Mozaic (all phases)

[John]

The plaza is about double in size to the current one. This will be a great project for Uptown. A friend and I were eating at Bar Louie last week and we met Stuart Ackerberg who was sitting next to us by coincidence. Real friendly guy and he is very excited about this project! He also told me a nice tidbit about the vacant parcel next to Calhoun Square: he is hoping to build a 100-125 room hotel there

[TommyT]

The plaza is about double in size to the current one. This will be a great project for Uptown. A friend and I were eating at Bar Louie last week and we met Stuart Ackerberg who was sitting next to us by coincidence. Real friendly guy and he is very excited about this project! He also told me a nice tidbit about the vacant parcel next to Calhoun Square: he is hoping to build a 100-125 room hotel there

Sweet! Anyone know, with the size of that lot, how many floors that would be?

[seanrichardryan]

According to articles It's about 28,000 sq/ft. Average room is 300-400 sq/ft.

(Edit: move me to uptown hotel thread)

[Wedgeguy]

I hope that it is not a block long and squat. Would prefer a small tower with a good retail base along the street.

[seanrichardryan]

Looking at pages 94-95, they are designing the roof terrace for copious amounts of dining tables. I wonder if they have a restaurant tenant already lined up for the space?

[TommyT]

Looking at pages 94-95, they are designing the roof terrace for copious amounts of dining tables. I wonder if they have a restaurant tenant already lined up for the space?

I think people were assuming it was for the office tenants to lunch on in the nicer months. I hadn't heard anything about a restaurant, but also haven't looked through the plans.

[John]

The plans call for a restaurant and coffee shop along the plaza.

[HiawathaGuy]

Seems understandable.

Code42 requests $3 million from state for new Uptown headquarters

[Minneboy]

So how much longer before this gets approve. City Council on Nov 24th, then the state. Then what? It's not going to get built until after all that. Okay then.

I'm not against them getting the money but why wait so long before asking?

[HiawathaGuy]

So how much longer before this gets approve. City Council on Nov 24th, then the state. Then what? It's not going to get built until after all that. Okay then.

I'm not against them getting the money but why wait so long before asking?

Because it's a $70 million dollar investment for Code42, that's why. You don't take unnecessary risks with money when you have a business - those who do, typically fail. Besides, what's the rush? This will happen soon enough.

[HiawathaGuy]

Much better article:

Software company announces plans for $70 million expansion

[Minneboy]

So how much longer before this gets approve. City Council on Nov 24th, then the state. Then what? It's not going to get built until after all that. Okay then.

I'm not against them getting the money but why wait so long before asking?

Because it's a $70 million dollar investment for Code42, that's why. You don't take unnecessary risks with money when you have a business - those who do, typically fail. Besides, what's the rush? This will happen soon enough.

What's the rush. Ha what a joke.

[David Greene]

The second phase may include relocating the company’s headquarters in 2016 to a new office-retail complex at 1350 Lagoon Ave. in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis

May?

[RailBaronYarr]

May be tangential, but I'm really not sure why they'd need money from the state. Expanding/moving/etc is a regular part of managing a growing business. There's no need for the state to give out money to a profitable company. They did this for my former company, Emerson. You can check out public documents detailing the overall company's profitability, and it's my humble opinion that this was money not well spent.

Obviously I'm happy they're staying here and expanding, and certainly in a building that I'd consider a great addition to an urban neighborhood (though that's obviously not a requirement for DEED money).

[Nathan]

May be tangential, but I'm really not sure why they'd need money from the state. Expanding/moving/etc is a regular part of managing a growing business. There's no need for the state to give out money to a profitable company. They did this for my former company, Emerson. You can check out public documents detailing the overall company's profitability, and it's my humble opinion that this was money not well spent.

Obviously I'm happy they're staying here and expanding, and certainly in a building that I'd consider a great addition to an urban neighborhood (though that's obviously not a requirement for DEED money).

May I ask why the state/we would find it appropriate to give money toa failing not profitable small business? I much prefer the state spending money to incubate our successful up and coming companies to trying to lure fortune 500s from elsewhere. And I certainly wouldn't want them to give money to a failing business on a hunch that they could be a good company. Seems like too much of a gamble.

[mullen]

the state used DEED dollars for the shutterfly, emerson and various other major business expansions taking place in shakopee, etc. is the city council voting on the mozaic project itself or the approval of a request for state money? the project's been approved already by the planning commission i believe.

what's nice is this is a local hq expanding. and a tech company at that. not just a business unit of a major company who headquarters in another state.

[min-chi-cbus]

It seems like asking for a handout has become a natural part of the development process lately. I can't stand it either!

[twincitizen]

There seems to be some confusion in this thread about what the money is for. The money is for Code 42 to expand...it's not actually directly tied to the Mozaic development. Sure, Code 42 will pay money to Ackerberg in the form of rent, but Ackerberg is not directly receiving state money for the construction of this building (aside from previously awarded DEED funds & Met Council cleanup/TOD grants).

[Anondson]

It seems like asking for a handout has become a natural part of the development process lately. I can't stand it either!

Pretty much yeah, but equally the converse where it seems the purpose of government is giving out rewards to cronies who know how to work your system. Get to feel really useful when you send government funds to your buddies and allies at a whim. If the system didn't make it so easy to milk the government... [/cynicism]

[HiawathaGuy]

There seems to be some confusion in this thread about what the money is for. The money is for Code 42 to expand...it's not actually directly tied to the Mozaic development. Sure, Code 42 will pay money to Ackerberg in the form of rent, but Ackerberg is not directly receiving state money for the construction of this building (aside from previously awarded DEED funds & Met Council cleanup/TOD grants).

Exactly!

From The Journal article:
"The agency said it would support the first phase with a $1 million forgivable loan from the Minnesota Investment Fund (MIF), which the company must match with its own investments, according to a release. Forgiveness would be contingent on job creation.

Code42 will be eligible for up to $2 million from the Minnesota Job Creation Fund after fulfilling hiring and investment commitments.

Minnesota launched the Minnesota Job Creation Fund, a pay-for-performance business development initiative proposed by Dayton, in January to help create an estimated 5,000 new jobs."

It's not like they just get a free handout without investing heavily themselves. This is what DEED was built to do... support companies that are going to stay, grow and build good jobs for MN. Things aren't as dire as they were over the past 4 years, but I'm not interested in seeing that switch turned off just yet. I think it's a good thing for MN and in this case, Minneapolis.