21st Century Minneapolis | infill and development

[Chef]

I though it would be interesting to do a thread on the recent construction in the city. Originally I was going to try to photograph everything built since 2000 but I have come to realize that would be a large and daunting project because there are a lot of smaller developments spread throughout the city. So I am going to post what I have so far and then add to it periodically as I accumulate more photos. I have also included the neighborhood that the photos were taken in to give an idea of where everything is.

The Carlyle - Downtown


mplsaug201116 by afsmps, on Flickr

The Guthrie - Mill District


mplsaug201125 by afsmps, on Flickr

The Guthrie, the Zenith, and Gold Medal Park - Mill District


mplsaug201128 by afsmps, on Flickr

Minneapolis Central Library - Downtown


mplsjuly2011205 by afsmps, on Flickr

Target Field - Warehouse District


mplsjuly201153b by afsmps, on Flickr

The Walker Art Center addition - Lowry Hill


mplsjune201134 by afsmps, on Flickr

Bookmen Stacks - Warehouse District


mplssept201157 by afsmps, on Flickr

Track 29 - Uptown


mplsnov201107 by afsmps, on Flickr

Murals of Lynlake - Uptown


mplsnov201108 by afsmps, on Flickr

Blue - Uptown


mplsnov201114 by afsmps, on Flickr


mplsnov201109 by afsmps, on Flickr

Uptown Lake Apartments - Uptown


mplsnov201112 by afsmps, on Flickr

The Lake St streetscape with Blue and Uptown Lake Apartments


mplsoct201132 by afsmps, on Flickr


mplsnov201113 by afsmps, on Flickr

29th and Bryant Ave S - Uptown


mplsnov201110 by afsmps, on Flickr

Lumen on Lagoon - Uptown


mplsnov201115 by afsmps, on Flickr

Solhem - Uptown


mplsnov201117 by afsmps, on Flickr

The Edgewater - Uptown


mplsnov201118 by afsmps, on Flickr

The Uptown Apple Store


mplsnov201124 by afsmps, on Flickr

Le Parisien - Uptown


mplsnov201128 by afsmps, on Flickr

The Artist's Quarter Lofts - Whittier


mplsnov201129 by afsmps, on Flickr

The Greenleaf Lofts - Whittier


mplsnov201130 by afsmps, on Flickr

Eat Street Flats - Whittier


mplsnov201131 by afsmps, on Flickr

The Franklin Avenue streetscape


mplsnov201132 by afsmps, on Flickr

Hotel Ivy (front) - Downtown


mplsnov201138 by afsmps, on Flickr

Hotel Ivy (side)


mplsnov201137 by afsmps, on Flickr

Hilton Garden Inn - Downtown


mplsnov201140 by afsmps, on Flickr

The Skyscape - Elliot Park


mplsnov201141 by afsmps, on Flickr


mplsnov201145 by afsmps, on Flickr

Grant Park - Elliot Park


mplsnov201143 by afsmps, on Flickr

The Mill District City Apartments - Mill District


mplsnov201146 by afsmps, on Flickr

St Anthony Mills Apartments - Mill District


mplsnov201150 by afsmps, on Flickr

A Loft Hotel (with the Zenith and Bridgewater Lofts) - Mill District


mplsnov201151 by afsmps, on Flickr

Bridgewater Lofts (Washington Avenue side) - Mill District


mplsnov201152 by afsmps, on Flickr

Bridgewater Lofts (2nd Avenue side)


mplsnov201153 by afsmps, on Flickr

2nd Avenue with the Mill City Museum, the Washburn A Mill, Humboldt Lofts, the Guthrie and St Anthony Mills Apartments


mplsnov201157 by afsmps, on Flickr

Portland Avenue between 2nd and Washington - Mill District


mplsnov201158 by afsmps, on Flickr

MacPhail Center for Music - Mill District


mplsnov201160 by afsmps, on Flickr

Uptown Row - Uptown


mplsnov201161 by afsmps, on Flickr

Village Lofts - Northeast


mplsnov201162 by afsmps, on Flickr

101 Main Street - Northeast


mplsnov201165 by afsmps, on Flickr

101 Main Street and Village Lofts - Northeast


mplsnov201163 by afsmps, on Flickr

The Cobalt - Northeast


mplsnov201168 by afsmps, on Flickr


mplsnov201169 by afsmps, on Flickr

Phoenix on the River - Northeast


mplsnov201171 by afsmps, on Flickr

Flour Sack Flats - Northeast


mplsnov201178 by afsmps, on Flickr

Stone Arch Apartments - Northeast


mplsnov201180 by afsmps, on Flickr

Mill City Museum - Mill District


mplsnov201186 by afsmps, on Flickr

Metropolitan Lofts - Mill District


mplsnov201189 by afsmps, on Flickr

200 Park Avenue - Mill District


mplsnov201190 by afsmps, on Flickr

Target Headquarters - Downtown


mplsnov201195 by afsmps, on Flickr

3310 Nicollet - Lyndale


mplsnov2011108 by afsmps, on Flickr

1st Ave South at 35th St - Lyndale


mplsnov2011110 by afsmps, on Flickr

Nicollet Square - Kingsfield


mplsnov2011111 by afsmps, on Flickr

The Eitel - Loring Park


mplsnov2011117b by afsmps, on Flickr


mplsnov2011116 by afsmps, on Flickr

[simms3_redux]

Good idea to post this.

[HowardL]

Really handsome set of pix. I really admire/envy some of those more modern mid-rises. Reminds of Westside LA a little bit. Nice. Nice. Nice.

[STLgasm]

Quite a building boom, ranging from awful to awesome!

[ColDayMan]

Got some great stuff going on up there!

[Danny]

Your pictures of Minneapolis are always great, Chef!

