Riverside Plaza

Calhoun-Isles, Cedar-Riverside, Longfellow, Nokomis, Phillips, Powderhorn, and Southwest
mplsjaromir
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Riverside Plaza

Postby mplsjaromir » August 18th, 2012, 9:41 am

Mod note: The beginning of this conversation was clipped, so forgive the somewhat abrupt beginning.


Crime has fallen off since the 1990s. It provides a good place for immigrants to get on their feet. It is actually one of the only successful high rise housing projects in the country. We just happen to be somewhere that high rise public housing is not dystopian. I like hanging out in the neighborhood, because suburbanites are generally scared of the area, they don't douche up the place. Too bad the underground club by there closed.

Why won't other properties become like this? Well Riverside Plaza is Brutalist behemoth, not really close to any major employment center. It was looked after poorly and is public housing. Neither 1368 LaSalle, Nicollet, The Towers, Symphony Place or The Churchill share those characteristics. I guess anyplace can become shitty, but its not like rents are low in downtown.

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Nathan
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Re: Riverside Plaza

Postby Nathan » August 18th, 2012, 9:51 am

They do have a roller coaster of a past, from urban utopia, to high crime rates, to now being one of the youngest buildings on the National Historic Registrar and its renovations that came just in time to really keep it going. Now that the buildings will be maintained better I think we'll see them being even more of an asset to the community. It is subsidized housing, but they actually have one of the highest turn around success rates in the country especially for immigrants. I personally love the brutalist modernist style, I have been drawn to it since I was a kid and my parents would drive me past there.

Tyler
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Re: Riverside Plaza

Postby Tyler » August 21st, 2012, 12:41 pm

Just finished repainting the exterior panels a couple weeks ago. Such an enormous improvement. Not sure the status of the rest of the renovation but I assume there is still a good deal left to do.
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SixOneTwo
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Re: Riverside Plaza

Postby SixOneTwo » August 21st, 2012, 1:59 pm

Just finished repainting the exterior panels a couple weeks ago. Such an enormous improvement. Not sure the status of the rest of the renovation but I assume there is still a good deal left to do.
I sure hope they aren't finished. At least one of the buildings - the short "brown" one - still has not been repainted. It would be nice if they paint it the same color(s) as the other towers, a fresh coat of brown paint would look pretty bad now that the other towers are mostly black.

Also, does anyone know if Sherman plans to remove/repaint the large green logo on the side of the tower facing I-94? It looks out of place now with the spruced up exterior (which I agree is an enormous improvement).

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Re: Riverside Plaza

Postby Konante » August 22nd, 2012, 8:01 am

I personally love the brutalist modernist style, I have been drawn to it since I was a kid and my parents would drive me past there.
I've never heard anyone say they like those buildings. Interesting to see/read. I don't mind the multi-colored panels but the pale pink siding with the brutalist stone/concrete look makes it look exceptionally outdated and run-down, IMO.

Tyler
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Re: Riverside Plaza

Postby Tyler » August 22nd, 2012, 8:40 am

I don't mind the multi-colored panels but the pale pink siding with the brutalist stone/concrete look makes it look exceptionally outdated and run-down, IMO.
Those panels have been repainted.

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seanrichardryan
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Re: Riverside Plaza

Postby seanrichardryan » August 22nd, 2012, 1:32 pm

Yep, pink was supposed to be charcoal grey. The colors as you see them now are the original hues since they applied for historic tax credits.
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aeisenberg
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Re: Riverside Plaza

Postby aeisenberg » August 28th, 2012, 1:15 am

the towers themselves are fine-- i think the weirdness of the design simply comes from the distance from the core of downtown. if they were surrounded by a mix of other types of highrises, it wouldnt look so out of place. but it does. the neighborhood itself is a really unique spot in america. and its one of the very few twin cities neighborhoods that isnt culturally homogenous. so for those reasons, i think the place is great, even though suburbanites may paint it as some kind of slum.
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Wedgeguy
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Re: Riverside Plaza

Postby Wedgeguy » August 28th, 2012, 11:03 pm

the towers themselves are fine-- i think the weirdness of the design simply comes from the distance from the core of downtown. if they were surrounded by a mix of other types of highrises, it wouldnt look so out of place. but it does. the neighborhood itself is a really unique spot in america. and its one of the very few twin cities neighborhoods that isnt culturally homogenous. so for those reasons, i think the place is great, even though suburbanites may paint it as some kind of slum.
All have to agree with you there. There will be some new developments near the tower in the next few years if all goes as planned. With the light rail staion there. there are open plots of land to be redeveloped. The old and the new give the area a unique feeling.

mattaudio
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Re: Riverside Plaza

