Thrivent HQ & Moment apartments - 500 7th St & 650 Portland Ave

Downtown - North Loop - Mill District - Elliot Park - Loring Park
downtowndweller
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Re: Thrivent Headquarters Block - 6th St and Portland Ave

Postby downtowndweller » May 16th, 2018, 1:48 pm

I'm surprised this project is getting as much criticism as it is. I don’t see any reason this block can’t have the same success as the KA block. Within one block of this block (3 x 3 = 9 sq. blocks), there are a total of seven surface lots (not counting the three parking garages) that make up an ocean of concrete. Some of these already have plans in the works including (Old Thrivent Parking Lot (4th Ave & 6th St), City of Minneapolis Office Building (501 4th Ave S), House of Charity (7th & Park)) while others remain ripe for the taking. I hope this block encourages additional development, expands the skyway’s reach and brings additional foot traffic to the area which will hopefully spur some much needed retail and restaurants.

What would people like to see in order to turn from critics to proponents of this project? More floors? Different exterior materials? Additional design elements?

SurlyLHT
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Re: Thrivent Headquarters Block - 6th St and Portland Ave

Postby SurlyLHT » May 16th, 2018, 2:26 pm

What would people like to see in order to turn from critics to proponents of this project? More floors? Different exterior materials? Additional design elements?
I think most on this forum would like to see all of the things you listed. However, with that said if this project was as high quality as the City of Minneapolis office building proposed nearby I think much of the criticism would be gone.

grant1simons2
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Re: Thrivent Headquarters Block - 6th St and Portland Ave

Postby grant1simons2 » May 16th, 2018, 3:27 pm

I'm starting to get just as fed up with these driving courts. Is our land that invaluable to developers that they feel the need to devote over 25% of the property to something used less than 4 hours of the day? How many delivery trucks are really needed for a loading dock? Why not convert parking into a loading space?

In terms of architecture. I mean, I respect the homage to the early Thrivent building, but it's really just 2 rectilinear spwlaces next to each other. I recommended they build a canopy over the 6th St side in hopes of creating an attractive space for people to walk in any weather. Instead the wall will be a bit more windswept. And of course there's height too, but that's toward the end of my list of complaints.

ndokken
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Re: Thrivent Headquarters Block - 6th St and Portland Ave

Postby ndokken » May 22nd, 2018, 6:54 am

The City approved the new corporate headquarters yesterday. Groundbreaking for the corporate center will be in July. Estimation of completion probably 2020.

martykoessel
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Re: Thrivent Headquarters Block - 6th St and Portland Ave

Postby martykoessel » May 22nd, 2018, 2:24 pm

I'm starting to get just as fed up with these driving courts. Is our land that invaluable to developers that they feel the need to devote over 25% of the property to something used less than 4 hours of the day? How many delivery trucks are really needed for a loading dock? Why not convert parking into a loading space?

In terms of architecture. I mean, I respect the homage to the early Thrivent building, but it's really just 2 rectilinear spwlaces next to each other. I recommended they build a canopy over the 6th St side in hopes of creating an attractive space for people to walk in any weather. Instead the wall will be a bit more windswept. And of course there's height too, but that's toward the end of my list of complaints.
I wonder how it would have been if, in additional to acknowledging the rectilinear shape of the original building, an effort had been made to capture something of its greenish color. Perhaps some of the complaints in this thread about the blandness of the architecture are exacerbated by the dominance of white and grey. Of course, the renderings for the City Office Building don't exactly explode with color, and it still looks great.

pjohnt
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Re: Thrivent Headquarters Block - 6th St and Portland Ave

Postby pjohnt » May 22nd, 2018, 8:56 pm

I'm always surprised by the comments on this thread. I think it's a very attractive building and look forward to it, conversely I think the new city building is absolutely disgusting and will probably rank as one of the three ugliest buildings downtown. To each their own I guess.

amiller92
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Re: Thrivent Headquarters Block - 6th St and Portland Ave

Postby amiller92 » May 23rd, 2018, 9:08 am

The Thrivent building is boring and unambitious. That disappointing for downtown. But I do prefer it to their existing building.

