The Cameron - 756 North 4th Street

[lordmoke]

FINALLY. Renovation and conversion to apartments of the vacant warehouse between the Salvation Army and 730 Lofts. Not too jazzed about the parking lot.

Street view:
https://maps.google.com/?ll=44.986849,- ... 2,,0,-5.54

Site plans:
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/www/gro ... 114091.pdf

[MNdible]

It will be great to see this poor little building get some love. I assume that the building is too small to cram parking into its basement level, hence the surface parking.

It does look like this project (unlike other recent mistakes) will retain the ability to reconnect 8th Ave North.

[twincitizen]

I will go to war (or at least a Planning Commission meeting) over obstructing the 8th Ave N connection. I'm not saying they can't have a parking lot, but at least a few feet of this property will be needed for the 8th Ave ROW. Most of it will be on Salvation Army property.

EDIT: No, it appears this *parcel* (but not the building) does in fact obstruct the 8th Ave connection. By my estimates, 30-35 feet of this property will need to be acquired for ROW, based on the ROW width of the rest of 8th Ave.

http://gis.co.hennepin.mn.us/property/m ... 2924240704

[jet777]

So "The Cameron" is a new jail they're building in the north loop?

[Nathan]

So "The Cameron" is a new jail they're building in the north loop?

If you consider renovating a historic structure "building a jail" then yeah... It's not like they chose the architecture...

[NickP]

So "The Cameron" is a new jail they're building in the north loop?

What do you mean mate?

[dingo]

I believe the windows are "historic" from what I was told by a owner of 730 lofts. Hence why it took so long to develop.

[woofner]

It's worth reading the staff reports:

If 8th Avenue North is extended in the future, it would likely extend through the northerly row of parking spaces. A parking structure would likely encroach into this area as well in order for it to be built on this site, which would conflict with the 8th Avenue vision. The applicant has indicated that they would be willing to work with the City and surrounding property owners when 8th Avenue can be constructed.

[twincitizen]

Perhaps the (relatively) small number of parking spaces needed for this building can be accomodated in a future redevelopment of the Salvation Army site, at which time 8th Ave would be extended.

I'm going to attend the meeting and insist that the Planning Commission include a stipulation of approving the variance that ensures the 8th Avenue extension remains viable. Perhaps the parking variance could have an expiration date clause attached? Not sure if there's a legal mechanism to do that though. There has to be something written explicity into this approval to make sure we don't screw the pooch, again.

[mplser]

maybe they can put covered parking under 8th ave

[TheUrbanGopher]

Partially related - does anybody have any information how deep Bassett Creek lies underneath this area? I am not sure where it runs specifically, but I remember hearing somewhere that it is buried near the hypothetical intersection of 4th Street and 8th Ave N.

[lordmoke]

I don't know about depth, but Google Maps shows the path of the creek if you switch to the "Map" view and zoom in. In the North Loop area, it basically runs along where 8th should be.

[MNdible]

What Google Maps shows there isn't terribly accurate -- if you go to the Hennepin County Property Map, it will give you a better idea of its path.

You can get a decent sense of the depth by looking at how it emerges into the Mississippi. In general the terms, it's not immediately below the surface, but it's also not super-deep.

[mister.shoes]

As long as the damn 3rd/4th viaduct is in the way, 8th Ave would have to jog one way or the other to go around a bridge pier. Eyeballing on the Hennepin County Property Map, a straight shot along the centerline of 8th would go right on the parcel boundary for this lot and the Salvation Army lot, then directly into a bridge pier.

I can't think of a better reason to get rid of that viaduct. Oh wait, yes I can. But this is just another on a huge pile of fantastic reasons

[twincitizen]

The Cameron Building by twincitizen, on Flickr


The Cameron Building by twincitizen, on Flickr

8th Avenue goes here:

Where 8th Avenue should be by twincitizen, on Flickr

I should have snapped a photo of what I climbed up on to take that last photo. As you can see, I'm quite a bit above eye level. It was concrete traffic barriers, stacked 3 high. In retrospect, really stupid and not worth it.

[schmitzm03]

The front of this building is surprisingly nondescript. It seems most of the converted warehouses in the area have at least some semi-decorative detail, but this one really doesn't. I'm sure it will still be a nice addition to the housing stock if the renovation ever gets started.

[Wedgeguy]

Not sure what happened to this project. If Schafer and Richardson is too busy with there Mill Machine Shop project to put any time into getting this done. The plus I did see a dumpster on the west side of the building. But there was not much of anything in there but some cardboard it looked like.

Also read other comment in this thread. I believe that one of the reasons that that section of 8th is not done is because the Bassett Creek runs directly under it. So underground parking is this area would not be inexpensive. You would probably have some seepage issues to deal with. Not sure how many feet down the creek runs from ground level in this area.

[Wedgeguy]

Hope now that the weather is better I can see what is happening with this building. Was supposed to have been worked on last year, but I think they put their money and recourses into the machine shop behind the A Mill on 1st. Maybe this will be the year they take this project on, before there is a rise in interest rates.

[Cinzano71]

Last week I spoke to the project manager on this project and she said it will be 44 units of affordable housing. Starting in June and finishing in April 2016.

[jennifat]

I can't wait to see how this one turns out. I really love the stark, minimalistic industrial look of this building. Should make a nice contrast to the modern developments next door.