United Health Corporate HQ - Eden Prairie

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uptown067
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Re: United Health Corporate HQ - Eden Prairie

Postby uptown067 » July 23rd, 2013, 6:12 pm

Everyone calm down, that's not an updated rendering above. It took about two seconds and one google search to find out, but there are plans for a fourth building:
http://www.edenprairie.org/index.aspx?page=772

min-chi-cbus
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Re: United Health Corporate HQ - Eden Prairie

Postby min-chi-cbus » July 23rd, 2013, 8:59 pm

SIgh......it's a damn shame that UHG prefers the suburbs over the city, because I can't even imagine 3.5-4.0 million SF of office space downtown for UHG, which is what it'll have in its headquarters alone! I realize Target and US Bank have about that much space, but they are also two of the most likely to build a supertall downtown.

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Re: United Health Corporate HQ - Eden Prairie

Postby FISHMANPET » July 24th, 2013, 12:12 pm

Even if they put a building by the LRT it's still terrible, as 75% of the office space is nearly a half mile away from the station.

What they should have done is massed all the buildings against the LRT, put all the parking ramps against Shady Oak Grove, and force anybody that wants to drive to work to have to walk through the beautiful park land to get to their office, whereas LRT riders are dropped off right outside their building.

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Re: United Health Corporate HQ - Eden Prairie

Postby mattaudio » July 24th, 2013, 12:14 pm

Indeed. You think companies would get tired of having to build multi-million dollar structured parking facilities for their employees. It's a major real estate expense, and parking is nearly often a determinant of office needs just as much as actual office square footage.

http://graphingparking.com/2013/05/17/p ... buildings/

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Re: United Health Corporate HQ - Eden Prairie

Postby mnmike » July 24th, 2013, 1:51 pm

Even if they put a building by the LRT it's still terrible, as 75% of the office space is nearly a half mile away from the station.

What they should have done is massed all the buildings against the LRT, put all the parking ramps against Shady Oak Grove, and force anybody that wants to drive to work to have to walk through the beautiful park land to get to their office, whereas LRT riders are dropped off right outside their building.
And why do we need to purposely punish the drivers(not that walking through a park is much punishment...but punishment was implied)? If this was an urban location, I would be inclined to agree with this type of thinking...but in this case, the SW line will probably only be convenient to a small amount of the employees that work here, and it isn't like there are a lot of other great transportation options in this area. In a location like this, driving is probably the best option for most of the employees. If they live in Hopkins, SLP, or downtown, sure, hop the train and have a relaxing commute...but the majority of employees don't live along the line, and park and ride from suburb to suburb doesn't really make sense when you are driving the same distance as you would end up driving straight to work. That said, I do definitely agree that the campus should have been designed with much better access to the LRT line...it is silly not to. Though, there has always been uncertainty about the SW line and placement, and United was ready to go on this a while ago. As people have already said, it is a shame they didn't locate downtown, where they could really take advantage of public transportation from the suburbs in every direction. Imagine the impact a company that size would have had on downtown.

On a random note, a 15 story office building out here will look pretty big.

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FISHMANPET
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Re: United Health Corporate HQ - Eden Prairie

Postby FISHMANPET » July 24th, 2013, 2:08 pm

"Punishing drivers" is a bit tounge in cheek, but why not just clump everything against the LRT station and have the wetlands along Shady Oak Grove.

Is there anything in that area that a person could walk to (for lunch or something) where being against the LRT rather than Shady Oak Grove would be a huge problem?

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Re: United Health Corporate HQ - Eden Prairie

Postby mnmike » July 24th, 2013, 2:17 pm

"Punishing drivers" is a bit tounge in cheek, but why not just clump everything against the LRT station and have the wetlands along Shady Oak Grove.

