Former Thrivent Building (now Hennepin) & Sora Apartments Block

Downtown - North Loop - Mill District - Elliot Park - Loring Park
amiller92
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Thrivent's Surface Parking Lots

Postby amiller92 » July 12th, 2017, 9:59 am

Parking. Whatever. I think it's short sighted but I don't care that much.

But why is the rest of it so lacking in ambition? Why not at least another 10 stories too?

grrdanko
Landmark Center
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Re: Thrivent's Surface Parking Lots

Postby grrdanko » July 12th, 2017, 10:04 am

That a skyway may be extending toward HCMC is really exciting.
No.

Image

What do you mean no?

I know there are some Skyway haters here, but I really think this would be huge for livable and access downtown. Many mobility impaired and wheelchair bound can be independent because of the Skyway and being able to get to the hospital would be huge.

Anondson
IDS Center
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Re: Thrivent's Surface Parking Lots

Postby Anondson » July 12th, 2017, 10:54 am

Confession: I am not put off by a skyway to the hospital.

But for this level of unambitious development to happen on the new proposed skyway link? Just no.

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VacantLuxuries
Foshay Tower
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Re: Thrivent's Surface Parking Lots

Postby VacantLuxuries » July 12th, 2017, 10:56 am

I, for one, think it would be very Christian of them to add affordable housing units on top of the parking.

ndokken
City Center
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Re: Thrivent's Surface Parking Lots

Postby ndokken » July 12th, 2017, 11:08 am

This has told me a lot more than the internal news announced to us last Monday in which we were just told "a parking ramp" . We were told Thrivent signed a purchase agreement with the buyer who is developing the land to build a "parking ramp". Unless I was just reading into the vagueness.

Southside
City Center
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Re: Thrivent's Surface Parking Lots

Postby Southside » July 12th, 2017, 11:36 am

It's a real shame they aren't building a 1500 ft. Renzo Piano designed LEED Platinum affordable housing only super-tall with street level retail for craft breweries and bike shops and no parking or skyway access on such an wonderful 1/2 block parcel.

Silophant
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Re: Thrivent's Surface Parking Lots

Postby Silophant » July 12th, 2017, 11:40 am

Actual text I sent during the meeting: "Omg a skyway connection the forums are going to be a shitshow for months."
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Qhaberl
Foshay Tower
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Re: Thrivent's Surface Parking Lots

Postby Qhaberl » July 12th, 2017, 1:00 pm

I agree that the parking does not need to be there. I am definitely much happier that at least the parking garage will be enclosed with residential units around the outside. At least the outside of the ugly parking garage won't be that miserable. But I do agree, this is absolutely a horrible design for that block. It definitely could be a lot worse though. I am glad to see that the apartment bubble has been burst yet. It means that still, more and more people are moving into the cities.


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Qhaberl
Foshay Tower
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Re: Thrivent's Surface Parking Lots

Postby Qhaberl » July 12th, 2017, 1:12 pm

Another thought: 55 dwelling units is nowhere near enough. Come on people get with the program.


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VacantLuxuries
Foshay Tower
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Re: Thrivent's Surface Parking Lots

Postby VacantLuxuries » July 12th, 2017, 1:28 pm

It's a real shame they aren't building a 1500 ft. Renzo Piano designed LEED Platinum affordable housing only super-tall with street level retail for craft breweries and bike shops and no parking or skyway access on such an wonderful 1/2 block parcel.
Just like there's a missing middle between a single family home and a six story apartment building, there's a world of middle between a surface parking lot and a supertall.

EOst
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Re: Thrivent's Surface Parking Lots

Postby EOst » July 12th, 2017, 2:06 pm

I'd be okay if it just covered the top two levels of the parking ramp.

Silophant
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Re: Thrivent's Surface Parking Lots

Postby Silophant » July 12th, 2017, 2:11 pm

The presenter did mention at the end that they were still running the numbers for if they wanted to go with four or five levels of stick-built apartments above the concrete ground level. I feel like they'll probably end up going with five, since that's penciled out for every single other recent stick-built project I can think of. I agree that screening all of the parking instead of just most of it is about the least they can do.
Joey Senkyr
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Southside
City Center
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Re: Thrivent's Surface Parking Lots

Postby Southside » July 12th, 2017, 2:53 pm

It's a real shame they aren't building a 1500 ft. Renzo Piano designed LEED Platinum affordable housing only super-tall with street level retail for craft breweries and bike shops and no parking or skyway access on such an wonderful 1/2 block parcel.
Just like there's a missing middle between a single family home and a six story apartment building, there's a world of middle between a surface parking lot and a supertall.
You're right of course. I just don't understand everyone's complaints about this project. There's zero chance they're going to build anything here without a skyway. In actuality doing so would severely hinder the development opportunities for the surface lot across the street.