Postby mattaudio » August 29th, 2012, 8:03 am

Now if only we could have some new bridges to reconnect the grid... across the Washington trench and across the 35W trench. Reconnect the grid and create incentives for air rights development fronting these new bridges at sidewalk level.

mplser
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Re: Riverside Plaza

Postby mplser » August 29th, 2012, 9:42 am

Now if only we could have some new bridges to reconnect the grid... across the Washington trench and across the 35W trench. Reconnect the grid and create incentives for air rights development fronting these new bridges at sidewalk level.
YES! this would be expensive, but 100% worth it, IMO.

seanrichardryan
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Re: Riverside Plaza

Postby seanrichardryan » January 1st, 2013, 11:02 am

Haven't listened to the whole thing yet, but an interesting piece on Cedar Square West: '

http://www.ampers.org/pieces/building-u ... de?s=music
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at40man
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Riverside Plaza worse than ever

Postby at40man » September 9th, 2013, 8:24 am

From the MN Daily: http://www.mndaily.com/news/campus/2013 ... worse-ever


This begs the question - where did the $132 million of public money exactly go? It couldn't have cost $132 million to simply repaint the panels.

If the elevators didn't get repaired/replaced, it makes me wonder what other glaring deficiencies the building had which weren't properly addressed.

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Nathan
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Re: Riverside Plaza

Postby Nathan » September 10th, 2013, 10:57 am

Well, there were a number of things being done... There were massive... I mean MASSIVE 70's era boilers that were used for heating and hot water that were completely falling apart, so consider they had to re-do the whole hot water system, ran a lot of new pluming and wires through the buildings. I think they upgraded appliances that had never been updated, and they have done a lot of work to elevators too... I don't think they skimped on the fixes, I just think there was a big list of things... I mean... 11 buildings, and one of them is the tallest residential building in the city... that's only about $10 mil per building.

MplsSteve
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Re: Riverside Plaza

Postby MplsSteve » September 10th, 2013, 11:54 am

Yes, and I have heard that the original mechanicals were all very cheap and started to fail very soon after the buildings were completed.

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Nathan
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Re: Riverside Plaza

Postby Nathan » November 14th, 2013, 1:06 pm

for those of you who love these buildings and other bruts, here's a pretty amazing parallel sorry from Johannesburg, and the building is awesome. check out the video. worth it.

http://m.theatlanticcities.com/design/2 ... heid/7515/

twincitizen
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Re: Riverside Plaza

Postby twincitizen » May 13th, 2015, 8:08 am


John
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Re: Riverside Plaza

Postby John » May 13th, 2015, 10:37 am

^^^Sounds good, but they will likely continue to have problems with these 1970's elevators breaking down. They are being strained by constant overuse. It will cost millions to actually replace them and I doubt anyone has the resources to pay for that. These buildings were not designed to be permanent homes for poverty stricken refugees with large families! It's emblematic of the lack of planning in our country's immigration and refugee policies. It's unsustainable.

twincitizen
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Re: Riverside Plaza

Postby twincitizen » May 13th, 2015, 11:00 am

There was an interesting line in that article (which John hints at) that I think would be worth greater exploration on its own, perhaps a separate article even. It was something along the lines of "these small units were not designed for large families". Anyone have a unit breakdown for Riverside Plaza? I'm guessing it is largely 1BRs and studios, right? What is the total population at the complex?

Sounds there is an actual problem here that is not entirely the fault of the building (or owner) itself but that too many people are living in each unit. Problem is, the only real solution to that overcrowding issue is "build a lot more subsidized housing" (and probably some of it nearby) to allow the current residents to spread out a bit.

EDIT: Ah, here we go: 1,303 units housing "over 4,000 people".
The 11-building complex has fewer parking spots than residential units, and the 1970s-vintage towers were not designed with large families in mind.

“We have probably twice as many people living at Riverside Plaza than it was built for,” Sherman said. “When you have that happen, you have long elevator lines, people looking for places to park.”
I have no idea what the average occupancy of a 1BR apartment is, but I would guess that it is less than 1.5 persons. Even if you use that generous 1.5 per unit figure, that would put the "typical" occupancy at 2,000 people. So Sherman's "twice as many" statement is not really an exaggeration.

xandrex
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Re: Riverside Plaza

Postby xandrex » May 13th, 2015, 11:29 am

I'm surprised they're allowed to have that many people in the building. Is it legal to pack a family into a 1BR unit? Many apartments have tenant max occupancy rates in their leases, but I assume that's their own rule.

It seems like even if there aren't laws (does Section 8 allow what seems to literally be "stack and pack"?), Sherman would know he's putting incredible strain upon his building by having so many people.


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