urbanMSP

Article on the Star Tribune today about St. Paul winning forgiveness of their Xcel loan.

http://www.startribune.com/local/east/2 ... ml?refer=y

One thing of note is what the extra money will go to; renovations.

The Wild and the city will jointly decide how to use the loan windfall for arena improvements, O’Connor said. High on the team’s list: seat replacements, widening of concourses, expanding entrances and upgrading scoreboards for the digital era, she said, “All things we feel are important to keeping the arena relevant.”

She added that there are no plans to use the money for a nearby practice facility that the team has long desired.

Interested to see future plans!

The X has been in the process of replacing their outdoors marques over the past few weeks. I'm guessing they are wanting to get the work done by the time of the first preseason game on the 27th. Also they are replacing the jumbotron and the ribbon board in the arena this off season.

first preseason game is on Monday.

first preseason game is on Monday.

It is but it's being played in Winnipeg and Thursday's game is in Pittsburgh. They aren't at home until Saturday.

The arena is also changing it's restaurant to some Jack Daniel's concept.

The X has been in the process of replacing their outdoors marques over the past few weeks. I'm guessing they are wanting to get the work done by the time of the first preseason game on the 27th. Also they are replacing the jumbotron and the ribbon board in the arena this off season.

I can confirm the arena scoreboard and ribbon boards will be in place by the 27th. Very glad they're doing the outdoor marquees as well, they were beginning to look very dated.

New scoreboard unveiled tonight

So I randomly Googled Xcel Energy Center Renovation, the building is 20 years old already, this morning and found JLG Architects with a few renderings for a huge project along along 5th Street.

https://jlgarchitects.com/projects/xcel ... -addition/

Clearly it the project hasn't taken place to date & I don't remember seeing these before or really even discussed. Does anyone have any memory of this coming up in the past?

I also just found a few renderings for a Wild Practice Facility across 7th from the X

https://jlgice.com/projects/minnesota-w ... -facility/

I also just found a few renderings for a Wild Practice Facility across 7th from the X

https://jlgice.com/projects/minnesota-w ... -facility/

That would've been pretty cool.

Shoot this into my veins

Shoot this into my veins

Hard to take this all seriously when they listed the location as Minneapolis

Not to mention the fact there's already an apartment building on that site.

The on JLG practice facility was listed as completed in 2011, I'm speculating that is when the designs/renders/etc. were done. Same thing in the X renovation listed at 2016.

With neither of these projects happening I'm speculating it's 1 of 2 things. 1 option is JLG needing to say "Hey potential client we can do some really cool things look at these" or 2 The Wild were really looking at it and pulled the plug at some point for any number or reasons, either internal or external.

Clearly this is never going to happen, that said I wish this was the result vs what what we ended up with. The old Macy's renovation isn't ever going to be on any awards short list and the new apartment building on the 7 Corners site is ranks between meh & okay. Not mention the 5000 seat rink would have been perfect both the Whitecaps & potentially St. Thomas as they go D1.

Maybe they could do something with the RiverCenter site?

Just bring back a Denny's across the street.

I received an email from the Wild today "Seeking Feedback from Our Community"

The Minnesota Wild have retained CAA ICON, an internationally recognized sports management consulting firm, to evaluate potential updates to Xcel Energy Center. Topics in the survey include your relationship with the team (if any), seating preferences, and desired arena improvements/amenities, among other topics.

This is the first I've heard about a potential renovation of Xcel Center.

The facility is still top-notch. I doubt they need to do much except maintenance.

The road network, sidewalks, and amenities around the stadium are where I would put my focus. It is damn near impossible to bike to the X, for one.

We didn't need replacements for the Met Center or the Metrodome either, but we got them. I'm guessing that if they don't claim the X is a teardown, they'll come up with a couple of hundred million dollars in "needed" upgrades, to be seized from struggling hard working taxpayers without a referandum rather than paid for by the Wild owner's $4 billion net worth, of course, or the Wild will start whining and crying and stamp their feet and threatneing to run away from home like toddlers not getting candy when taxpayers don't give them billion dollar arenas and stadiums.

Call me cynical, but these studies tend to massively overstate vaguelly needed "structural repairs" to convince everyone the property is a tear-down, like the Bill's stadium, or have "urgently needed" ugrades like a few dozen more luxury suites, a bar to sell $30 cocktails, and a canal connection with locks and a boathouse so the owner can drive his yacht directly into the arena. I doubt it'll come back with "all this arena really needs are some new electrical panels for the locker rooms since we can no longer get parts for the ones we have, and the flooring in the concourses is wearing out and needs refinishing".

I took the survey. It seemed more Wild-focused than facility-focused. The biggest ideas seemed to be opening up the concourse more so you can see the rink while you walk around the arena. Also they mentioned creating standing room only ticket club/lounge areas.