Is there anything in that area that a person could walk to (for lunch or something) where being against the LRT rather than Shady Oak Grove would be a huge problem?
Yeah, not a lot out there...I agree it would have seemed more logical to build closer to a major transit line, maybe the SW line isn't "for sure" enough for them. Not sure what the wetland/footing situation is there, but you wouldn't think it would have been difficult to reconfigure a bit.

min-chi-cbus
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Re: United Health Corporate HQ - Eden Prairie

Postby min-chi-cbus » July 24th, 2013, 7:06 pm

Not only is there "not a lot out there", but it's quite literally a "retail desert" and it's one of the most extreme examples I've ever seen personally! I went to Edina High School (insert jokes here), spent much of my athletic days in and around Braemar Park, and worked at UnitedHealth Group for over 3 years, and I feel like I know as well as most how few retail and dining options there are in a 1, 2, or 3 mile radius.
Last edited by min-chi-cbus on July 24th, 2013, 7:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: United Health Corporate HQ - Eden Prairie

Postby beykite » July 24th, 2013, 7:09 pm

"Punishing drivers" is a bit tounge in cheek, but why not just clump everything against the LRT station and have the wetlands along Shady Oak Grove.

Is there anything in that area that a person could walk to (for lunch or something) where being against the LRT rather than Shady Oak Grove would be a huge problem?
Shady Oak Road* Not Grove. There's not a whole lot to walk to. However, within a 5 minute drive there are plenty of fast food and upscale dining places. Thats probably the reasoning for being so car centric. It's an office development in the suburbs wedged between 2 freeways and a major artery which is being expanded/reworked between 212 and 7. The LRT station will most likely be completely deserted on weekends/weeknights. Its unfortunate, but thats just the way office complexes in the suburbs are. Drive around the Normandale Lakes Office complex and its like driving through a ghost town. Better yet sit and wait at Bloomington Central Station/American Blvd Station and watch as nobody gets on or off the train. At least this station should be somewhat busy during the week.

Anyways, off the topic of the LRT station, the parking garage along Shady Oak looks absolutely atrocious

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Re: United Health Corporate HQ - Eden Prairie

Postby beykite » July 24th, 2013, 7:17 pm

Not only is there "not a lot out there", but it's quite literally a "retail desert" and it's one of the most extreme examples I've ever seen personally! I went to Edina High School (insert jokes here), spent much of my athletic days in and around Braemar Park, and worked at UnitedHealth Group for over 3 years, and I feel like I know as well as most how few retail and dining options there are in a 1, 2, or 3 mile radius.

(for those who are curious, I grew up in the city before my folks settled in Edina when I was 10).
Hardly a retail desert... Theres a Jimmy Johns, Caribou, Super America, BP, Zorba's Woody's, Campiello's, Sammy's Subs, Scoreboard, Jimmy's Food and Cocktails, Einsteins Bagels, and a lot more smaller retail stores in those strip malls such as TC Running Company all of which are within (rather unfriendly) walking distance. Plus the EP mall and surrounding businesses are only about a 5 minute drive away.

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Re: United Health Corporate HQ - Eden Prairie

Postby min-chi-cbus » July 25th, 2013, 7:44 am

Not only is there "not a lot out there", but it's quite literally a "retail desert" and it's one of the most extreme examples I've ever seen personally! I went to Edina High School (insert jokes here), spent much of my athletic days in and around Braemar Park, and worked at UnitedHealth Group for over 3 years, and I feel like I know as well as most how few retail and dining options there are in a 1, 2, or 3 mile radius.

(for those who are curious, I grew up in the city before my folks settled in Edina when I was 10).
Hardly a retail desert... Theres a Jimmy Johns, Caribou, Super America, BP, Zorba's Woody's, Campiello's, Sammy's Subs, Scoreboard, Jimmy's Food and Cocktails, Einsteins Bagels, and a lot more smaller retail stores in those strip malls such as TC Running Company all of which are within (rather unfriendly) walking distance. Plus the EP mall and surrounding businesses are only about a 5 minute drive away.
Oh PLEASE! You just named two gas stations and admitted that the mall was 5 minutes (several miles) away. As someone who has spent a ton of time in that area, retail options are seriously LACKING, and that's not even debatable! UHG has its own cafeteria which is catered by Aramark, so its employees do not have to go out to get food every day, which is hard to do if you work there because there are few places you can just walk or take a quick jaunt to that are nearby (I know about Scoreboard and that shitty stripmall).

For an area with, what, 50,000 employees and a similar population in a 3 mile radius, it's a "desert".

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Re: United Health Corporate HQ - Eden Prairie

Postby RailBaronYarr » July 25th, 2013, 8:21 am

Just for reference, the address has a walk score of 60: http://walk.sc/18ERrSr

That doesn't take in to account the fact that those amenities are terrible to get to by foot because of the landscape itself. I guarantee that 90%++ of the workers would just as soon get in their cars and drive to any of the locations that are technically within half a mile. Why? Walking would take 10 minutes each way minimum, most likely much more due to long lights for pedestrians. Also consider: they're all strip malls that are terrible to get to if there's snow.

