urbanMSP

The point I guess I'm trying to make, is there must be SOME amenities (pools, fitness centers, concierge, etc etc etc) that can be taken away to give the "normal people" the opportunity to enjoy something that isn't 1000+ a month for a studio or 100 years old.

You're falling for supply-side economics. It's not the amenities driving up costs. It's the fact that people will pay ridiculous rents, whether or not amenities are there. Location only affects the degree of insanity. You could take out the fitness centers, concierges, etc. in Uptown and people would still pay a ton of money to live there. Demand is driving cost.

Price isn't primarily set by the cost of goods. It's set by what people will pay. If people won't pay enough, the amenities won't be there.

Sounds like a great reason to increase supply

got some numbers from IRL developers in here:

https://streets.mn/2014/07/09/a-minneapo ... explainer/

I have been walking and riding the train post all these grain elevators quite frequently and I keep hoping that they will be preserved in a creative way. I ran across a few examples that I found to be quite exciting. The first is a really great mural on a grain elevator in Western Australia. Imagine the Walker commissioning an amazing artist to paint some of the silos along Highway 55. The second is from a proposed project in Buffalo, that would set climbing routes up the interior and exterior of the silos. Vertical endeavors could be tapped for a project like this, and it would be a great fit with the outdoor culture in the Twin Cities.

Why not both? There's plentiful land around there and the silos could be re-purposed

There are condos west of Lake Calhoun/Isles that used to be concrete silos. Not sure how the size compares to these, but makes for some uniquely shaped units. http://www.calhoun-isles-condos.com/

A few other examples of grain elevator conversions into housing...

In Oslo, HRTB Arkitekter AS transformed an old grain elevator into 19-story student housing complex known as Grünerløkka Studenthus.



In addition, MVRDV did The Frøsilo, a conversion of silos located in the old harbour area of Copenhagen

In addition, found one other example of a conversion into a rock climbing gym called the Rocktown Climbing Gym in Oklahoma City. They even used it for ice climbing...

+5 for conversion to housing; Love the idea.

Yay Zoning! Yay side yard!
https://goo.gl/maps/VaLjL1odaUU2

http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups ... 183101.pdf

Seems like a fine idea, but why rezone now if now simultaneous application for site plan review of the storage facility? There doesn't seem to be any reason to change the zoning of a property if nothing is imminent. Honestly, I'm fine with it being a storage unit facility forever (not holding out for future super expensive, super challenging conversion to residential). I just don't see the point in rezoning now without other simultaneous applications. Speculative rezoning is dumb and a waste of everyone's time.

It's already been spectuively zoned to R5 based on the small area plan, and now the applicant wants to rezone it back to Industrial (with an Industrial Living Overlay) in case they do something in the near term. It seems silly to do it now when it could just be done as a matter of fact when they apply to turn it into storage or whatever.

Also gotta get in a dig against zoning here, it's clearly already failed when you've got a towering industrial use next to a single family home, trying to bandaid it by swapping between Residential and Industrial whenever we feel like it just weakens the whole supposed benefit of zoning. I think it's clear that "we" (this forum, the government, most people, etc etc) would prefer this building be reused in some fashion rather than torn down and redeveloped, but zoning isn't helping with that, and is in fact making it more difficult (if only slightly) to change the use of the structure without drastically changing the form.

It is really too bad that they cannot think of a better solution for this property. Yes it is a difficult site, but try and get creative. Icehouse/Vertical Endeavors was renovated from a brick structure that formerly stored blocks of ice from Cedar Lake. The Mill City Museum and offices came from the adaptive reuse of a mill building. Build something for the community that everyone can be proud of. Storage? Really?

It is really too bad that they cannot think of a better solution for this property. Yes it is a difficult site, but try and get creative. Icehouse/Vertical Endeavors was renovated from a brick structure that formerly stored blocks of ice from Cedar Lake. The Mill City Museum and offices came from the adaptive reuse of a mill building. Build something for the community that everyone can be proud of. Storage? Really?

There is a massive difference in Mill City Museum and grain silos. The museum is like an actual building with floors and windows and things that allowed humans to use the building. Grain silos have none of that. They are literally just a circle of reinforced concrete that goes up with a system to put grain in at the top and take it out at the bottom. That's it. No floors, no windows, nothing. That's why reusing grain silos and elevators in general is so difficult. They were designed to accomplish one task and they accomplished that task very very well.

There was another article today that gave a little more information about the rezoning process. The article points out all the other developments that are happening around this site, and there is also the Snelling Yards site coming up soon. If this site becomes housing or "indoor recreation like a climbing wall, a coffee shop or microbrewery", it would be a great addition to this corridor.

http://finance-commerce.com/2016/07/min ... -near-lrt/

Still hard to see how we wouldn't be better off tearing down the silos and building something useful from scratch.

It seems everyone agrees that would be better, but the barrier is the expense to tear down the structure.

Noticed Taylor's Star 1 Automotive looked closed and empty this morning. Minneapolis PropertyInfo page shows property was sold on March 3 of this year. The selling price is listed at 1,750,000.00, I think that includes the automotive shop on the corner and the warehouse/office building to the south. This spot along with the Bell Industries building (for sale sign has been there a while) just north of Walgreens seem like prime spots for more development.

Interesting, that stretch of Hiawatha between 38th and Minnehaha Parkway is slowly filling up with apartment buildings...I wonder if this will continue that trend.

The "Wash Me" self car wash (across 42nd from Star 1 Automotive) would be a good development site too, and wouldn't require any assembly with other sites. At .57 acre (minus unfortunate overhead powerline easements), it's large enough to develop on its own. Vehicle access would be a challenge, as the entire site would be restricted to a right-in, right-out driveway on 42nd St (and presumably no access to Hiawatha, as is today)

U-Haul is proposing a self storage and truck rentals at this site. Personally, I am disappointed with this proposal so far. The small area plan calls for the reduction of drive-thrus and other auto-oriented building types and this area is already full of self storage units. The small area plan encourages mixed use development, and specifically retail and offices/convertible space at this site. This site has the opportunity to be a great asset between two light rail stations. It is also directly adjacent to an eventual greenway along the rail corridor, and next to the River Lake Greenway on 42nd Street.