Uptown Hotel Discussion

[BoredAgain]

[Trigger warning -- above post contains incidences of Guy Fieri.]

I appreciate this more than you could possibly imagine.

[MNdible]

Now I know what I'm getting MNdible for Christmas.

That spatula is going to help me ride the bus to Flavortown or something.

[bapster2006]

The 9-story Moxy hotel at 1121 W Lake is up for Planning COW review on Nov 19. There is a better drawing of it in the documents.

http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/meeting ... S1P-151686

[grant1simons2]

The branding for the hotel looks awful, but the hotel itself... Yes please!

[Wedgeguy]

The 9-story Moxy hotel at 1121 W Lake is up for Planning COW review on Nov 19. There is a better drawing of it in the documents.

http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/meeting ... S1P-151686

This is the Graves project correct? I agree with Grant, there truly needs to be a name change for that hotel.

[xandrex]

Moxy appears to be a Marriott brand (so don't expect a name change): http://moxy-hotels.marriott.com/

It's budget but "chic."

[grant1simons2]

I don't expect a name change either. Just whatever gross font that is could someday change

[Nathan]

Wow, it's really hard to complain about that. a really beautiful sleek modern building on a small lot. The street level is great, I love the way the glass wraps and tapers around the corners.

[MattW]

Yeah, Moxy is Marriott's newest brand, so they're going to be pushing it pretty hard. This part of Minneapolis fits the brand perfectly. Before they picked the Downtown East location, I was thinking this would have been a good spot for Radisson Red. Essentially the same thing.

[seanrichardryan]

No closets to hang clothes, or stash an iron. Interesting.

[grant1simons2]

Apparently Millennials don't do that.

[Nathan]

A lot of these newer hotels have modern built in furniture type units that might not be drawn in on the plans?

[MNdible]

Unless you're making an extended stay, closets in hotels seem kind of silly.

[RailBaronYarr]

I dunno, when I travel for work I like to unpack my pant(s) and dress shirts to hang up and iron on the first night so they're ready to go for early mornings. Not that a full closet is needed for this, but some hanging space is nice.

[grant1simons2]

Disregarding my snarky comment above, this is still in early design phase. Seeming that some floors don't even have layouts yet.

It'd still be a good thing to ask... (Nick)

[xandrex]

Seems like this could also be solved with a rolling clothes rack you request should you really need it. I've used a closet exactly once. Given how they're marketing this space, I assume most of the folks can live out of their suitcases.

[RailBaronYarr]

^Exactly, and to be honest I think a boutique hotel like this with minimal parking is going for pleasure visitors at least as much as business travelers.

[scottiem]

I went to the monthly CARAG meeting last night, where there was a 45 min presentation and discussion of the new hotel. Many positives and negatives were brought up, but much of the discussion revolved around scale. The developer seemed to pick certain phrases from the Uptown Small Area Plan which supported the 84' building on the South side of Lake, despite the variances and conditional use permits required per zoning. Various residents mentioned that this building violated the spirit and intention of the Small Area Plan, in that taller buildings should be North of Lake in addition to being positioned closer to the center of block. As is, this 9 story, 84' building is positioned directly adjacent to two-story single family housing. I'm asking: what are the negative impacts of discontinuous scaling like this on neighborhoods? I've always assumed that scaling is necessary to prevent large voids from forming in an area, to which the negatives of livability are fairly apparent to me. I haven't heard much discussion on the negative impacts of, for lack of a better phrase, over-bulking the neighborhood. Thoughts?

[seanrichardryan]

They should buy the neighboring houses to the south and build a few three story walkups. Scaling complete!

[Wedgeguy]

No ones sunshine will be compromised with this hotel, except for Arby's and Hennepin Lake Liquor's parking lot.. What is the difference of a 5 story and a ten story building. They both will block any city views that mature trees do in the summer time already.