Oreos&Milk
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Re: Thrivent Headquarters Block - 6th St and Portland Ave

Postby Oreos&Milk » May 24th, 2018, 10:05 am

The Thrivent building is boring and unambitious. That disappointing for downtown. But I do prefer it to their existing building.
Yea, parking lots are just new opportunities to be disappointed with more boring blah development. Might as well keep getting them done and over with! :cry:

amiller92
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Re: Thrivent Headquarters Block - 6th St and Portland Ave

Postby amiller92 » May 24th, 2018, 10:32 am

It can be better than the existing parking lot and still boring and unambitious. Also, believing it to be boring and unambitious is not the same as believing it shouldn't happen.

SurlyLHT
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Re: Thrivent Headquarters Block - 6th St and Portland Ave

Postby SurlyLHT » June 7th, 2018, 12:03 pm

Captured.JPG
Packet http://minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/pub ... 211556.pdf

It's sort of weird that one of the models shows the Thrivent HQ as taller?
attachment=0]CaptureE.JPG[/attachment][

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jtoemke
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Re: Thrivent Headquarters Block - 6th St and Portland Ave

Postby jtoemke » June 7th, 2018, 1:37 pm

Someone definitely laid the sheets out on 11x17" and just shrunk it so 8.5"x11"

All the images are squished.

Qhaberl
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Re: Thrivent Headquarters Block - 6th St and Portland Ave

Postby Qhaberl » June 7th, 2018, 2:02 pm

Are they planning on doing the same thing they did with the Crouse Anderson block? Dig up the entire parking lot at once and put a few levels of below grade parking? I really hope so. I loved how Crouse Anderson read develop their entire block at one time.


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Qhaberl
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Re: Thrivent Headquarters Block - 6th St and Portland Ave

Postby Qhaberl » June 7th, 2018, 2:03 pm

I think the necessity for two levels of underground parking would be ridiculous, but as long is said parking is out of sight, I don’t really care.


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Silophant
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Re: Thrivent Headquarters Block - 6th St and Portland Ave

Postby Silophant » June 7th, 2018, 2:33 pm

Captured.JPGPacket http://minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/pub ... 211556.pdf

It's sort of weird that one of the models shows the Thrivent HQ as taller?
attachment=0]CaptureE.JPG[/attachment][
Someone definitely laid the sheets out on 11x17" and just shrunk it so 8.5"x11"

All the images are squished.
The images are distorted, but also, due to the magic of tall office floor-to-floor heights, the Thrivent building is a bit taller. According to their packets, the apartment building will be 135' to the 12th floor roofline, and the Thrivent building will be 143' to the top of the mechanical penthouse and the little spirey thingy on Portland.
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BigIdeasGuy
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Re: Thrivent Headquarters Block - 6th St and Portland Ave

Postby BigIdeasGuy » June 7th, 2018, 2:46 pm

The apartment building is positively great but the hotel is still pretty rough. Sherman definitely needs go back and figure out a better cladding than what they currently have. The hotels street level facing Portland needs some work as well, the meeting room at 7th and Portland not a coffee shop is an easy step forward.

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Nathan
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Re: Thrivent Headquarters Block - 6th St and Portland Ave

Postby Nathan » June 7th, 2018, 2:59 pm

So this is maybe having a ymca in it? Massive gym, daycare, play area, or was that known?

I'll be happy to see this lot developed, nothing ground breaking but nice stuff, good mixed use, making downtown a little more complete.

*I've just realized that with this and the gateway project, there is only 1 full city block of surface parking left in the entire downtown. Hennepin at 10th/11th. That's great considering 5 years ago they were abundant.

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Silophant
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Re: Thrivent Headquarters Block - 6th St and Portland Ave

Postby Silophant » June 7th, 2018, 3:11 pm

As far as I know, they haven't officially announced who's running the daycare and gym, but what organization besides the Y does both of those things?
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grrdanko
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Re: Thrivent Headquarters Block - 6th St and Portland Ave

Postby grrdanko » June 7th, 2018, 6:36 pm

What happened to the Skyway connection to HCMC?

GILBball
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Re: Thrivent Headquarters Block - 6th St and Portland Ave

Postby GILBball » June 7th, 2018, 7:28 pm

The buildings are both fine and I look forward to seeing them built, but that driveway in the middle is HUGE. You could fit a whole 4th building in there! Seems like a crazy waste of space. Do they really need it to cut all the way through the block?

twinkess
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Re: Thrivent Headquarters Block - 6th St and Portland Ave

Postby twinkess » June 7th, 2018, 8:10 pm

The whole parking lot is closed and the billboards are being torn down. They've torn up a couple patches of asphalt but haven't really started digging yet.


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