urbanMSP

I was surprised as well. 8am yesterday morning it was almost completely assembled. Must have started pretty early.

A streetsign went up on the corner of main street & 5th ave se that labeled 5th a "Private Drive." I really thought this was going to be a public street. You know, fifth-fuckin-avenue-southeast.

Are the Mill & Main developments some kind of gated community? Was this in the site plans? How could the city allow this?

I believe the PUD specified that it would be a private drive but publicly accessible. That way people can use it but the city doesn't have to pay for it. A side benefit for some of us is that it isn't subject to design standards that were developed for freeways.

Thanks for the information. They do have a sign up prohibiting through traffic, so I'm not sure how useful it is for the public if they were to abide by the private drive restrictions.

Thanks for the information. They do have a sign up prohibiting through traffic, so I'm not sure how useful it is for the public if they were to abide by the private drive restrictions.

The only way that this would be useful for public use would be if Soap Factory were to reconfigure their parking. The way they park their vehicles causes a bottleneck up towards 2nd.

IMG_4515 by UrbanMSP, on Flickr


IMG_4516 by UrbanMSP, on Flickr

Yes, definitely seems early for a crane...

Maybe it's a sales gimmick?

May also have to do with Main street, Not sure how much truck traffic those stone streets can take in the winter without causing damage. Everything would have to be off loaded on the side street or behind the building. IMO

That part of main has more modern concrete pavers, Hopefully the city used HD street pavers, which are thicker and more dense than those used for sidewalks. I'm not sure how much truck you'd actually want to put on the street (regardless of season), but winter would actually sure up the base and make it better for trucks, spring's road load restrictions would be the major concern for keeping the streets level, and stopping the pavers from rising, and chipping up against one another. But I don't have doubt that it's probably to keep trucks of main all together.

Above Ground!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zgz23wgwxcrft ... 120844.jpg

P1260058 by UrbanMSP, on Flickr


P1260060 by UrbanMSP, on Flickr


P1260062 by UrbanMSP, on Flickr

Mill & Main phase II 4-15-14 by bapster2006, on Flickr

Sorry but they really lost a prime opportunity by limiting the height on these developments. Hopefully future new buildings built north will be taller.

Sorry but they really lost a prime opportunity by limiting the height on these developments. Hopefully future new buildings built north will be taller.

Limiting height here is so stupid...I believe that Diane Hofstede deserves a large helping of credit/blame for this.

No. This site was approved for about 30 stories. Blame nothing but the recession.

I'll be the first to say that I'm glad that the towers were not built here. But I would really like to see a tower or two on the block to the north of St. Anthony Main. That full block would be great for a few more slender tall towers with shorter buildings next to University Ave to keep in line with the buildings along there.