This project looks like it checks a lot of boxes, including extending the heart of downtown further east, replacing some of the parking being lost from the office consolidation project, adds more downtown housing and it sounds like it might be a bit larger when finalized. A big win.

mattaudio
Stone Arch Bridge
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Re: Thrivent's Surface Parking Lots

Postby mattaudio » July 12th, 2017, 3:03 pm

Let's step back and think about this *with* a skyway: This parcel could be a hub for the DTE skyway network, already connecting 701/Accenture, Government Center/USBankPlaza, and the ramp-jail-ramp connection to the new WF buildings. It seems like this would be a place to build a more prominent skyway connection to the street, and do something to improve that tube-clinging-to-the-back-of-Thrivent skyway that exists today. It's bright and sunny, but it's a block of nothingness. Getting rid of the bright windows, required by this development proposal to the east, would degrade the walkability of this skyway link even further.

BigIdeasGuy
Union Depot
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Re: Thrivent's Surface Parking Lots

Postby BigIdeasGuy » July 12th, 2017, 5:07 pm

No, try again.

That should be the city's response to this turd of a proposal. If they are going to insist on the 600 park spots they city should insist that apartments cover the entire exterior at a minimum if not higher and a decent amount should be Section 8/low income/workforce housing. Along with that the city should also require the sale and/or development of their remaining blocks otherwise they will face large property tax increases, being sure to not encourage another 222 Hennepin. Toss in a requirement to provide employees bus passes it could end up being a win for the city. There is a way to make this work for everyone if everyone comes to the table.

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FISHMANPET
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Re: Thrivent's Surface Parking Lots

Postby FISHMANPET » July 12th, 2017, 7:55 pm

No, try again.

That should be the city's response to this turd of a proposal. If they are going to insist on the 600 park spots they city should insist that apartments cover the entire exterior at a minimum if not higher and a decent amount should be Section 8/low income/workforce housing. Along with that the city should also require the sale and/or development of their remaining blocks otherwise they will face large property tax increases, being sure to not encourage another 222 Hennepin. Toss in a requirement to provide employees bus passes it could end up being a win for the city. There is a way to make this work for everyone if everyone comes to the table.
I'm guessing most, if not all, of these demands are not legal.

Southside
City Center
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Re: Thrivent's Surface Parking Lots

Postby Southside » July 12th, 2017, 8:59 pm

No, try again.

That should be the city's response to this turd of a proposal. If they are going to insist on the 600 park spots they city should insist that apartments cover the entire exterior at a minimum if not higher and a decent amount should be Section 8/low income/workforce housing. Along with that the city should also require the sale and/or development of their remaining blocks otherwise they will face large property tax increases, being sure to not encourage another 222 Hennepin. Toss in a requirement to provide employees bus passes it could end up being a win for the city. There is a way to make this work for everyone if everyone comes to the table.
Why stop there? Why not make Thrivent tear down their skyway, make employees bike to work, and require tenants of the new building mill around outside for a minimum of 3 hours a day to provide active street life for urbanists to enjoy when they pass.

RailBaronYarr
Capella Tower
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Re: Thrivent's Surface Parking Lots

Postby RailBaronYarr » July 12th, 2017, 9:11 pm

Looks like The Suburbanist created a streets.mn forum account!

In all seriousness, I'm not wild about this proposal but I don't think it's as much junk as others seem to. The number of units is frustratingly low, but parking wrapped with *something* is a good start, and I really get the impression this is setting themselves up for a quality development on the full block across the street. It's possible the office tower market isn't strong enough for something tall here and/or Thrivent doesn't want a residential tower an arm's length from its employees' windows with quite stunning views of a cool new park and stadium. I'm with Silophant that the trade for this vs a bunch of good stuff on the full block is a pretty good situation.

mattaudio
Stone Arch Bridge
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Re: Thrivent's Surface Parking Lots

Postby mattaudio » July 13th, 2017, 8:55 am

To be fair, the Thrivent tower's east face is *mostly a blank wall* because it was *designed for a tower to snug up against it.* https://goo.gl/maps/urLM2krPBG42

amiller92
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Thrivent's Surface Parking Lots

Postby amiller92 » July 13th, 2017, 9:00 am

This project looks like it checks a lot of boxes, including extending the heart of downtown further east, replacing some of the parking being lost from the office consolidation project, adds more downtown housing and it sounds like it might be a bit larger when finalized. A big win.
This is a lot in the heart of our downtown "financial district." They're proposing that it be used for a parking structure and 55 units of housing. That's not a win. Not in this location.


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