I know this thread is about the HQ itself, but this is the kind of "development" that I call complete BS on for our SW Corridor. Even the SW Transit Station in EP - the one people highlight as a good example of where the LRT is going - is completely designed around motor vehicles in and out. Yay for the single apartment complex and couple of jobs. Is anyone seriously, truly confident (given what we're seeing from this UH complex around the City West station) that we'll get any sort of 'urban design' in EP? I have decent hopes for the Hopkins and SLP stations, but EP is completely and utterly car country and these stations won't transform that, they'll simply fit in to that style of development.

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woofner
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Re: United Health Corporate HQ - Eden Prairie

Postby woofner » July 25th, 2013, 9:42 am

I spent an embarrassing amount of my youth walking around the Eden Prairie Center area, and I'd say it's not too bad as far as suburban development goes. It's actually relatively dense for the Twin Cities, and there are sidewalks on both sides of most streets. Superblocks and urban design are problems, of course, but the former is relatively easily remedied, and as for the latter there is already some decent stuff going up prior to any TOD overlays.

But yeah, the Shady Oak and Opus areas are morasses, and it's hard to imagine significant improvements even with the addition of LRT service. That's just two stations, though, hardly worth nixing the other 14. And don't necessarily write off their value, even if they're only used by commuters, that's still a lot of car trips replaced. Sure, the UHG site plan sucks, but it's still only going to be a short walk from the LRT station for their employees. Remember, it would only take 12% of their workers using LRT for just the UHG station to match the entire Red Line's daily riders.
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Re: United Health Corporate HQ - Eden Prairie

Postby MNdible » July 25th, 2013, 10:47 am

Word.

Gregory

Re: United Health Corporate HQ - Eden Prairie

Postby Gregory » August 10th, 2013, 2:00 pm

This is a very nice project.

MN_RE
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Re: United Health Corporate HQ - Eden Prairie

Postby MN_RE » October 12th, 2013, 12:16 pm

Just driving by this project on 62 this week, it appears that construction may be starting on Tower 3 (Towers 1 & 2 look to be almost complete). Two large cranes and footings are present.

Here is the site map: http://www.edenprairie.org/modules/show ... entid=1612

Tower 3 looks to be pretty substantial at 15 stories. The other three towers are between 8-10 stories, each.

min-chi-cbus
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Re: United Health Corporate HQ - Eden Prairie

Postby min-chi-cbus » October 12th, 2013, 8:07 pm

Hold up, I haven't been near that area in a while, but I used to work there (shudders!). Did you say that the 3rd tower of the Eden Prairie expansion is under construction -- meaning that not only Data Park II is complete (Data Park I finished right before I left) but they built two more structures and now a 3rd is U/C??? Does anyone have any pics of this?

You'd THINK that a company this dead set on building a world HQ in the middle of suburbia, yet along the SW Corridor would do just a little more to ensure that the thing got built and extended all the way out to E.P. For example, it'd be 100% fine by me if its last stop was Hopkins, unless UHG decided to foot the bill for the additional track.

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Re: United Health Corporate HQ - Eden Prairie

Postby Tcmetro » October 12th, 2013, 9:08 pm

Data Park II wrapped up a couple of years ago, and these two new towers are almost done. I believe the fourth tower is supposed to be done in 2015 or 2016.

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Re: United Health Corporate HQ - Eden Prairie

Postby bapster2006 » October 26th, 2013, 4:21 pm

The first two new Optum HQ buildings almost done and the 3rd tower started

Image
UHG HQ 10-25-13 by bapster2006, on Flickr

min-chi-cbus
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Re: United Health Corporate HQ - Eden Prairie

Postby min-chi-cbus » October 26th, 2013, 6:12 pm

Is #3 the 15-story beast?

I didn't realize that UHG was using the exact same design as Data Park I and II for the expansion buildings across Hwy. 62 in Eden Prairie. It's symbolic, in a way, since it emulates UHG's personality as a corporation: big, bland, and intimidating. Clearly, Data Park I and II were successful projects and they just decided why mess with what works.


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