urbanMSP

From the CPC CoW:
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/www/gro ... 108603.pdf

"Redevelopment of an existing parking ramp with the addition of 51 dwelling units on the east side and 42 dwelling units above the top floor."

This is the St. Anthony Main ramp. The project is named Rampton. This is awesome, but also hilarious and somewhat strange.

Strange indeed, but also really creative. That ramp was overbuilt for an exciting 1980s vision that never came to fruition over there. It is connected by a tunnel to Riverplace. They might actually breath some life into that corner.

That is the best serious pun of ALL time. Maybe this could be a new construction model for (R/H)ampton Inn

The clock is ticking on the surface parking lot across the street from here.

Very interesting, indeed. A little weird that levels 1-7 have units on the side of the ramp, then there is a gap before levels 11 and 12 cover the top of the ramp. A creative use of space that will certainly improve the aesthetics of the ramp.

That is strange. I wonder if the new elevator shaft will have connections out to the ramp on every level, or if it'll only stop on floors 1-7, then 11-12. (Also, the Gross Area Calculations on page 3 show 8 levels of "linerhousing" apartments, while everything else says seven. Curiouser and curiouser.)

Cool project in general, although I'm not sure how I feel about them vacating 20' of 2nd Ave S. Obviously they couldn't do much without vacating. Interesting that they propose nothing for the University Ave frontage.

Also, the cantilever over the sidewalk should be interesting.

The labor center across the street also had some plans to build apartments on the parking lot and drive thru bank next to their building. I think there was a press release late last year, but I have heard nothing since.

Rampton... I've never laughed so hard at something on here. That is fantastic. And I agree, that parking lot's days should be numbered, although that adjacent lot could hold some real density. Anybody know what it's zoned for?

Cool project in general, although I'm not sure how I feel about them vacating 20' of 2nd Ave S. Obviously they couldn't do much without vacating. Interesting that they propose nothing for the University Ave frontage.

It looks like there's only 20 ft. between the edge of the ramp and the property line on that side, which would make for narrow apartments after putting in a corridor, etc, and I doubt they could convince the city to give up any of the University Ave ROW.

The parking lot across 2nd Ave is owned by General Mills and it's zoned I1, light industrial.

The proposed Rampton Apartments are currently zoned C2, neighborhood corridor commercial district.

Light industrial ... interesting. I've always thought something big, multiple buildings with some green space, would be best for this site - you know, like every site. I wouldn't think General Mills would ever expand on this site, but what do I know?

I just noticed that it's in an Industrial Living overlay district. Without getting into too much detail, these districts are "...established to encourage the rehabilitation and reuse of existing industrial structures and to provide for limited residential and retail uses in the I1 and I2 Industrial Districts where such uses are compatible with other uses in the area."

Like if General Mills were to move it's headquarters to those blocks... I wouldn't mind... lol

Very interesting, indeed. A little weird that levels 1-7 have units on the side of the ramp, then there is a gap before levels 11 and 12 cover the top of the ramp. A creative use of space that will certainly improve the aesthetics of the ramp.

I'm guessing it's the same reason everything else is 6 or 7 stories. It'll probably be a concrete base with 6 stories of stick built on top. They're probably not really tying into the structure of the parking ramp for the side building.

And I guess now we finally know what it takes to get a residential project built in this city without a parking component.

....being attached to an underused ramp that sells monthly contracts for $50/month.

Super bizarre and rather unattractive. Maybe if they increased the height of the apartments to match the height of the ramp and wrapped the University side it would look somewhat decent. Looks to me like they're doing the cheapest solution they can to meet their requirement stated in the project summary of the development proposal. If this gets built I'd just hope that from street level it's hard to notice the weird monster that was created.

A perfect place for Cuningham Group's employees to live.

I think I would have gone with 'RampArt201'.

Super bizarre and rather unattractive. Maybe if they increased the height of the apartments to match the height of the ramp and wrapped the University side it would look somewhat decent. Looks to me like they're doing the cheapest solution they can to meet their requirement stated in the project summary of the development proposal. If this gets built I'd just hope that from street level it's hard to notice the weird monster that was created.

It's probably a lot harder to get a variance on set back and units overhanging the sidewalk for Big Ole University Avenue than it is for little 2nd ave...

It would have been nice to have a few Units on the West side of the building (though it looks to be on it's property line) to disguise the ramp from the direction you can actually drive on University... Maybe if the "Rampton" starts doing well they can afford some sort of cool decorative facade for the most exposed views of the ramp.

Also, YAY retail right? What do we suppose might go in there? It's a little detached, but there are a fair amount of people living around there.