urbanMSP

I seem to recall reading at one point, that they thought the height of the surrounding buildings would allow a west facing field.

Saint Paul launched a dedicated website for the Lowertown Ballpark.

I have to say I like a lot of the ideas floated by Hosko for re-use in the space (other than increasing the number of parking spots available in the area vs today.. I personally don't think Lowertown has a parking issue). But the city's response is well laid-out. Alignment of the field is important for fans and players. The extra space allows for better trail connections and a dog park. And the sunken-nature of the city's design would certainly help contain some noise and light. I also was wondering how Hosko could be so certain that his plan would cost the same amount as the city's considering all the re-work and partial demolition to the Gillette building.

Furthermore it seemed like he was scraping at ideas to put in the building.. the Model RR Museum already has a home, he's just shifting it from one location to another. Overall, I thought he had some great points but I have to give the nod to the city's design.

Theres a new article in the Star Tribune today about the ballpark.

http://www.startribune.com/local/east/204346011.html

And once again we learn what we already knew - there is nothing resembling a parking shortage in Lowertown. Not that this won't stop people from continuing to complain about the parking shortage (which I can really only assume means "I can't find a space in front of my building's door").

Talk of plans for the current stadium site after the Saints head to Lowertown: http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/209281021.html

Uh oh, with the St. Paul Port Authority in charge, I guess we should expect another suburban-style office park. On the plus side, that type of development really fits the character of Energy Park Drive.

I'm always amazed at how terrible the SPPA developments are.

Yeah, it's pretty terrible stuff. The Westminster Junction area along Phalen near Cayuga Street is a bit less terrible, but that's about all I can say.

But maybe this will generate interest in a north-south bike/ped crossing across the tracks somewhere near Fairview?

Anyway, if SPPA can be convinced to go with a more traditional urban plan, the Midway ballpark site could probably be divided up into 3 or 4 blocks on a grid, extending what's already in place just to the east at the St. Paul Fire Department property (though I don't think those are public streets at the moment).

Check it out!

http://vimeo.com/68155755

So since this is ALREADY 8 million over budget, how much further does everyone see this going over budget?

More new renderings http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/b ... lpark.html

I missed some of the $8 million additional costs news. Where is this money coming from?

I really like the grass slopes in the outfield. It really helps preserve the casual minor league feel, and looks like it could be a really fun spot to watch a game from.

More new renderings http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/b ... lpark.html

New article about funding gap. Old renderings (As in they were released already. Nothing "newer" has been released).

I missed some of the $8 million additional costs news. Where is this money coming from?

I believe the quote of the week goes to Mike Hahm is the Director of Parks and Recreation:
"The exact details we don't know. We have a lot of ideas. We've solved problems like this before."
KSTP covered it last night: http://kstp.com/news/stories/S3065357.shtml?cat=1

I believe the quote of the week goes to Mike Hahm is the Director of Parks and Recreation:
"The exact details we don't know. We have a lot of ideas. We've solved problems like this before."

KSTP covered it last night: http://kstp.com/news/stories/S3065357.shtml?cat=1

Nah, Louis Jambois, president of the Port Authority has the best one:

"We can find ways to fill gaps when identified in projects of this nature. We can shake the trees and find the sources to fill those gaps."

http://www.minnpost.com/two-cities/2013 ... p-upgrades

^^^ I knew it! Money trees are real!

The mind-numbing idiocy of this column is staggering, even for Soucheray, and that's saying something: http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_ ... plant-site

Ugh, I remember why I boycotted PiPress/TwinCities.com for a while...stay strong and never visit their site again.

Thanks for wasting 3 minutes of.my life. It's eastside Lileks.

Well, I once had a boss that would say that a good idea at the wrong time is a bad idea, so in that sense this is not a good idea. But many of the points are valid. The big negative is obviously transportation, parking, etc.. But believe me as a former St. Paul resident: the Ford site redevelopment WILL be a fiasco of collosal proportions and I have no doubts that we will still be discussing how it should look 20 years from now (see Schmidt Brewery). A 'natural' use might have short-circuited the inevitable cluster f%#@ that is most certainly coming.

If somehow the ballpark could have worked there and been anticipated 5-7 years ago so that we could have slowly developed the shortcomings it would have a lot of natural advantages. At the 10,000 foot level, the Saints just ain't a big enough deal to dedicate 'valuable' urban space to. It is, however, a perfectly scaled organization for a location like Highland Park. The neighbors would obviousy howl, but again, I'm working on the thought that you could have spent 5-10 years anticipating a use for the Ford plant that would generate traffic and largely mitigated getting folks in and out.