Revel / Target Store- 1300 West Lake St

[grant1simons2]

Good. Cheapo is looking for another location in Uppytown. That'll make a lot of people put down their pitchforks.

[Wedgeguy]

I could see the possibility if 2 fairly large retailer splitting the 1st floor space. One fronting Lake and the other Lagoon. THis would help take care of the retail dead zone on Fremont as it would not get the foot traffic that it truly need to be a shopping street. Lagoon would still work for retail as it is a primary street with retail currently, both east and west of that section of the block.

It would also strengthen the possibility of more retail on the Acme/PPH block kitty corner to it on Lagoon if there is a strong retail anchor on the Lagoon side. You would then have more continuous retail from CVS on Dupont to Lund's on Humbolt. That makes for a strong reason for shoppers to walk further and expand the Uptown retail area. Most shopper walk farther that that at Rosedale or MOA to get from on end to the other. The trick is to get the mind to think that there is another store just ahead and you will walk 50 more feet to check it out. When you continuously see store fronts ahead you are more likely to keep going unless you are there for a one stop shop. With all of the apartment along the greenway now, there will be a lot of foot traffic soon along Lagoon as people pass over the bridges to get to Lagoon or Lake street. Girard will not be the only place where people cross over the greenway.

PS: Did I see a red wall down by the Lagoon end of the building inside the store?? Target??

[David Greene]

First thought after I saw the rendering:

I like it!

Further thoughts after reading the article:

OMG I want this tomorrow.

Market-rate apartments. Retail on Lagoon and Lake. Cheapo staying around.

How is this not win-win-win for everyone?

[min-chi-cbus]

K, well I think it super sucks and I'm not just looking for the negative -- this design blows. But another way to look at it is that it's "unique", I suppose. Ah well......it's an improvement over what's currently there (and I mean the building, not the tenant).

[Archiapolis]

Oh boy, ESG. Get ready for a parking podium.

You know that the architect doesn't propose "parking podiums" out of the gate right? You know that parking numbers are generated by the pro forma and then the architecture responds to that program - not the other way around.

Go ahead and take shots at ESG and architects in general but your reproach has no basis in fact.

[John]

I'm not quite sure where the negativity is coming from, but this proposal has a great street level, and if there's a parking podium, it sure is well concealed. The building is very modern, hip, and fun to look at, It avoids the overdose of too many materials on the exterior like The Walkway. It increases density in the heart of Uptown. What else can we ask for?

[twincitizen]

Walkway next door just sold for $40.3MM, setting a local record for per-unit price (though the project includes a lot of very valuable commercial real estate, greatly inflating the per unit figure)

http://finance-commerce.com/2015/06/wal ... for-40-3m/

EDIT: Story has now been amended to state that the property sold for $54MM!

For comparison, the 286-unit (and also including large high-value commercial space) 222 Hennepin sold for $109MM earlier this year. $54MM for the Walkway is staggering, considering it only has 92 units.

[aeisenberg]

Yuck. Looks super tacky. Will age quickly.

[Wedgeguy]

Yuck. Looks super tacky. Will age quickly.

I do not see it aging any differently than a majority of the Stadium Village apartment buildings. My opinion is that it will be the better building compared to the Walkway with is a kaleidoscope of surfaces that rarely tie in with each other. Way better that the one dimensional faux historical piece of S**T that is across Fremont from this proposed building. I think it has nice texture and a great rhythm on the two sides that we can see. IT is far from a plain Jane and way less gaudy that some recent buildings that have been built here in the city. IMO!

[twincitizen]

With the recent news about Walkway selling for an absurd amount of money and vacancies in Uptown hovering below 2%, I wonder if CPM could be encouraged to go even bigger (i.e. above 6 stories and to concrete construction). Despite the existence of the taller Mozaic and plans for an 8-story Mozaic2 (and rumors/drawings of a 10-story hotel on the vacant Calhoun Square site!), no one has popped the cherry on a taller residential building yet. Presumably it would have to be a minimum of 10 stories for it to be financially viable with concrete construction. This is why you don't see any 8-story residential buildings. They're either 6/stick or 10+/concrete & steel.

This site is sandwiched between the possible 10-story hotel and the Mozaic campus. It borders no low-scale buildings whatsoever, and would only be direct neighbors with the 7-story Walkway. If you were gonna push the envelope in Uptown, this would be a good place to start. Someone's gotta go first so you can do those taller developments on the Arby's site, etc. CPM likes to work quickly though, and are planning on building this themselves, so I doubt they'll stray from the plan they've presented.

[Nathan]

Yuck. Looks super tacky. Will age quickly.

Style and risk always "ages" faster than boring, and are usually the best buildings. Remember buildings in the gateway like the metropolitan building were torn down because short sighted people thought they were "aged". Not your style is probably a better way to put it.

[aeisenberg]

Yuck. Looks super tacky. Will age quickly.

Style and risk always "ages" faster than boring, and are usually the best buildings. Remember buildings in the gateway like the metropolitan building were torn down because short sighted people thought they were "aged". Not your style is probably a better way to put it.

Sorry. What I MEANT to say is: Not my style AND bad design.

[Nathan]

Yuck. Looks super tacky. Will age quickly.

Style and risk always "ages" faster than boring, and are usually the best buildings. Remember buildings in the gateway like the metropolitan building were torn down because short sighted people thought they were "aged". Not your style is probably a better way to put it.

Sorry. What I MEANT to say is: Not my style AND bad design.

if you're going to claim bad design this is where you add warrant to your claim, because from a modernist point of of view this is a really great building.

[grant1simons2]

I just think this is funny

Sherman Properties Vs. CPM by grant.simons, on Flickr

[FISHMANPET]

Hey there's only so many texture packs in the Revit library or something something.

[RailBaronYarr]

Per WedgeLive! the developer hinted folks would be very pleased with the ground floor retail tenant they think they have lined up. Singular. The image I saw of the space looked like it would be an odd space for just one tenant - it gets narrow in the middle of the face along Fremont, like half of a dumbbell.

[twincitizen]

More on that: http://www.southwestjournal.com/news/de ... site-store

Yes, a single 20k sf retailer. Accessible via entrances on both Lake and Lagoon. Intriguing!

'Pleasing' definitely depends on who you're talking to. Some would say a Forever 21 [or similar mall chain] is a big win, showing the continued strength of Uptown as a retail/fashion district, especially since this is expanding the retail district away from the Hennepin & Lake core. Others would say it's the final nail in the coffin. The developer's perspective (and mine, FWIW) would probably be the former. Long time residents & LHENA curmudgeons the latter.

[David Greene]

Jesus H. Christ.

"Several at the sparsely attended meeting objected to the way the towers would dwarf pedestrians, arguing that it would create an unpleasant sidewalk environment."

[John]

Jesus H. Christ.

"Several at the sparsely attended meeting objected to the way the towers would dwarf pedestrians, arguing that it would create an unpleasant sidewalk environment."

[twincitizen]

Going to CoW on June 18. Depending on feedback, I'm guessing they'll be back for a Planning Commission public hearing by the end of summer or early fall.