urbanMSP

I went by the other day and I really like the angled windows! I'm excited to see it complete!

A little photo update on the Loring Vue Apartments which are coming along nicely -

Amazing....the house next door in the 2nd to the last picture LOOKS about as tall as the 5th floor of the Vue. Not all stories are created equally I guess. If the developer had said we're going to be a 4-floor building, nobody would care, but it could be 80 feet tall while a 7-floor building would barely breach 70 feet.

I bike by it every week to watch its progress. So far it doesn't feel as massive in scale as the neighborhood opposition purported it to be. The upper floors are set back quite a bit on the Oak Grove side, and it doesn't cram up against the old house quite as much as I thought it would. It will be interesting to see the exterior facade go up. Hopefully they don't plan to use too much cement board!

So far, the visibility on the house there is much better than I expected too. I actually think it is complimented well by the development.

I bet that guy feels really dumb right about now. Talking about how it would overshadow his house or whatever his weak argument was. This building fits right in actually!

I think a lot of those people that were against this project threw out a lot of exaggerated claims as to how they would be affected - I remember the citizens for loring park community had a rendering of how this building would look if you were standing in loring park and they made it look like this huge, massive building that stood out behind the Loring Park office building - there is no way this building will look that massive if you were standing in the park.

I stopped and talked to one of the construction crew they other day - he said they expect to have the entire framework completed by the end of this month. He also said the hallways are 5' wide (there was some discussion about how narrow they looked earlier).

He also said the Architectural Alliance employees have taped frowning face pictures to their windows as they are losing their view.

He also said that he is amazed by the number of people who drive by and cuss at the crews working if they even block the street a little bit - I suspect some of these people are the ones who opposed this building in the first place.

He also made a comment that Brad Hoyt was possibly interested in developing the other site on Clifton Avenue that they tried to build condos on previously that was owned by the other church- which was interesting. It seems that lot is still owned by Trstes Of Diocese Mn Incorp.

http://gis.co.hennepin.mn.us/property/m ... 2924320031

That MEGA block directly to the South of that (the Episcopal Church?) could be repurposed someday too!

Some photos from today. I can't wait to see the finished exterior. I don't find the building too large for the area at all. Seems to fit in quite nicely with the rest of the neighborhood.


DSCN1296 by spectre 000, on Flickr


DSCN1297 by spectre 000, on Flickr


DSCN1298 by spectre 000, on Flickr


DSCN1299 by spectre 000, on Flickr

Nice shots - I really like how the building angles in just a tiny bit at the corner of Oak Grove and Clifton Place when facing north - this is visible in the last photo - it seems to really open up that corner with that little inward angle - it's not such a harsh right angle.

Here is an aerial view - the right side of the building it at it's max at 7 floor - you can see a small balcony area on the right side for the top floor.

This building does not look to big for the area at all - not sure what all the fuss was 6 or 7 years ago - if this had only been 2.5 stories at some people demanded it would have looked silly.

here is a better shot of the little balcony area on the 7th floor.

This building does not look to big for the area at all - not sure what all the fuss was 6 or 7 years ago - if this had only been 2.5 stories at some people demanded it would have looked silly.

Sometimes it takes projects like this to blaze the trail to make future project more easily possible. The next time a neighborhood group screams that 7 floors will blot out the sun or something, this building can be an excellent recent reminder that sometimes groups have a bias or agenda (on both sides, for that matter).

I think it fits in perfectly! though 21 floors really may have been to much for the site (feel free to send hate mail directly to my email spam box! lol jk) Realistically 21 floors would really have added a lot more street traffic which would have been wonderful in that slightly dead zone at night. Though 7 floors still will add more traffic and fill in the gap and hopefully this winter it will be 100% shoveled and kept clear! I kinda wish now I had taken some pictures of the awful lack of ability of the parking lot owners to shovel there sidewalk! Also I will miss the open space of the parking lot yes, the space was so poorly kept it doubled as a mini forest, a mostly grass-less park, and a nice spot for intense photos while standing under a street lamp at night!

Found this brochure online describing this property - I'm a little surprised they don't have any renderings of the units yet - the Loring Park Office building is pretty much at the same point as the interior construction and they've published several renderings so far.

I really like the description of the rooftop terrace in this brochure.



http://www.leasespace.com/brochures/VUE_brochure.pdf

from the brochure: "for those who choose the renting lifestyle"

maybe I'm overly sensitive, but that sounds kind of snotty. Like, "for those who choose to be deviants", or "for those who choose to be second-class citizens"

I think you are being overly sensative - I don't get that message at all from that statement - I know many people who have rented for years, decades even - when they have the financial ability to buy - but they choose to rent - go figure.

Here you can see the little park area they are constructing on the side of the building.
You can also see how this building fits in a little better from this second image - you can also see they have started to apply some of the exterior panels on the back of the building.

from the brochure: "for those who choose the renting lifestyle"

maybe I'm overly sensitive, but that sounds kind of snotty. Like, "for those who choose to be deviants", or "for those who choose to be second-class citizens"

I'm not going to derail another thread with this, so I'll link to this one: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=184 and add one comment. There's no reason renting should relegate you to substandard housing. There are plenty of reasons to want to rent that have nothing to do with not being able to afford a home, and there's no reason those people shouldn't have the opportunity for the same luxury lifestyle that upscale condos offer.

Here you can see the little park area they are constructing on the side of the building.

And by park, they meant a pad for their transformers.

I still don't share the general enthusiasm that many of you have for this project, and this photo demonstrates how badly that white house on the corner has been impacted by this development. The little wrap-around extension was just an unnecessary square-foot grab on the part of the developer that really should have been stopped on the drawing board.