Alia Tower - 200 Central - 483' / 40 Stories

[Gman12]

Awesome. I have been wondering when this was going to get going. I wouldn't want to be wasting these prime weather months for construction.

[Wedgeguy]

Gman12, Your taking my seasons away from me. That is my bitch!! LOL We have two seasons, winter and construction seasons!!

[Gman12]

What I meant was, wasting it by not building during the past few months. Ideally I would want to start every project in April or May to maximize progress before winter where efficiency would probably take a hit.

[Wedgeguy]

What I meant was, wasting it by not building during the past few months. Ideally I would want to start every project in April or May to maximize progress before winter where efficiency would probably take a hit.

We are on the same page there Gman12.

[jw138]

So now that they own the properties, how long before the shovels hit the dirt?

[twincitizen]

This has not been approved by the city in any way, shape, or form. That includes needing the HPC to approve demolition of the existing buildings on the site. I am a little surprised they haven't at least gotten that ball rolling. This developer does seem to be able to move quite quickly (see Latitude 45) from concept to execution, but as stated above, if it is indeed condos, that will add another 6-12 months to the timeline to allow for pre-sales. As I noted just over a month ago, Alatus anticipated making a decision on condo vs. rental by the end of the year, so that announcement should be forthcoming. If it's rentals, they could very well go through approvals over the winter and be more than ready to break ground in the spring.

Nothing has changed in 2.5 months. Still hasn't begun the approvals process. They never did make that announcement on the condo vs. rental decision in December as they said they would. Surely that decision has been made by now, but it hasn't been made public for some reason. Perhaps an enterprising forumer could suss that out from the new renderings or other peripheral information. It would mean a difference between 185 units and 250 units.

Hopefully they'll submit applications to the city soon. It's going to take at least 2-3 months to get through HPC, Planning Commission, and City Council. There's a real possibility that the HPC will deny demolition of the funeral home building, meaning that they'd have to appeal that decision to the City Council. Total time from application submittal to final approval (staff review time and through the 3 decision-making bodies) could easily push 3 months. If they don't submit soon, they won't be breaking ground in spring, as they once said they hoped to. As noted above, if it is condos, I'd expect the timeline to be stretched out even further to allow for pre-sales. Considering there is literally next to nothing on the market, I don't think they'll have any trouble at all finding enough buyers. My money is on fall demolition and groundbreaking, at the very soonest.

Quoting myself quoting myself again, since all of the above is still true, except now it's been more like 9+ months with no status changes.

[xandrex]

The weird thing is they still haven't announced the condo vs. rental decision. That was supposed to be announced back around Dec/Jan. We'll know the answer to that as soon as we hear an official unit count (~185 vs. ~250, based on previous statements)

Some folks in the know told me this was all but decided on to be condos, but that was back in December. So things may have changed since then.

But I'd think condos would be a slam dunk. Construction should be solid, a great location, and the NIEBNA area is about to be flooded with rental units in the next few years.

[widin007]

http://www.startribune.com/alatus-buys- ... 312559741/

Strib says Alatus plans to submit plans to the city within 60 days.

[matt91486]

I know it's an unpopular opinion, but I do hope the HPC denies demolition of the building. I don't want them to necessarily completely derail the project for it, but I do think it should be preserved in some form, somehow, somewhere. I have no problem with moving it if that's the most cost effective solution.

[Wedgeguy]

Maybe the church could buy it and move it to the Nye open parking lot if they want to buy the land for a price to keep anything high rise out.

[Chef]

I know it's an unpopular opinion, but I do hope the HPC denies demolition of the building. I don't want them to necessarily completely derail the project for it, but I do think it should be preserved in some form, somehow, somewhere. I have no problem with moving it if that's the most cost effective solution.

I agree. That building is gorgeous, and is exactly the sort of thing that will never be built again. I know the height fetishists and development booster club will disagree. If we want to make Minneapolis a compelling city we have to think of it as if we are crafting a work of art, rather than just build everything we can. As a rule, I think beautiful old buildings should stay, use them as the starting point and repair the fabric around them.

[trigonalmayhem]

I do like the building, but I think housing for a couple hundred people is a far better use of scarce land in walkable urban areas than a funeral parlor and squash courts.

[twincitizen]

https://www.google.com/maps/@44.986097, ... 312!8i6656
It's just not that remarkable of a building. Unique for the area, sure, but I'm not seeing what could possibly be so special about it that's worth saving. Commemorated, documented, etc. - sure. But not worthy of preservation (i.e. moving it elsewhere - which would both cost a fortune and require the building to be cut up into pieces to be moved)

[seanrichardryan]

COnsidereing they designed the tower around it the first time...

[Archiapolis]

https://www.google.com/maps/@44.986097, ... 312!8i6656
It's just not that remarkable of a building. Unique for the area, sure, but I'm not seeing what could possibly be so special about it that's worth saving. Commemorated, documented, etc. - sure. But not worthy of preservation (i.e. moving it elsewhere - which would both cost a fortune and require the building to be cut up into pieces to be moved)

Architecturally unremarkable.

[Chef]

I was under the impression they were taking out the other building on the block too. That is the one I was talking about.

[matt91486]

That site is next to two full surface blocks of parking, so it's not as if we couldn't have that housing marginally down the road. I'd prefer those go than old buildings that add character to the area. And hey, I acknowledged that my opinion was unpopular, so I'm fine being in the minority on this one.

[TroyGBiv]

I'm hoping that this tower goes up and the two surface lots to the east should get high density high rise development on them to add population to the area. St Anthony Main is best when there are people there. If you remember how incredible it was back in the 1980's you know that it was once fantastic and fun. This three block stretch starting with Alatus could make a really positive high density change to this neighborhood.

[twincitizen]

I was under the impression they were taking out the other building on the block too. That is the one I was talking about.

No, only the funeral home and St. Anthony Athletic Club. The Phillips Foundation building/100 University Ave SE (a former library) isn't going anywhere.

[Chef]

I was under the impression they were taking out the other building on the block too. That is the one I was talking about.

No, only the funeral home and St. Anthony Athletic Club. The Phillips Foundation building/100 University Ave SE (a former library) isn't going anywhere.

Good, I thought that was coming down for this project too. I couldn't believe that people would be ok with losing that.