DTE: Wells Fargo, Radisson Red, Edition Apts & Millwright Building

Downtown - North Loop - Mill District - Elliot Park - Loring Park
min-chi-cbus
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Re: Downtown East Project (Ryan Companies / Wells Fargo)

Postby min-chi-cbus » March 14th, 2014, 3:16 pm

But then people would be literally shitting on this new commemorative public relic!

Chauncey87
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Re: Downtown East Project (Ryan Companies / Wells Fargo)

Postby Chauncey87 » March 14th, 2014, 3:28 pm

You all just need to go back a handful of pages to read about the Star Tribune being torn down. The demo side of this forum gave there side the save this building gave there side the Medallions are going to be saved. No reason for regulars to read the same thing over and over about this building when it was already concluded months ago.

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Re: Downtown East Project (Ryan Companies / Wells Fargo)

Postby Anondson » March 14th, 2014, 4:08 pm

But then people would be literally shitting on this new commemorative public relic!
You could say that would be merely people reenacting common community usage of their product!

MNdible
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Re: Downtown East Project (Ryan Companies / Wells Fargo)

Postby MNdible » March 14th, 2014, 10:16 pm

Again, taste is subjective, but that Hearst project leaves me utterly cold. It's like they strapped an elephant onto the back of a cat. But Foster's work rarely impresses me.

Anyway, it seems like it might be more respectful to these buildings' history to just tear the poor things down rather than perform some tortured "rehab" that completely destroys what was meaningful about them in the first place.

sushisimo
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Re: Downtown East Project (Ryan Companies / Wells Fargo)

Postby sushisimo » March 15th, 2014, 8:52 am

I guess the Strib arch in the park is a good idea, but I think you should only be able to walk through it 5 times per month for free.

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Re: Downtown East Project (Ryan Companies / Wells Fargo)

Postby Silophant » March 15th, 2014, 9:16 am

Fine by me, as long as you can you can still walk through unlimited times if someone told you to go there each time.
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Didier
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Re: Downtown East Project (Ryan Companies / Wells Fargo)

Postby Didier » March 15th, 2014, 2:20 pm

I've said this before, but the Star Tribune is a for-profit private business that's primary mission is to be an objective watchdog over entities like the city government. It's also one of several "media companies" based in Minneapolis.

Unless the Strib paid to have its name advertised in the park, the arc would be both unfair to other local, private media companies and a massive conflict of interest for the paper.

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FISHMANPET
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Re: Downtown East Project (Ryan Companies / Wells Fargo)

Postby FISHMANPET » March 15th, 2014, 2:32 pm

While that's true, a city's newspaper is also a cultural institution in and of itself, and in many ways the history of the paper is part of the history of the city.

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Nathan
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Re: Downtown East Project (Ryan Companies / Wells Fargo)

Postby Nathan » March 15th, 2014, 3:07 pm

I've said this before, but the Star Tribune is a for-profit private business that's primary mission is to be an objective watchdog over entities like the city government. It's also one of several "media companies" based in Minneapolis.

Unless the Strib paid to have its name advertised in the park, the arc would be both unfair to other local, private media companies and a massive conflict of intererst for the paper.
right we'd never want grain belt beer or Pillsbury or gold medal flower in big lights above a park because of the roll they had in our city's history. media or not they're a part of our culture.

* I'm totally leaving my misspelled " roll" on purpose, cause it's too funny to change in Pillsbury context.

mplsjaromir
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Re: Downtown East Project (Ryan Companies / Wells Fargo)

Postby mplsjaromir » March 15th, 2014, 3:21 pm

I think one wades into absurdity bemoaning the unfairness of one discrete part of this project. The entire project is could be the poster child of the city and state government giving special treatment to a private organization(s).

Didier
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Re: Downtown East Project (Ryan Companies / Wells Fargo)

Postby Didier » March 15th, 2014, 5:32 pm

Should we get tax dollars to move the WCCO weather watcher over there too?

I don't want to get into a big thing here, but the basis of journalism in the United States is that it's independent. Your sentimental attachment to the paper is great, but naming public space after the newspaper or publicly financing a shrine to the newspaper goes against basic journalism ethics. Honestly, naming public space after any private company without compensation seems obviously wrong, but apparently not?

Anyway, I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter anyway because the only people floating this idea are people like us. But correct me if I'm wrong.

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Re: Downtown East Project (Ryan Companies / Wells Fargo)

Postby mplsjaromir » March 15th, 2014, 6:17 pm

I guess Times Square doesn't exist.

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Nick
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Re: Downtown East Project (Ryan Companies / Wells Fargo)

Postby Nick » March 15th, 2014, 7:29 pm

I guess Times Square doesn't exist.
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xandrex
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Re: Downtown East Project (Ryan Companies / Wells Fargo)

Postby xandrex » March 15th, 2014, 8:59 pm

I guess Times Square doesn't exist.
Very true. Although I suppose it should be said that journalistic ethics when Times Square was named were...ahem...very different, to say the least. :mrgreen:

AccordGuy
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Re: Downtown East Project (Ryan Companies / Wells Fargo)

Postby AccordGuy » March 15th, 2014, 9:31 pm

For nine years I worked in the area where all of this is about to take place, and I love that these horrible surface lots are going to be filled in with new buildings, a park, and more eyes on the street in new residents and employees in the area. My only complaint is that we have two mirror image buildings creating a big wall on one side of the park, along with the Ryan hotel/residential building. It seems to me that we would have benefitted from one taller Wells Fargo tower and a shorter residential building between Wells and the parking ramp Ryan tower. What we are getting is much better than what we have right now, don't get me wrong, just wish this looked a little less like a planned development.
Its kind of nice to see the art deco influences in the new Wells buildings that are planned which is a nice break from the sterile looking buildings we see so much of lately.
Born in Minneapolis.

