urbanMSP

According to Finance & Commerce, Trammell Crow is planning a 182-unit project. The proposal is located at at 643 Fifth St. N.

"Finance & Commerce is currently tracking 522 apartment units under construction in the North Loop and another eight proposed projects that would add 989 units to the neighborhood."

http://finance-commerce.com/2012/08/dal ... p-project/

I think we knew about this one but there wasn't a thread for it yet.

If memory serves me right, that's where Northern Auto Parts was located. It's nice that they want to get rid of an old building, but I'm not sure if people would really want to live in this area.

Site plan and renderings from the Planning Commission:
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/www/gro ... 102181.pdf

Not too bad looking. It's got a pool. It's also going to take up the ENTIRE block behind the Holiday.

The metal siding with variations of rust colors is really gorgeous. Very warm and modern design that works nicely with the site and area around it. ESG did a good job here!

Eh, not too bad. I'm not a huge fan of the layout but if it preserves open space for a future of buildings stacked on top of one-another then I guess it's not so bad.

I think it will be an island for a while, but looks like it will be finished pretty well. It also has the ground floor entrances which will be great when the street becomes a neighborhood. Just need to get some taller ones built behind it down the street so they all have views of DT

This reminds me of my buddy's condo near the Las Vegas strip. His view was west over the CAT bus maintenance yard.

Obviously I want this development to happen, but I can't help but mention a few things:

1. This is butted right up to Holiday's car wash. Car washes are loud nuisances, unless it's the super fancy kind that keep the garage doors shut for the duration of the drying cycle. I strongly suspect it is the normal kind that dries with the garage door open, and probably stays open quite late.

2. Metro Transit's [busiest] bus garage driveway is super close to people's balconies. Noise, air quality, headlights, super early morning (and all day) operation would be an ongoing thing. Buses will gradually get less noisy and stinky as technology improves, but I fully expect diesel bus operations to continue for a while.

I didn't even mention HERC, but that's because I believe it would be less of a nuisance than the gas station or Metro Transit' garage.

Again, I really hope this project (and the smaller one across the street, wrapping Fulton brewery) get built. These are major positive changes for that part of the North Loop and would be the first residential built on that side of the much-maligned freeway viaducts. Residents are just going to have to be comfortable with a few LULUs that are going to be around for a long, long time.

We can dream that HERC and the Heywood Garage move out of the neighborhood, right?

Why is it unrealistic to assume that some point in the next 10 years the HERC land will be prime real estate and a new garbage burner can be relocated somewhere out of the city's core?

That's what I want to know. The more I think about it, the more I think it's worth whatever it takes to get that hulk out of the North Loop. Where to put it, though, would be tricky.

Why is it unrealistic to assume that some point in the next 10 years the HERC land will be prime real estate and a new garbage burner can be relocated somewhere out of the city's core?

A very polluted prime real estate!

Why is it unrealistic to assume that some point in the next 10 years the HERC land will be prime real estate and a new garbage burner can be relocated somewhere out of the city's core?

A very polluted prime real estate!

New Northloop Park

[offtopic]

Why is it unrealistic to assume that some point in the next 10 years the HERC land will be prime real estate and a new garbage burner can be relocated somewhere out of the city's core?

Because it is unrealistic. What neighborhood or suburb would ever accept a garbage burner being built? Also, garbage trucks still run on gas. Some of the benefit of having the burner centrally located is that you don't have to truck garbage 30 miles away. Private trash haulers would not do that.

HERC will not be relocated. If it closes, that's it, done. No more burner, no more energy recovery. All that waste winds up in landfills. Target Field and the surrounding area lose free/cheap steam heat. HERC is by far the lesser of 2 evils. Get used to it (everyone), because I'm sick of making this point.

However, HERC should definitely be painted and landscaped to help it blend in a little better. The Interchange will help create pressure for this to happen[/offtopic]

I always like when I pose a question like "Why is it unrealistic..." and someone responds with "Because it's unrealistic." Thanks, let me restate my point so that it is in the context of this thread since it has everything to do with the Junction Flats. Junction Flats will be the edge of future development around this chasm unless the HERC goes. Seriously though, feel free to move these posts though to one on the HERC, because it'd be great to see a critical mass voicing a realistic future plan for the thing. Anyone who cares about the development of Junction Flats should have it first and foremost on their mind; until Junction Flats and the Interchange development there hasn't been as much cause for momentum in the discussion.

HERC is by far the lesser of 2 evils. Get used to it (everyone), because I'm sick of making this point.

You're going to have to make this point clearer twincitizen, because I know I'm not the only one that doesn't agree that burning and breathing in garbage in the state's most densely populated corridor is the lesser of two evils. Half of the material burned is recyclable or compostable. I understand your point about relocating it, but it won't last in the spot it's in, just saying.

I think it's safe to say that Minneapolis City Planners in the 1970s and 1980s never anticipated that downtown would expand as much as it has. That's the only rationale I can imagine that would make them accept having:

* the wall of parking garages and lots along Fifth Avenue South
* The I-394 freeway and three mega-garages defining the north edge
* The HERC being located upwind of the most intensively developed square mile of the state

The focus of planning back then really seemed to be on a compact, lively core with limited consideration about the periphery (except for the Loring Park/Greenway area).

If it's not feasible to relocate the HERC anytime soon , hopefully they can spend some money to enhance the appearance. I've never been bothered by any smells while attending Twins games,so I'm not sure how significant of an issue that is.

I love the suggestion to convert the 4th Street viaduct into a boulevard as that would help reconnect the North Loop to the Interchange/Target Field/Ford Center area.

It probably wouldn't be that hard to relocate it to all of the new city owned land in North Minneapolis where the River First plan calls for green industry between the river and i94, or a little farther west, It just seems like something that has a 20-30 year or less life span at this point (if the area keeps developing)... Many a pro and con in this issue, but It is very valuable land.

[offtopic]Hennepin County holds all the marbles here. I feel like if they had any intention of closing HERC, it would've been done in concert with 1. Target Field or 2. The Interchange. Can we at least agree that another one won't be built within a reasonable radius of the population/garbage density that it would be economically feasible? There is no "moving" HERC. There's only keeping it or not.[/offtopic]

In a weird way, it's almost unfortunate that Target Field/LRT are pulling development northward into an active and useful industrial zone while acres of perfectly developable land sits fallow in Downtown East.

Not sure I understand the logic: if the county was going to sell, it would have already happened. The way things are going right now, that land isn't getting any less valuable.