urbanMSP

I just saw this article on the Strib from today:

http://m.startribune.com/i-ve-been-a-ny ... 335192961/

This says its slated to close in January 2016. Is that date actually set? I thought this was still just an idea. Even with the newest renderings.

The Nye's closing is happening no matter if the apartments get built right away or not.

Jacob Frey posted a new rendering. A six story stick-built pile of ugly, a variant of what was posted in the previous thread. I miss the tower.

Posted where?

A giant facebook image

Ugh. The last version was so classy.

They really know how to cheapen these things to make a buck.

I don't see much of a difference from the previous image other than a color change and a change in the perspective.

But you can see the church so much easier with the shorter version.

They've completely changed materials on the large section, completely removed cornices and decorative trim from the street facing portions, the section in the current back parking lot is just straight brick, no change in material for the top floor, no trim, no details, and on the sandwiched building they've also removed the decorative chrome trim elements and changed to what looks like black cement board rather than the metal panel.

It's almost as if they have no idea they're about to have two quality competing apartment towers within blocks.

There are also Magik paks, but maybe that was missing in the old one.

A giant facebook image

I looked there, did not see, though we aren't friends and I had no intentions on changing that.

I like the linking building, and that's about it.
The tower was also ugly.

Maybe the hood will demand a better execution on the project or withhold approval as this is not what they showed them. We were hood winked.

I like this shorter building more than the tower. Not sure about all of the materials though.

is the in-between part still going to be a separate building? cause it looks like it's attached to the main part...

HPC staff report and new plans: http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups ... 152197.pdf (actual plans begin on p. 74)

Guilty! I actually like it!

Staff recommend approval with the condition that no fiber cement is allowed. Also, they want the sixth floor color on the addition to more closely match (or resemble...for lack of a better word) the color of the proposed brick for the addition. Another improvement recommended by staff is use of brick (instead of the proposed block) on the ground level side nearest the church, as well as some detailed brickwork to break up the facade along that side.

I like the new massing of the building. Looks more like 5 separate buildings. I really like the improvements they did.

I think it will be great for the neighborhood to have more residents and really nice smaller retail bays. If they keep the material quality high it will look alright, but I still think it leaves a lot to be desired in a prime location.

They've completely changed materials on the large section, completely removed cornices and decorative trim from the street facing portions, the section in the current back parking lot is just straight brick, no change in material for the top floor, no trim, no details, and on the sandwiched building they've also removed the decorative chrome trim elements and changed to what looks like black cement board rather than the metal panel.

It's almost as if they have no idea they're about to have two quality competing apartment towers within blocks.

Hot take:
Inserting a "modern/sleek/clean" building into an historic setting can be a very powerful architectural idea - David Chipperfield is well known for integrating history and modernism.

Someone had a great idea to insert this modern building in between the two historic ones - if the entirety of this building were really restrained with just a great metal panel and glass, it would be very powerful. Well done.

Then...it all falls apart with the rest of the new building. The rest of the building is neither historic nor modern and it's only credit to the neighborhood/city is the density. If this much mass of building is going to be built, they may as well scrap the modern idea altogether and use the budget dedicated to that to do a better overall building with some detail, shadow lines and better materials...even as I type this I'm describing a building that "calls back" to the historic character in this area. IF (big "if" knowing what these budgets are), they had been able to do a truly modern building snaking around/between the historic ones it could have been really amazing. I feel like I'm looking at the last cool remnant of that idea that made it through the VE buzzsaw...

The E Hennepin Ave Site Section photo on page 79 is rather fantastic considering the main "criticisms" of previous proposals.