[Mpls] "Opus asks Mpls. to swap land"

[Sheldon Mains]

The site OPUS wants is the old Nicollet Hotel block, just north of the new
Central Library.  A block the city has been unsuccessful at developing as a
joint project with a bus transfer facility. At one time it was planned to be
part of the Central Library but when it was not needed, the city restarted
its efforts for a joint private/public development. 

In an ideal world, the block north of the new Library should be a park.  It
would tie the library with the river, it could be a fitting tribute to the
old Historic Bridge Square (although I believe Bridge Square was one block
closer to the river).  The ideal could happen if the city used the $10
million federal transportation grant it has to build the bus transfer
facility underground with a park on top of it (although I don't know what
the costs are for that option--it may be more expensive than the $10
million).  But the city wants (needs??) a mixed use development with a
private developer.  Also, the proposed OPUS land swap would put the bus
transfer facility next to the light rail station--a good thing.

So, since the city is only getting 2/3 of the square footage in the
exchange, and is giving up one of the most visible blocks downtown, it seems
to me that the city could put some controls on the proposed Nicollet Hotel
site development--say keeping a green space on the Hennepin side to provide
a pedestrian friendly entrance to the City and keeping the Hennepin side of
the development very low rise (say 0 to 2 stories) to maintain a view of the
library and planetarium.  Also, getting the developer to pay for a skyway
link to the Library and a skyway link from the library across 4th
Street--the new library is designed for those links). (OK, I'm probably
asking for a lot but might as well start with the ideal)

sheldon
...............................
Sheldon Mains
DFL and Labor Endorsed Candidate for Minneapolis Library Board of Trustees
http://www.MainsForLibrary.org
Sheldon at MainsForLibrary.org, 612/618-7149
Mains for Library Committee, 2718 24th St. E., Mpls 55406 

"It is incredibly important to this country that we have people who run
libraries that actually believe in reading books instead of burning them."
   Howard Dean


> -----Original Message-----
> From: mpls-bounces at mnforum.org 
> [mailto:mpls-bounces at mnforum.org] On Behalf Of Bruce Gaarder
> Sent: Monday, October 03, 2005 7:35 AM
> To: mpls at mnforum.org
> Subject: [Mpls] "Opus asks Mpls. to swap land"
> 
> 
> OPUS proposes swapping a 50,000 square foot parcel it owns 
> for a 75,000 square foot parcel that the city owns.
> 
> 
> >From the article:
> 
> ...
> 
> "It's an innovative concept," said Mike Christenson, 
> Minneapolis' planning director.
> 
> ...
> 
> One complication is that the Powers site, located along South 
> Fifth Street between Nicollet Mall and Marquette Avenue, 
> doesn't have access to South Fourth 
> Street, which would be required for the site to work as a bus depot.
> 
> http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2005/10/03/story
1.html?page=2
REMINDERS:
1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules.
If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at
mplslist at tcq.net before continuing it on the list.

2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait.

For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html
For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract
________________________________

Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn
E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls at mnforum.org Subscribe,
Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls