urbanMSP

Remember that they went through the HPC process separately already, and that was all settled by the City Council in June. Not sure about HPC specifically, but in general you get 60 days to appeal a decision by the City to the state court of appeals, and so the window there would have passed and they can tear down the building after the six months the City Council mandated to see if someone would take the building. At this point they would just be appealing the CUP for height and the FAR variance.

Are the historic structures gone?

To answer my own question, as of yesterday afternoon, they were still there.

Don't they need to wait until after Friday now?

I believe the issue of the existing buildings was settled long ago. The appeal heard last Thursday was only about the CUP for height and the variance for FAR. So that shouldn't have any impact on demolition.

The City Council upheld the denial of the appeal at the planning commission. This project should be good to go.

Alatus is set to begin demolition of two buildings in Southeast Minneapolis, a Washburn McReavy funeral home and the former St. Anthony Commercial Club, in late October or early November in preparation for its next condo tower. Development Director Chris Osmundson said in an email that they expect to begin construction on a 42-story tower with 214 condo units by the end of the year.

http://www.journalmpls.com/news/develop ... ext-tower/

So... how many times has Alatus said that they "expect to start construction in a couple months"? My guess is they can't get financing... Banks that would consider a (comparatively) small local sponsor, such as Lux, are already over invested in the market in general, and larger lenders or out of town money won't get on board with the current condo construction defect laws that are in place.

Ummmm. Literally look at the post above yours. Planning on late October,early November. It's the weekend of late October.

I swear if we have another conspiracy theorist...

Wait... 42 stories now. Will that push it over 500' ?

Nope, it's the same height as it's been for a while now. 40 useable floors, and a 20-foot-ish mechanical penthouse that makes it 42 stories per the zoning code definition.

Ummmm. Literally look at the post above yours. Planning on late October,early November. It's the weekend of late October.

I swear if we have another conspiracy theorist...

Did demo start yet?

Nope. People are still parking there

Eric Best just tweeted that it will start Monday

https://twitter.com/ericthebest/status/ ... 0018906112

I got a picture of the groundbreaking

Eric Best just tweeted that it will start Monday

https://twitter.com/ericthebest/status/ ... 0018906112

The last day that could be considered "Early November". Checks out.

Condo developers push forward with big projects in Minneapolis
http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/n ... ts-in.html
*LOCKED*

Of news to this thread:
"Alatus will begin demolition next week in St. Anthony Main, where the firm is tearing down a Washburn-McReavy funeral home and replacing it with a 40-story, 207-unit luxury condo tower.

“We are programming it to have state-of-the-art amenities with heated outdoor patios. It’s a level of finish that hasn’t been done before in Minneapolis,” said Alatus Development Director Chris Osmundson."

I'm surprised to see they have started selling units yet. I'm anxious to see what the price points look like.

They might go ahead and demolish the existing structures, but there's no way in hell they're going to start building with a lawsuit pending. I don't know what the status on that is, but the Neighbors for East Bank Livability folks are definitely going forward with a lawsuit...they have the money. Alatus isn't stupid...they're not going to begin construction until the lawsuit is settled.

Anyone know what the law says in terms of suing a city on the basis of a legal decision? There has to be some kind of time limit enumerated in state law...like the opponents can't file a lawsuit a year from now when the thing is half built, right? There's gotta be some kind of deadline for them to file after the City Council made a final decision.

There are plenty of ways that they could go forward with a lawsuit pending, the first and most likely of which is if their own lawyers told them that the suit is without merit and is likely to get dismissed promptly.

They will likely asked a judge to epidite a ruling to have it dismissed. The courts don't like these types of suits hanging around the courts for very long.