Rochester

[mattaudio]

No talk yet about the enclosed atrium idea at the recent meeting? $78 million enclosed atrium proposed. I assume this would cover the Peace Plaza area between Mayo/Gonda, Kahler block, and Plummer/Marriott block.
http://www.postbulletin.com/business/dm ... 0668d.html

[bubzki2]

Anyone heard about this apartment project? Looks promising for a downtown that really needs more density and fewer surface lots.

[mattaudio]

PostBulletin states that an at-grade streetcar beat out elevated rail "because riders still feel included in the street life." Ridership estimates at 10k daily. Also of note, existing Mayo shuttles between St. Mary's and Downtown exceed ridership on Seattle's SLUT.

[acs]

http://www.postbulletin.com/news/local/ ... 6e7d6.html

So $15 million for a downtown calculator (the streetcar proposal?) seems quite low for a quality transit investment. Meanwhile, $90 million is proposed to double the number of parking spaces downtown. And all this time I was hearing about R.T. Rybeck steering Rochester towards some urbanist utopia...

[mattaudio]

From what I've heard, there will be minimal parking expansion downtown. Now, the plan that I hear from my contacts is to have massive structured parking at the ends of the streetcar line (which I'm skeptical of as well) but at least it's not more downtown parking. But I'd rather see Rochester curate actual places and connect them with quality transit. They're still focused on the personal automobile as the primary mode for commuters, but they're instead intending to have them use P&Rs rather than more downtown ramps.

[Minneboy]

I'm not sure where the streetcar line will be going, hoping to St. Mary's Hospital and to Apache Mall. Going to IBM would be a stretch. The mall though could definitely handle a few ramps.

[Minneboy]

I really like the two representations in the article.

[mattaudio]

The starter line will go from St Mary's/Miracle Mile to the redevelopment area southeast of downtown via DT and the Gov Center.

[acs]

The starter line will go from St Mary's/Miracle Mile to the redevelopment area southeast of downtown via DT and the Gov Center.

Sorry to keep prying, but does that mean 2nd st. SW to 3rd Ave SE? If so how will this connect with the potential zip rail terminal in the north east, or is that to be handled by the north/south BRT corridor? There is so much in the works for Rochester transit that it will probably need its own thread once the ball really gets rolling. There's a lot to discuss, like how they plan to build this with only $15 million or how they thought an elevated system could even work with skyways.

[mattaudio]

I created a map that shows the proposed rail plans (along with my expansion dreams), but I cannot access the link right now. I have also obtained some relatively obscure planning documents with a treasure trove of info, but those are in my Evernote which I cannot access right now. Maybe this evening.

But you are correct, this starter circulator would not connect to the area where the ZipRail terminus would likely be (along the DM&E/CP ROW). But there's also a plan for a north/south circulator (on the west 3rd/4th Ave couplet IIRC) which would likely connect to ZipRail. I think there's more integration opportunity, especially with a streetcar extension up Broadway to Silver lake, but that's not necessarily in the current plans.

Of note, I've been extremely impressed with Nelson/Nygaard in this process. They know their stuff, and I've been pleasantly surprised with the transportation efforts within the DMC process.

[Minneboy]

A little dated. I haven't had time to read through all 137 pages yet. http://www.co.olmsted.mn.us/planning/or ... orPlan.pdf

[go4guy]

I was actually going over the documents last night for their proposal. Go to dmc.mn and click on the November 2014 link on the right hand side. It is an entire document showing their plans. The last 20 pages or so have all the streetcar plans.

[mulad]

They've been wanting to have two transit lines, one east-west service on 2nd street and another loop which would make the north-south connection. Loops are bad, though.

Looks like the current plan is to have the route start/end on the north side of Central Park at a "Transit Terrace" station. Presumably there would be some special treatment to get people over/under Civic Center Drive to the intercity rail station, which I imagine would be right on the DM&E main line.

I'm not sure which direction they'd make it go, but if they stick to the right-hand side, it would probably go down 1st Ave NW/SW, turn west once hitting 6th St SW, then head back north on 3rd Ave SW/NW before returning to the starting station.

The big problem is that the northbound and southbound legs would be 740 feet apart, between 3 and 4 minutes walking time. They should just pick one street. Well, 3rd and 4th Ave NW/SW are close enough together that a loop wouldn't be such big deal there. Perhaps that would be the more obvious way to get to Apache Mall, though I suppose a streetcar down 1st Ave could cut straight through the main pavilion area of Soldiers Field and still end up in the same place.

[xandrex]

Planners for the Rochester DMC have a vision for an "urban and walkable" city.

http://www.mprnews.org/story/2014/12/17 ... nsion-plan

[acs]

If anyone has the fancy to read a 102 MB 700 page document, the Destination Medical Center complete plan has been released.

https://hcsd.sharefile.com/download.asp ... 61aa84195b

[mattaudio]

[David Greene]

We're probably going to do a weeked vacation in Rochester. Anyone have suggestions on nice hotels or other places to stay? Any important sights to see?

[go4guy]

Kahler Hotel is very nice, and in the middle of it all. A few other hotels right downtown as well. Plenty to do downtown. If you are looking to venture out, I would suggest going hiking at Quarry Hill. For dinner, Chester's is always good. But the Redwood Room is one of my favorites.

[mattaudio]

I'd consider pricelining a hotel in Downtown Rochester... there's significantly less demand on weekends. I've gotten rooms at the Kahler for ~$60/night, and decent "suburban Rochester" hotels for under $40/night. Kahler is indeed in the middle of it all, and it's midcentury sleek in a certain kind of cool way.

City Cafe is nice for a local sandwich/soup-type lunch. Newt's is a classic for burgers and beer. Take a walk/bike ride up to Silver Lake (trails from downtown) and you'll truly appreciate what we have in Minneapolis. Chesterwood Park east of Downtown is alright if you want a hike. If you want to see good art, sneak into the Mayo Clinic's main building and explore the subways (underground skyways). It's an art gallery with very impressive original pieces.

If you're getting out of town at all, Lanesboro is a great destination (I'd rather go to Lanesboro than Rochester as a getaway, all things equal).

[FISHMANPET]

My then fiance and I stayed at the Kahler one night for the hell of it, and it was a little disappointing. The room was nice but the restaurant felt like bland suburban diner food. There was some kind of line dancing convention in town that was all old people, and it seemed like the menu was setup so that they could all easily gum their food. No texture, no flavor, very bland.

The cocktail bar was nice though. I have a few friends that grew up in Rochester and they warned me that downtown shuts down at 5, and they were right.

But if you're looking for a nice hotel as a base, I'd say the Kahler is pretty good for that. I grew up in Zumbrota so for me Rochester is nothing special.