Nice modern architecture. I like the modern buildings of condos.

Thank you for the thread and pictures.

Congratulations and greetings from Madrid, Spain!

[Echoes]

Wow, go Minneaopolis! Some great infill here. And some not so great infill. But I'm impressed nonetheless!

[MNMike]

Nice idea for a thread...I didn't actually realize how much has been built in the past 10 years. And like you said...there is a lot more beyond this...that is quite the project. We have a new crop coming up now too Once the foreclosure situation in North Minneapolis improves, I can't see how the population won't jump up quite a bit. If it wasn't for the huge issues with the foreclosure crisis in North Mpls and a couple other areas of the city, we would have easily grown by 15 to 20k last census, instead of staying exactly the same.

[Coldrsx]

Very impressive overall, although many still suck at the street level urban design attempts.

[Unity77]

Great post.

Here are a few other towers built in downtown Minneapolis since 2000.

- Ameriprise Financial Center
- US Bancorp Center
- 50 South Sixth
- Graves 601 Hotel
- Ameriprise Client Service Center

A few other projects to include:
- Hiawatha and Central Corridor light rail lines.
- University of Minnesota area: there has been a lot of activity throughout campus since 2000, including the TCF Stadium.

[OhioGuy]

I can't quite tell what it's like at street level, but I like the Target Headquarters highrise. Overall Minneapolis appears to have some decent developments.

[DuluthJon]

Great post and I love how you capture....not only how modern, but how well structured these new buildings are. As someone who lived downtown in Minneapolis for a decade though, I am concerned about one thing: all of these places are obviously for the very affluent. I'm upset to see that now Minneapolis has joined most other cities which have gone in the wrong direction - those with the least amount of money who can't afford a car will have to get out of downtown, where a lot of jobs are, and figure out how to get to work (a bus pass in Minneapolis is not cheap!)...while those who have a very high status job who can afford a luxury vehicle will be near work, but they won't be the ones spending two hours making two transfers to get to work round-trip. The whole purpose of downtown-centered housing was to encourage walking - if a single adult with no kids has a high school diploma, and thus will probably be working a low wage job, there should be enough rental units downtown (that look nice, but don't need all the luxury amenities) so he/she can walk to work. Not having to rely on that car (along with not having kids!) are two huge things for these lower-wage earners to stay out of poverty.

I will post a thread on downtown Duluth's changes in the last decade, and while we have had many luxury condos added to our downtown, there have also been a lot of successful projects built with conditions (low/moderate income units but the renter must provide proof that they are, in fact, working rather than on welfare or SSI for life), and other units that take a serious look at the demographics of downtown, what these renters want, and how much space is really needed. Luxury buildings are great, but my fear is that, if we end up in another recession/depression, many of them will end up rented out to groups of college kids running up and down the halls drunk/screaming all night while the few other owners who have spent over $400k have to deal with it.

Sorry to go on and on, great photos, and it's amazing how much heritage in Minneapolis is disappearing...at least, thought, the older buildings are being replaced with very sound structures.

[simms3_redux]

^^^Urban infill developments are a catch 22 which basically make it very difficult to privately finance "affordable housing". What happens is urban pioneers come in and make a place cool again. Then come the young professionals, and all of a sudden demand for real estate/rentals/condos and houses in the city surges and prices come up. Once prices come up, assessments come up, and then so do taxes.

Land values then skyrocket on empty lots, so a developer's basis is now "high." A high basis means that the developer will have to recoup fast on a construction loan or a semi-perm, which means rents must be high and/or for sale units must meet a certain price point. Lenders are on the rope and they will not finance new construction if rents can't meet a certain threshold, and for Atlanta that means at least $1.70/SF intown, give or take depending on area.

Also, because renters are paying a monthly fee approaching $2/SF, they want a certain degree of amenities to go along, which means the developer is having to choose what he can allow for and still make a certain return. In the case of retail and even apartments, that return is a quick residual pop once the property is stabilized (which he hopes is before the construction loan or semi-perm or bridge comes due).

This is the circle that all cities go through, and it is why we have HUD and FHA and other government entities to promote affordable housing through the issuance of bonds and creative means of financing.

[Chef]

There is still a ton of affordable housing outside of downtown. Minneapolis is not an expensive city by most people's standards. A 1br in a classic old building in a "gentrified" neighborhood is $700 to $750 a month, $600 to $650 in more downscale areas.

This stuff is being built because demand is strong. If these buildings were not being built rents would go up for the pre-existing housing stock.

Also luxury housing tends to become affordable as it gets older. Sibley Manor in St Paul was built in the 1960s as high end appartments, Fran Tarkenten used to live there, now it is the cheapest housing in the city. A lot of the '60s and '70s infill is now where poor people live. As long as we keep building new housing there will be affordable housing in the pipeline. It is better to have poor people live in old luxury housing than something that was built to be a slum.

[Expat]

Cool to see it all together.

[Wigs]

interesting and very modern developments. Minneapolis is doing some decent new builds
Thanks for showing us!

The Carlyle (or 1/2 scale) would look great in downtown Buffalo. too bad that won't be happening anytime soon.

[ue]

Damn...who new Minny was so good at infill? I'd only known about the Mill District stuff, which in and of itself is pretty awesome. Wicked photos.

[Bedhead]

Great shots and interesting discussion. What DuluthJon says rings true of some cities I know about - I guess it's difficult to get a balance between doughnutting and outright gentrification.

I loved the library, and also like the infill that breaks up the facade with recessed balconies and windows, like this one:



Great study!

[BnaBreaker]

Damn Minny, I had no idea!! That Guthrie Theater is quite sexy!!

[giallo]

Maybe it's just me, but Minny looks a lot like a Canadian city. It'd fit in perfectly there.

Great snaps and tour.