

[Nathan]

The view from the North side of Stella's Should remain intact (until Ma2aic, lol), but it's pretty much gone from the South side. The Uptown Cafeteria has lost it too. But who needs downtown when you have a swimming pool to look at!?

Soon enough it will be it's own little cool skyline, and hey, you're still eating outside

[FISHMANPET]

Depends on who's using the swimming pool

[TWA]

I was at stella's on Saturday- the view of downtown was blocked. The hostess even complained to me about how their view was gone.

[mplser]

Depends on who's using the swimming pool

well I have really never been disappointed when visting uptown

[go4guy]

Did some rooftop bar hopping on Saturday. This project is going to be a great addition to Uptown. I didnt think much of it only being 6 stories, but I think it will be the perfect size here. Cant wait til this is complete.

[min-chi-cbus]

Just curious, but how many rooftops are there now in Uptown? When I left the city, there were 3:

Stella's
Drink
Cafe Uptown (this was brand new though)

[gpete]

I think Amore Victoria is the only one that's opened since you left.

Drink is now called Uptown Tavern and Rooftop. And I'm sure you meant Uptown Cafeteria and Support Group (instead of Cafe Uptown).

[seanrichardryan]

Moto-I on Lyndale also, but that's not uptown.

So 5.

[FISHMANPET]

When did Amore Victoria get a rooftop patio? And that's only a 1 story building, how great can that be? It doesn't even have a view of the lake if I remember.

[go4guy]

When did Amore Victoria get a rooftop patio? And that's only a 1 story building, how great can that be? It doesn't even have a view of the lake if I remember.

It can be very great. You are sitting outside when it is nice out, what could be better? None of the rooftops in Uptown have any sort of view except for the buildings surrounding them.

[gpete]

Yeah, the rooftop at Amore Victoria is really nice. There's not really a great view of anything, but there was no space for a patio, so the created an outdoor space. I think it opened in summer 2011.

[min-chi-cbus]

Oh wow, that's very cool! Up to five rooftops now in the "Uptown area"!! I also heard downtown was going to emulate the success of Uptown's rooftop scene and expand theirs, but I haven't heard much about it since (this was maybe 2 years ago). I'll spare everyone's (esp. Mods) time and keep that question to myself, but it's nice to see that the open-air concept is GAINING a foothold on the Mpls entertainment market!

To steer this discussion back on topic (and hopefully I'm not asking anything overly redundant here), but are there any plans to have more entertainment-like retail options on the first level of The Walkway? It'd be odd, to me, if they didn't try to add at least one restaurant/bar with a late closing.....let alone a rooftop bar or poolside bar. It's such a great location and really in the center of where a lot of that type of action already is in Uptown.