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Re: Downtown East Project (Ryan Companies / Wells Fargo)

Postby City slicker » March 15th, 2014, 10:09 pm

For nine years I worked in the area where all of this is about to take place, and I love that these horrible surface lots are going to be filled in with new buildings, a park, and more eyes on the street in new residents and employees in the area. My only complaint is that we have two mirror image buildings creating a big wall on one side of the park, along with the Ryan hotel/residential building. It seems to me that we would have benefitted from one taller Wells Fargo tower and a shorter residential building between Wells and the parking ramp Ryan tower. What we are getting is much better than what we have right now, don't get me wrong, just wish this looked a little less like a planned development.
Its kind of nice to see the art deco influences in the new Wells buildings that are planned which is a nice break from the sterile looking buildings we see so much of lately.
This is exactly how I feel and have been hinting about in recent post. Although the whole project isn't horribly bad, it could be much much much better. Why wells didn't build one "more dramatic tower instead of two ugly stubby ones is beyond my thinking. The cost to build those massive- borderline ugly things must be an incredibly higher price. It's seems like everything new being built here (and I'm glad to see the additions) is of poor design and limited height. I can understand the height, but I wish the designs of these new additions had some character to match a city that has a lot of beauty and elegance, not change it into a more mediocre looking skyline.

AccordGuy
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Re: Downtown East Project (Ryan Companies / Wells Fargo)

Postby AccordGuy » March 15th, 2014, 10:17 pm

Minneapolis doesn't seem to want dramatic, or something that stands out. Most everything built downtown in the last 15 years could easily have been built in the suburbs.
For nine years I worked in the area where all of this is about to take place, and I love that these horrible surface lots are going to be filled in with new buildings, a park, and more eyes on the street in new residents and employees in the area. My only complaint is that we have two mirror image buildings creating a big wall on one side of the park, along with the Ryan hotel/residential building. It seems to me that we would have benefitted from one taller Wells Fargo tower and a shorter residential building between Wells and the parking ramp Ryan tower. What we are getting is much better than what we have right now, don't get me wrong, just wish this looked a little less like a planned development.
Its kind of nice to see the art deco influences in the new Wells buildings that are planned which is a nice break from the sterile looking buildings we see so much of lately.
This is exactly how I feel and have been hinting about in recent post. Although the whole project isn't horribly bad, it could be much much much better. Why wells didn't build one "more dramatic tower instead of two ugly stubby ones is beyond my thinking. The cost to build those massive- borderline ugly things must be an incredibly higher price. It's seems like everything new being built here (and I'm glad to see the additions) is of poor design and limited height. I can understand the height, but I wish the designs of these new additions had some character to match a city that has a lot of beauty and elegance, not change it into a more mediocre looking skyline.
Born in Minneapolis.

TroyGBiv
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Re: Downtown East Project (Ryan Companies / Wells Fargo)

Postby TroyGBiv » March 16th, 2014, 2:22 am

Maybe we need to brainstorm a way to elevate the discussion on architectural quality… Maybe URBANMSP can be a public forum that expands beyond these discussion pages to challenge each development to attain the highest level of design to improve the overall aesthetics of all new buildings.

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Nathan
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Re: Downtown East Project (Ryan Companies / Wells Fargo)

Postby Nathan » March 16th, 2014, 9:23 am

Since when did what a private company wants reflect what a city wants specifically? We're still coming out of a recession, and we're lucky that Wells is still investing in Minneapolis with it's back office staff, this isn't a headquarters building or anything flashy for them. The taller you go the more it costs, it would have made it fiscally cost prohibitive for them. If you haven't seen the map of surface lots around, there are plenty of places for other tall buildings to go. Just don't think that because we're filling in a lot(s) that the city isn't interested in inspired architecture. Sometimes you take what you can get when you have 359,983 surface lots. (not all of them can be total architectural wonders.) If this neighborhood wouldn't have been leveled, Nothing in the area would be this tall even so...

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Re: Downtown East Project (Ryan Companies / Wells Fargo)

Postby RailBaronYarr » March 16th, 2014, 9:50 am

Minneapolis doesn't seem to want dramatic, or something that stands out. Most everything built downtown in the last 15 years could easily have been built in the suburbs.
I guess I disagree. There's a nuance between 6 story apartments set back 100' from a 4-6 lane arterial, ringed with (or surrounding) surface parking and the 6-story stuff we've seen going up in the North Loop and Mill District that fronts the sidewalk much better. I'm talking the multitude of buildings that have individual patios and entrances, sidewalk retail, office entrances, and/or re-constructed streetscapes as a result. Yes, there are definitely some buildings we wish were better (ex. Stonebridge), but I'm a little tired of the rhetoric that the urban structures we're seeing are just bland suburban boxes.

For an example of what I'm talking about, there's this (typical of suburbs): http://goo.gl/maps/yHHuw compared to this (typical of downtown in the last 15 years): http://goo.gl/maps/xE6mj There's obviously variation in both, but I'd say we need a whole lot of utilitarian towers with adequate street levels to fill the city out - something I believe this WF/Ryan development does.


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