Mayo Clinic Square

[Silophant]

Looks like the answer is yes, as the 7th St curb is all torn up today. The building is open, but pretty bleak inside. Hope they round up some tenants soon.

[grant1simons2]

It looks like what 510 Marquette was renovated to. Very open and bright. Some art and tenants will help

[seanrichardryan]

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/b ... -mayo.html

[grant1simons2]

Ok... Enough with the damn restaurants! I want good shopping back in downtown and I don't care if it makes me sound crazy! The guys doing Nic on Fifth, Stone realty, are going after restaurants. I've heard rumors of 4marq going after restaurants. Mayo Clinic wants 3 restaurants on every corner.. Are you serious? It's just really gotten on my nerves lately.

[Wedgeguy]

Just be patient, over supply will lead to many failures as the market and pie is only so big. You have to meet goals to stay profitable and at some point that will become hard to do.

[Nathan]

LOLOL Did anyone notice that in the picture in that article the Ad displayed on MC2 says "last call" lolololol. too good.

[Archiapolis]

Ok... Enough with the damn restaurants! I want good shopping back in downtown and I don't care if it makes me sound crazy! The guys doing Nic on Fifth, Stone realty, are going after restaurants. I've heard rumors of 4marq going after restaurants. Mayo Clinic wants 3 restaurants on every corner.. Are you serious? It's just really gotten on my nerves lately.

I hear that downtown shopping doesn't work because there isn't enough parking and there is too much crime. <runs out of the room>

[min-chi-cbus]

Ok... Enough with the damn restaurants! I want good shopping back in downtown and I don't care if it makes me sound crazy! The guys doing Nic on Fifth, Stone realty, are going after restaurants. I've heard rumors of 4marq going after restaurants. Mayo Clinic wants 3 restaurants on every corner.. Are you serious? It's just really gotten on my nerves lately.

I feel the same way, and wonder about over-supplying the marketplace. Restaurants can bring people and foot traffic though, which can lead to retail. Retail seems like the last thing to latch on to a real estate trend -- I wonder if that's typically true.

[min-chi-cbus]

Ok... Enough with the damn restaurants! I want good shopping back in downtown and I don't care if it makes me sound crazy! The guys doing Nic on Fifth, Stone realty, are going after restaurants. I've heard rumors of 4marq going after restaurants. Mayo Clinic wants 3 restaurants on every corner.. Are you serious? It's just really gotten on my nerves lately.

I hear that downtown shopping doesn't work because there isn't enough parking and there is too much crime. <runs out of the room>

Hahaha, in fairness, what is going to attract a typical suburban mom and/or daughter to get out of their bubble and come downtown to shop, considering that it's a.) somewhat of a hassle, but so is the MOA, b.) there is more of a "diverse" mix of people, some seem scarrier than what you may find in Ridgedale, and c.) parking your car -- especially for cheap or free -- is not as easy and straightforward as it is at a giant regional mall in the suburbs with an ocean of surface parking spots to choose from?

If downtown retail is to thrive, then it has to cater mostly to its nearby residential customers, be unique/"boutique", or both. I don't see how downtown could embrace suburban-style shopping and be more attractive to shop in than the suburbs, where this type of shopping was created and where it still thrives. I've seen examples in cities where it kind of works (Chicago, DC, NYC, SF, etc.), but I think that caters more to people who moved to the core and brought their suburban-minded shopping habits with them, as opposed to building those stores in the core in order to attract people from the suburbs who don't/won't live in the core.

[5th Ave Guy]

I think there's still a lack of good dining options around this in the core. Something large scale, like a Yard House, would crush it at this location.

[xandrex]

I also dig the idea of fast casual place on the ground level. There really is a lack of those downtown, especially after office hours. But presumably these would be open later in the day.

[mnmike]

Hahaha, in fairness, what is going to attract a typical suburban mom and/or daughter to get out of their bubble and come downtown to shop, considering that it's a.) somewhat of a hassle, but so is the MOA, b.) there is more of a "diverse" mix of people, some seem scarrier than what you may find in Ridgedale, and c.) parking your car -- especially for cheap or free -- is not as easy and straightforward as it is at a giant regional mall in the suburbs with an ocean of surface parking spots to choose from?

If downtown retail is to thrive, then it has to cater mostly to its nearby residential customers, be unique/"boutique", or both. I don't see how downtown could embrace suburban-style shopping and be more attractive to shop in than the suburbs, where this type of shopping was created and where it still thrives. I've seen examples in cities where it kind of works (Chicago, DC, NYC, SF, etc.), but I think that caters more to people who moved to the core and brought their suburban-minded shopping habits with them, as opposed to building those stores in the core in order to attract people from the suburbs who don't/won't live in the core.

