urbanMSP

Does Lennar do very many projects like this? Or are the realizing they need to do more multi-family as the single home developments may be slowing down.

I don't know about many, but they are doing a project across from Southdale on York. It is a six story wood stick thing though.

In the Strib article they use the word "towers", that either makes me optimistic or sad that the Strib doesn't know what a tower is. In my mind it's more than 10 stories

Link to ST article.

I don't see any reason to assume that the Strib doesn't know what a tower is, since that was an indirect quote from Frey.

Seems Lennar has been pushing into multifamily all over the place. While not the prettiest, with a quick web search I found they proposed a 19-story multi-use in Nashville.

https://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2014 ... _use_tower

Seems Lennar has been pushing into multifamily all over the place. While not the prettiest, with a quick web search I found they proposed a 19-story multi-use in Nashville.

https://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2014 ... _use_tower

I wouldn't mind seeing something similar to this built here... It could compliment the Alatus tower well.

(this is in no way related to the image of that Lennar project from Nashville; it just made me think of this...)

Given the size of this site and the fact that the back side runs up against the RR tracks, it seems reasonable to hope that whatever gets built here would have all its parking hidden from view on three sides. Right? It sure would be nice to have the undeniably important "eyes on the street" present on floors 2 through 6 or whatever.

No designs for the site yet. ESG will be the architect. Purchase agreement is signed. Sounds like they're thinking pretty big. Mixed use, apartments, probably with a public plaza of some kind. Ground floor retail. I am very, very optimistic for this development. Massing was suggested to be one or two towers with a podium and hidden parking.

Other random tidbit from the meeting: Peter McLaughlin is apparently on board with the conversion of Hennepin and first to two way streets. Very good news.

Sounding good. Thankful for this neighborhood group and standing their ground for good development. Thanks for the update!

No designs for the site yet. ESG will be the architect. Purchase agreement is signed. Sounds like they're thinking pretty big. Mixed use, apartments, probably with a public plaza of some kind. Ground floor retail. I am very, very optimistic for this development. Massing was suggested to be one or two towers with a podium and hidden parking.

This is exactly what I was envisioning for this project. I love the idea of the public plaza and retail. It would make this a neighborhood destination rather than just another building. I'm seeing a few small shops and one or two restaurants with outdoor seating in the plaza.

I'll repeat myself, because that's what all good posters do:

I very much hope that they establish the public space and maintain the view corridor along the historic 4th Street alignment.

No designs for the site yet. ESG will be the architect. Purchase agreement is signed. Sounds like they're thinking pretty big. Mixed use, apartments, probably with a public plaza of some kind. Ground floor retail. I am very, very optimistic for this development. Massing was suggested to be one or two towers with a podium and hidden parking.

Other random tidbit from the meeting: Peter McLaughlin is apparently on board with the conversion of Hennepin and first to two way streets. Very good news.

Anybody know who the developer will be?

It's Lennar Multifamily.

Regarding the 4th Street view, you (MNdible and anyone else who thinks that's important) should send a quick email to Jacob Frey. And maybe the neighborhood president guy too. Better to contact them early before the building design is too far along. It's the only way to find out if they are considering it or not.

I'd like to echo what mr.shoes said above: I really hope they are able to completely hide the parking structure at the rear of the building, facing the RR corridor. How that conflicts with keeping the 4th St view shed open, I don't know. How much will they be able to go underground here, due to the pollution, height of the bedrock, etc.?

IDEA: Could they build a massive one level parking garage underneath the entire two city blocks? I think you could fit roughly 200 spaces per block, based on the various full-block surface lots downtown, subtracting space for columns, walls, etc. One whole floor of parking under each block ought to do it, or two floors underground on 1/2 of each block, if that works better. You'd think digging out a shallow garage like that would be significantly cheaper than most sites where you have to go down multiple floors. Possibly cheaper than multi-story above ground structure as well.

IDEA: Could they build a massive one level parking
garage underneath the entire two city blocks? I think you could fit roughly 200 spaces per block, based on the various full-block surface lots downtown, subtracting space for columns, walls, etc. One whole floor of parking under each block ought to do it, or two floors underground on 1/2 of each block, if that works better. You'd think digging out a shallow garage like that would be significantly cheaper than most sites where you have to go down multiple floors. Possibly cheaper than multi-story above ground structure as well.

i kind of wonder how much they can do under ground on this site considering its polluted state.

I am curious every time it's mentioned why people are always pushing for the "historic 4th St alignment"? There is a townhome development on the other side of the tracks and there is no practical way that 4th st could be re-established through it.

It would be relatively simple to put in a footbridge to cross the tracks. I think the goal is to avoid creating a monstrous super block that dominates the streetscape and is inconvenient to get around (on foot). The others who care more presumably have more eloquently stated reasoning.

Some things to consider regarding the "historic" fourth street alignment. Fourth street has been closed off at the railroad tracks for probably close to 50 years now (long before the townhouses were constructed in the 1980's). I believe it was done as an early traffic calming effort. Fourth is also closed off at Broadway. Overall it was quite successful. I know people who live on fourth are quite happy with things as they are. I agree that it's important to avoid a "monster super block" type of development, but there are a lot of other ways to do it. On the subject of concealing the parking, it's important to remember that the grade of University Ave and 5th street rises considerably at it approaches the tracks. I think that if all of the parking was placed at that side of the development, it would be more or less concealed without the need to excavate down.

To me, the most important thing is that the 1st avenue frontage is really good; lots of retail, pedestrian friendly etc. I think that will be the key to success for this project.

Looking at the projects that ESG has done, there isn't much that is inspiring unfortunately. At least that's my opinion. Their best project in my mind is the Westin in Edina.

Looking at the projects that ESG has done, there isn't much that is inspiring unfortunately. At least that's my opinion. Their best project in my mind is the Westin in Edina.

What? Haha. I realize everyone is entitled to their own opinion but c'mon. Esg has done some very good work in Minneapolis