urbanMSP

I'm not sure if I imagined it, because I hadn't noticed it before, but on the way home from work today I saw that a building on Como Ave in Saint Anthony Park had been torn down and there was a fence with a sign on it around the property. It was right next to that Park Service repair place. Couldn't find anything about it from Google searching or looking at the boards here.

HealthPartners and Luther Seminary have just announced that HealthPartners is buying the tract of land across from the Como Clinic (Eustis Street and Como Avenue) to build a new clinic. The health-care company plans to break ground in three to four years after an extensive community engagement and design phase.

This means that nonprofit developer Ecumen no longer plans to build an apartment building and memory-care facility on that piece of land. You can read more about this at www.parkbugle.org.

Pro tip: Take the elevator in the "east" building to the top floor (16th). It's a vacant floor and when you step out of the elevator you'll find the hallway mostly dark (at least it was in 2014). Follow the hallway around until you reach the door at the end. This freely opens up into the highest skyway in the Twin Cities (built in the 1930's). It connects the 16th floor of the Merchant's Bank Building to the 17th floor of the 1st National Bank Building. You can get to the skyway through either building's elevators but it feels more adventurous going through the Merchant's Bank Building.