A lot of the cities where you see the kind of downtown retail you are talking about thrive are places with huge tourist/convention bases or just really large cities or both. The retail downtown Chicago isn't just for residents that moved from the burbs...I would venture to guess a huge chunk of their customer base (maybe majority) are tourists...and then you have the whole going into the big city experience draw. Bringing it down to a level of mid size cities more like us...like Denver (no dept stores, but still quite a bit more mainstream retail downtown) or Seattle or even Indianapolis...lots of tourists coming through and/or huge convention cities. Minneapolis doesn't have that much tourism and our convention business isn't huge, so we really do have to base it on retail for residents/workers or retail unique to the region, I think. Though even retail unique to the region doesn't always work, we have tried that.

[mattaudio]

Chipotle / US Bank Plaza is fast casual on the ground level (granted, opposite side of core) but they don't even have a doorway to the street, do they? We need more doorways to the street. At least with Block E=MC^2, it looks like we've netted more doors to the sidewalk.

[John]

Ok... Enough with the damn restaurants! I want good shopping back in downtown and I don't care if it makes me sound crazy! The guys doing Nic on Fifth, Stone realty, are going after restaurants. I've heard rumors of 4marq going after restaurants. Mayo Clinic wants 3 restaurants on every corner.. Are you serious? It's just really gotten on my nerves lately.

I think you make a great point. In particular development along Nicollet Mall and Washington should include more retail other than a restaurant. This should certainly be required for the Opus project and Nicollet Hotel Block. '

As far as The Mayo Clinic , restaurants do seem appropriate given its proximity to sports venues and theaters.

[Silophant]

Chipotle / US Bank Plaza is fast casual on the ground level (granted, opposite side of core) but they don't even have a doorway to the street, do they? We need more doorways to the street. At least with Block E=MC^2, it looks like we've netted more doors to the sidewalk.

Additionally, Chipotle/Target Plaza is ground level fast casual with street doors, but it would be good to get something besides Chipotles.

[Wedgeguy]

I'm in the skyway at one of the Andres Pizzas. That is the best fast casual for me!!

[amiller92]

Hahaha, in fairness, what is going to attract a typical suburban mom and/or daughter to get out of their bubble and come downtown to shop

Hopefully nothing. Also, probably nothing.

Okay, so the first sentence is a bit harsh. If she wants to come downtown (and we probably do not need to gender shopping in this way), that's great. But the suburban shopper should be at most an afterthought. We need downtown retail for people that are downtown.

And what we need to get more retail downtown is more people downtown, not more retail trying to compete for suburbanites. Which is what you go on to say so why am I interrupting you?

If downtown retail is to thrive, then it has to cater mostly to its nearby residential customers, be unique/"boutique", or both.

I don't know if it's necessarily unique/boutique. Useful/practical works too.

[FISHMANPET]

Less-than-daily-use retail can be useful to be downtown for someone that commutes to work primarily via transit. If I'm going to go shopping most places after work I'd have to go home and get in my car if it's not on my route home. But odds are good my commute home is going to take me through downtown, or at the very least have good connections to both my home and place of work.

Maybe i'm one of like 5 people that would use it that way, but it can be pretty easy to say "I'll grab that after work" and take the train all the way to Nicollet Mall and then take the train home afterward or whatever.

[xandrex]

Chipotle / US Bank Plaza is fast casual on the ground level (granted, opposite side of core) but they don't even have a doorway to the street, do they? We need more doorways to the street. At least with Block E=MC^2, it looks like we've netted more doors to the sidewalk.

They don't have one directly to the outside, but they (somewhat strangely) have a door that connect to the vestibule. Given that they close at 6 pm, I don't see why they'd need it. Burger King (soon to be Naf Naf) had an entrance too. Maybe it could be restored? I suppose I'm not quite as concerned because US Bank Plaza does a pretty good job of being the open, quasi-public Crystal Court of downtown's east side.

But the suburban shopper should be at most an afterthought. We need downtown retail for people that are downtown.

Except that in some ways we need that suburban shopper during the transition. Downtown isn't quite to the point where retail can really sustain itself beyond big places like Target and convenience stores like the new Walgreens opening up. If we want other retail that urbanists can enjoy in the meantime, it needs to attract the suburban shopper too.

[amiller92]

Except that in some ways we need that suburban shopper during the transition. Downtown isn't quite to the point where retail can really sustain itself beyond big places like Target and convenience stores like the new Walgreens opening up. If we want other retail that urbanists can enjoy in the meantime, it needs to attract the suburban shopper too.

We've been trying to attract that suburban shopping for probably 60 years and failing. Urbanists are going to have to be patient for more shopping options until reinforcements arrive.

That said, I do almost all of my shopping downtown.