The Minneapolis - St Paul central corridor part 1

Chef · #1 Posted **Dec 2, 2012, 11:03 PM**

For the last month I have been working on documenting the route of the central corridor LRT block by block (more or less). I am about half way done and have a lot of photos so it seemed like a good idea to do it in two parts. The tour starts at Target Field Station in the Minneapolis Warehouse District and will eventually end at Union Station in Lowertown, St Paul. This part ends at Vandalia Avenue is St Paul which is between the Raymond Avenue Station and the Fairview Avenue Station. All these photos were taken on Sunday afternoons so there wern't very many people out.

The Green Line - Minneapolis St Paul central corridor

Minneapolis

Target Field Station

Hennepin/Warehouse District Station

Nicollet Mall Station

Government Plaza Station

Downtown East/Metrodome Station

The Hiawatha Line and Central Line seperate

West Bank Station

Washington Avenue Bridge

East Bank Station

Stadium Village Station

Prospect Park Station

Turning onto University Avenue

St Paul

Westgate Station

Raymond Avenue Station

DetroitSky · #2 Posted **Dec 2, 2012, 11:18 PM**

Very nice! Definitely looking forward to part 2!

volguus zildrohar · #3 Posted **Dec 2, 2012, 11:18 PM**

Pretty nifty. When does the new light rail begin operating?

marcus · #4 Posted **Dec 2, 2012, 11:47 PM**

Great photos! Love all the transit oriented development. Minneapolis is a great city!

MSP · #5 Posted **Dec 3, 2012, 12:32 AM**

Thanks for the tour!
It opens in 2014.

ColDayMan · #6 Posted **Dec 3, 2012, 3:22 AM**

Nice!

OhioGuy · #7 Posted **Dec 3, 2012, 3:37 PM**

I really enjoyed that! Thanks for taking the time to photograph the area and post them here.

LSyd · #8 Posted **Dec 3, 2012, 7:12 PM**

cool tour

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Danny · #9 Posted **Dec 3, 2012, 7:42 PM**

Thanks for the pics!

I like the area you´ve covered and those works. Very interesting project.

Congrats and greetings from Madrid, Spain!

fern · #10 Posted **Dec 3, 2012, 8:37 PM**

Fantastic tour mate

novaCJ · #11 Posted **Dec 3, 2012, 9:37 PM**

Great job, Minneapolis! keep it up!

Columbusite · #12 Posted **Dec 4, 2012, 12:43 AM**

I'm glad someone took on this task: I still need a new camera and only got a handful of pics. Great shots of course, and it's really nice to see the development already taking place before the line debuts in spring of 2014. On the website you can click on "project progress" and follow up on the percentage complete. As of today: 80%.

http://www.metrocouncil.org/transpor...alcorridor.asp

ardecila · #13 Posted **Dec 4, 2012, 3:43 AM**

Neat. The design of the Central Corridor is vastly improved over the Hiawatha. I like the use of cobblestones and grasses in the landscape, and the copper accents on the station shelters will be really, really beautiful in a few years.

fflint · #14 Posted **Dec 4, 2012, 4:21 AM**

Awesome! I was really curious what the route looked like. Lots of room for TOD!

Urbanguy · #15 Posted **Dec 4, 2012, 4:25 AM**

Excellent! Thanks for the extensive tour of the rail line.

Bedhead · #16 Posted **Dec 5, 2012, 10:18 PM**

Lots of really handsome buildings there - love the one with the curved roof.

dc_denizen · #17 Posted **Dec 6, 2012, 3:15 AM**

Awesome! lot of areas that are begging to be built on...I envision 4-7 story woodframe apartments lining that entire route!

Chef · #18 Posted **Dec 6, 2012, 4:01 AM**

Thanks for the comments.

Quote:

Originally Posted by volguus zildrohar

Pretty nifty. When does the new light rail begin operating?

Heavy construction should be done soon. 2013 will be mostly detail construction and testing, it should open in early 2014.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bedhead

Lots of really handsome buildings there - love the one with the curved roof.

That is the old Minneapolis Armory, the Lakers used to play there before they moved to LA.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

Awesome! lot of areas that are begging to be built on...I envision 4-7 story woodframe apartments lining that entire route!

So do I.

I suspect that once this thing is done It will be a huge spur for TOD. In the area I will cover in part 2, St Paul has upzoned a large swath of land for up to 10 stories without variances or unlimited height with variances. Currently that area is supermarkets, strip malls and big box stores.

It is important to remember that the middle of this route is the geographic center of the metro, and the intersection of Snelling and University is the busiest intersection in St Paul. In a normal metro it is where the downtown would go so there is probably some demand associated with that.

Wheelingman04 · #19 Posted **Dec 6, 2012, 4:21 AM**

I really enjoyed this tour. You guys are so lucky to live in such a wonderful city. Lot of great things going on there. I need to get back up there again soon

Nomad9 · #20 Posted **Dec 8, 2012, 1:54 AM**

Wow, thanks for the pictures. I used to live south of University on Ontario Street when I was going to the U of M. Such great cities in such a great state...if only it wasn't so damn cold. Can't wait to visit again in June!